MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spanish giant Repsol saw profits fall during during the first nine months of the year despite a rise in production, said Upstreamonline.
The company's net income for the first nine months of the year totalled EUR1.4 bln, down from EUR1.7 bln during the first nine months of 2012.
The fall in profits came as revenue dipped 1.5% in the first three quarters of 2013 to EUR44 bln, down from the nearly EUR44.7 bln generated a year earlier.
The fall in revenue came despite production rising 8.2% year-on-year, from an average of 327,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 354,000 boepd.
Repsol attributed the rise in production to the start-up of large projects in Boliva, Russia and Brazil.
Despite the rise in production, the company's upstream business segment saw its operating income fall 14.2% during the first nine months of the year to just over EUR1.5 bln, which it blamed on temporary disruptions to production in Libya.
Repsol also revealed it had invested EUR1.7 bln in its upstream unit during the first nine months of the year, up more than 5% on its investment over the same period last year, with project development accounting for 70% of the total spend this year.
Along with the disruptions to production in Libya, Repsol also blamed its fall in profits on narrower refining margins due to the weakness of the European market. As MRC wrote earlier, spanish energy giant Repsol is in talks with Pemex regarding a new strategic partnership. The new alliance comes as Repsol tries to reorganise its Latin American business, having been stripped of its shares in the now nationalised Argentinian producer YPF.
Repsol S.A. is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 28 countries. The bulk of its assets are located in Spain. It is now the 15th largest petroleum refining company according to the Fortune Global 500 list.
MRC