The bulk of the amount, nearly RON3.42 billion (82% of the overall budget), goes to the Upstream segment and RON551 million investments are envisaged for the Downstream Oil segment. Upstream investments will partly offset the natural decline of production triggered by maturity of reserves. The crude oil and natural gas output in Romania, excluding the new initiatives for the optimization of portfolio, will fall by 4% in 2019 compared with 2018. The 2019 budget was built on an average Brent price of $70/barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Shareholders also approved the proposition of the company’s Executive Board to pay out a dividend of RON0.027 per share, for 2018 financial year, up 35% compared with a year before. The overall gross value of dividends distributable amounts to nearly RON1.53 billion, accounting for 38% of the net profit attributable to OMV Petrom S.A. shareholders for 2018. Over RON315 million will be cashed by the Romanian state, which owns 20.639% of OMV Petrom shares, through the Economy Ministry.
OMV Petrom is the largest energy company in South-Eastern Europe with an annual hydrocarbon production of 58.3 million boe in 2018. The Group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tons annually and operates an 860 MW high-efficiency power plant. The Group is present on the oil products retail markets in Romania and neighbouring countries through 794 filling stations, as at the end of 2018, under two brands – OMV and Petrom.