МОSCOW (MRC) -- Spain's oil giant Repsol has announced it has put aside an exceptional provision of 2.9 billion euros (USD3.2 billion) due to a plunge in crude prices that will lead to a net 2015 loss of 1.2 billion euros, said Business Recorder.
The past few months have been trying for companies and countries which produce oil and other commodities, the prices of which have slumped as demand has slowed in China -- the motor of global growth in recent years -- casting a cloud over the global economic recovery.
"In the current environment of low crude oil and gas prices, the board of directors of Repsol has agreed... to apply extraordinary impairments totaling approximately 2.9 billion euros to its 2015 earnings," the company said in a statement late onWednesday.
Repsol, which acquired Canada's energy firm Talisman last year, added in its 2015 earnings preview that the group would register an annual net loss of 1.2 billion euros as a result of this exceptional charge.
It added that without the provision, the group would have made a net profit of 1.85 billion euros last year -- an eight-percent rise from 2014.
As MRC informed earlier, in June 2014, Mexico's national oil company Pemex announced that it would sell a 7.9% stake in Spanish oil firm Repsol, worth about 2.2 billion euros (USD3.0 billion). The sale ends a long relationship between Pemex and Repsol that had run into trouble in recent years over disagreements on policies ranging from top management to the handling of Repsol's investments in Argentina.
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