Repsol posts 15% rise in profit despite fall in output

Madrid: Spanish oil company Repsol said yesterday its first-half adjusted net profit rose 15 per cent to 1.883 billion euros ($2.94 billion), well ahead of analysts' forecasts, thanks to high oil prices.

The figures, adjusted to remove non-recurring items, compared with an average forecast of 1.59 billion euros in a Reuters survey of six analysts.

Repsol said its adjusted operating profit was 3.449 billion euros, compared with 2.825 billion in the same period last year.

Operating profit at its upstream division grew 49.6 per cent to 1.327 billion euros, mainly due to higher oil prices over the period, which offset a fall in hydrocarbon production.

The company said continuing weakness in international refining margins and the weak dollar hit its downstream arm, where operating profit slipped 2 per cent to 1.125 billion euros.

Operating profit at its YPF division in Argentina rose 3.2 per cent to 644 million euros, boosted by higher average gas prices in the region and an improved sales mix.

This is the second quarter Repsol has used a results format that fences off its YPF arm in Argentina from its core business elsewhere.

Repsol has sold 15 per cent of YPF to an Argentine businessman. It also plans to float about 25 per cent of the company.

Repsol said group production was down 19.7 per cent to 335,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Repsol said the value of its inventories had risen 248 million euros from last year, thanks to the rise in oil prices.