MOSCOW (MRC) -- Spain's Repsol posted a 74 percent rise in first-quarter operating profit, adjusted for inventory effects, to 928 million euros (USD1.05 billion), boosted by a weaker euro which more than offset the negative impact of low oil prices, said Reuters.
The Spanish oil group, which had already flagged a 4.3 percent fall in production from the previous quarter and a sharp increase in refining margins to a high of USD8.7 per barrel, said net profit dropped 5.7 percent in the first three months of the year to USD761 million.
Its downstream operations posted an 84% surge in earnings in March quarter 2015 to USD534m on improved refining margins, but this was offset by a poor showing from its upstream segment, the company said in a statement.
Repsol’s upstream operations incurred a EUR190m loss in the first three months the year, reversing a profit of EUR255m made in the same period last year.
Like other oil companies, Repsol's earnings have suffered from the near-halving in oil prices since last June.
As MRC informed earlier, Repsol commercialized phthalate-free polypropylene (PP) block copolymers. With this, Repsol offers the possibility of covering customers’ applications in such demanding segments as: injection (buckets, cases, household goods, food preservation and technical parts, among others); extrusion (film and sheet, among others) and non-woven for hygiene applications.
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.
MRC