In the first quarter of 2011, Petrom reported a net profit of RON841 million.
Petrom, the Romanian arm of Austria’s OMV (OMV.VI), reported consolidated sales, excluding petroleum excise duties, of RON6 billion, 21% higher from RON4.97 billion in the first three months of 2011.
“The higher crude price and a stronger US dollar against the leu positively impacted our results in the exploration and production segment in the first quarter, whilst placing a further burden on refining and marketing margins and volumes,” said Mariana Gheorghe, Chief Executive Officer of OMV Petrom.
Clean earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, rose 35% on the year to RON1.7 billion in the first quarter, supported by higher oil price environment, favorable exchange rates and lower exploration and production costs, the company said in its financial report.
The Urals crude price, the reference oil price for Romania, was 14% higher in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period a year earlier.
Petrom’s EBIT was negatively affected by a RON159 million loss from hedging, compared with a loss of RON56 million in the year-earlier quarter.
The company reported total oil, gas and NGL production of 16.71 billion barrels of oil equivalent in the first quarter, little changed on the year. Domestic production fell slightly to 15.6 billion boe in January through March, but output at Petrom’s fields in Kazakhstan increased 7.3% on the year to 1.1 billion boe.
Petrom said exploration costs doubled to RON267 million in the first quarter, largely due to expenses with its first deepwater well drilled in the Black Sea in joint venture with US giant ExxonMobile.
“A potentially significant gas discovery was confirmed and ongoing evaluation of the Domino-1 well results and the new seismic analysis will determine next steps,” Petrom said.
Results are unaudited and are calculated according to IFRS.
OMV Petrom is 51.01%-owned by Austrian group OMV. The Economy Ministry holds a 20.63% stake in the company, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) owns 20.11%.
Tuesday, Petrom closed up 1.23% at RON0.4049 a share in Bucharest. (EUR1=RON4.4032)