Spain's Repsol YPF SA (REP) Thursday said it is managing to maintain production at its Libyan oilfields at around 50% capacity--despite violent clashes in the North African country--but still expects earnings this year to suffer a knock-on effect.
Spain
's
Repsol YPF SA (REP) Thursday said it is managing to maintain production at its
Libyan oilfields at around 50% capacity--despite violent clashes in the North
African country--but still expects earnings this year to suffer a knock-on
effect.
Speaking at a press conference after the company unveiled fourth-quarter
earnings, Chairman Antonio Brufau said the fields where Repsol has stakes are
currently pumping some 160,000 barrels a day, compared with over 300,000
barrels a day previously.
Brufau said reduced production in
Libya
,
which accounts for 3.8% of Repsol's output, is likely to have an effect on
earnings this year. Repsol operates fields jointly with
France
's
Total SA (TOT) and
Austria
's OMV
AG (OMV.VI), as well as
Libya
's
state-owned oil company. Just over 10% of the production in those fields
corresponds to Repsol.
He also said the situation on the ground remains confused, as Spanish personnel
are being quickly repatriated, and the fields are left to be operated mostly by
Libyan staff. The Libyan staff, he added, appear to report to the current
Libyan regime, headed by Col. Moammar Gadhafi, rather than Gadhafi's opponents
now seeking to overthrow the regime.
"It's difficult to talk to
Libya
these
days," Brufau said. "There is confusion, no question about it."
Earlier Thursday, Repsol said fourth-quarter net profit, excluding inventory
effects, more than doubled on higher refining margins and soaring oil prices.
Replacement-cost-adjusted net profit, the figure most closely watched by
analysts, rose to EUR499 million from EUR241 million a year earlier. That is
slightly above the EUR488.7 million consensus estimate from a FactSet poll of
analysts.
Replacement-cost-adjusted net profit, or clean replacement cost of supplies,
strips out volatile swings in the value of inventories. Repsol's unadjusted net
profit in the quarter--including extraordinary gains on the sale of a 40% stake
in Repsol's Brazilian unit to China Petrochemical Corp. (SNP), or Sinopec--was
EUR2.91 billion, compared with EUR211 million a year earlier.
Repsol's refining margins soared in the quarter, to $2.9 a barrel from zero in
the same period the year before and $1.5 in the third quarter, on wider spreads
in light and heavy oil and medium distillates. For the whole of 2010, refining
margins almost doubled to $2.5 a barrel from $1.3 a barrel.
The company also benefited from higher international oil prices, with both
Brent and WTI oil above $85 a barrel on average during the quarter, from just
over $74 in the fourth quarter of 2009--which resulted in a 16% increase in oil
realisation price for Repsol.
In a research note, the analysts of BPI said Repsol's numbers confirm the
company's operating rebound in recent quarters, and should result in coming
upgrades in consensus estimates. BPI rates at buy, with a EUR24.85 target.
At 1255 GMT, Repsol shares were up 0.6% at EUR23.65, outperforming
Spain
's
IBEX-35 blue-chip index, down 0.4% at the time.
Replacement-cost-adjusted operating profit in the quarter rose to EUR1.06
billion from EUR750 million a year earlier.
The company's overall oil and gas output dropped 2.3% to 341,000 barrels of oil
equivalent a day, mainly due to production stoppages in the Shenzi field in the
U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01