May 13 (SeeNews) - Romanian natural gas producer Romgaz Group said on Friday that its net profit soared 111% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, reaching 979.6 million lei ($207 million/ 198 million euro), mainly due to higher gas and electricity prices.
The group's total revenue surged by 195.8% to 3.93 billion lei during January-March, Romgaz said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
Revenues from natural gas sales also jumped by an annual 201%, while revenues from underground gas storage operations shrank by 12.3% in the first quarter. Revenue from electricity sales increased by 285% year-on-year in the period under review..
Romgaz produced 1.307 billion cu m of natural gas in the first quarter, down 0.33% on the year, whereas electricity production increased by an annual 71% to 345.3 GWh.
Natural gas consumption estimated at national level for the first three months of 2022 was about 44 TWh, 11% lower on the year.
Romgaz Group had scheduled 662 million lei investments for the first quarter, but only managed to use 108.42 million lei, mainly due due to the rescheduling the advance payment for the acquisition of Exxon Mobil's 50% stake in the Black Sea offshore project Neptun Deep for $1.06 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.
In 2021, the group's net profit rose 52% year-on-year, reaching 1.897 billion lei.
Shares in Romgaz traded 0.82% higher at 43 lei as at 0913CET on Friday on the BVB.
(1 euro=4.9480 Romanian lei)
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