The surprising thing in the profit and loss account is the net profit, as the company ended the first half with RON123 million net profit, 7.5 times higher than the first half of 2015. Although the main spending categories were relatively stable compared with the first half of 2015, what stands out is that the company went from RON62 million financial losses to RON5.5 million profit in this department.
The Petrotel Lukoil refinery was involved in a scandal in late 2014, with Romanian authorities accusing the management of a EUR230 million fraud, and then in the summer of last year prosecutors on the case reached the conclusion the fraud had amounted to more than EUR1.7 billion in 2011-2014.
The scandal is still not over, but the refinery, like all the oil processing facilities throughout the world benefited from the drop in oil price. The same goes for Petrotel Lukoil’s competitors, Rompetrol Rafinare, which owns the Petromidia refinery, Romania’s largest and OMV Petrom, which owns the Petrobrazi refinery.
Lukoil Romania, the operator of the 300 gas stations of the Russian group in Romania, ended the first half with RON2.3 billion revenue, up from the RON2.28 billion in the year-ago period, according to Trade Registry data. It also posted RON18.6 million net profit, compared with RON16.6 million in the first half of 2015. (EUR1=RON4.5007)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)