Although it produced 13% less crude oil and natural gas, Romania's oil and gas group OMV Petrom reported a record net profit of RON 1.75 bln (EUR 350 mln) in Q1, three times larger than the same period last year. The company's sales revenues rose nearly 2.5 times to RON 11.9 bln (EUR 2.4 bln).

The operational results, corrected for the special items and inventory holding effects (CCS effects), surged by 3.4 times to RON 1.79 bln (EUR 360 mln).

The surge in the energy prices was behind the company's highest-ever quarterly earnings: the realized crude oil price surged by 58% to USD 80.3 per barrel (USD/bbl) as the price of the Urals oil rose by 50% to 90.2 USD/bbl.

For the full year 2022, OMV Petrom expects the average Brent oil price to be around USD 95/bbl (previous guidance USD 75/bbl; 2021: USD 71/bbl).

The indicator refining margin soared from USD 2.8 per barrel in Q1 last year to USD 18.3 - but OMV Petrom says that the (undisclosed) actual margin for its refineries may differ significantly due to different crude slate, product yield and operating conditions.

The company's hydrocarbon production fell by 12.7% due to the sale of production assets in Kazakhstan in Q2 last year (resulting in a decline of 6.2 thousand boe / day compared to Q1 last year), the transfer of 40 marginal deposits of onshore oil and gas to Dacian Petroleum in Q4 last year (resulting in a decline of 1.0 thousand boe / day compared to Q1 last year) and the sharp natural decline in the main deposits in Romania. For 2022, OMV Petrom aims to contain the decline at around 7% YoY in Romania, excluding portfolio optimization.

The refinery utilization rate is estimated to be above 95% (2021: 97%). Total refined product sales are forecasted to be broadly similar to the previous year (2021: 5.3 mln tonnes).

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Flickr/OMV Petrom)