Petromaa‚¬a„¢s net profit hikes 34 percent

Oil and gas firm Petrom has announced that its net profit jumped 34 percent to EUR 321 million last year. According to company data, turnover fell by 23 percent to EUR 3.03 billion. Expenses narrowed by 29 percent year-on-year to EUR 2.9 billion. Erste Group said in released research it expected the firm to make a net profit of RON 1.44 billion.

“Despite the worsening economic environment, 2009 marked the achievement of several milestones. In exploration and production several key projects were put on stream. We commissioned the new gas processing plant in Midia, successfully started production at the Komsomolskoe field in Kazakhstan and at two offshore wells in Romania and we maintained the domestic reserve replacement rate at 70 percent. Moreover, we significantly improved our cost base and we are on track to deliver on our Petromservice acquisition target to achieve an additional reduction in production costs of USD 1.5 million per barrel of oil equivalent thanks to the successful integration of E&P services,” said Mariana Gheorghe, Petrom’s CEO.

Last year, the firm’s investments reached RON 4.1 billion, a 35 percent decrease compared to 2008. Investments in exploration and production accounted for 68 percent of the total figure for 2009, mainly due to the continued focus on field development and production drilling.

Petrom’s majority shareholder is OMV Austria, with 51.01 percent, followed by the Ministry of Economy with a 20.6 percent share package and the Property Fund with 20.11 percent.

Dana Ciuraru

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