Italian oil company Eni reported its adjusted net profit for the first quarter of 2015 was €0.65 billion, down 46% from the first quarter 2014, due to lower operating profit.
The company’s adjusted operating profit was €1.57 billion which down by 55% from the first quarter of 2014, driven by sharply lower oil prices, only partly offset by a better performance recorded in upstream activity and in all other business segments.
In the first quarter of 2015, Eni’s oil and gas production was 1.697 million boe/d, up by 7.2% compared to the same period a year ago, due to the start-ups achieved in the quarter and higher production in Libya, as well as continuing production ramp-up at the fields in Angola, Congo, Egypt and the United States which started production in 2014. These increases were partially offset by mature fields declines, the company said.
For the full year 2015, the company has said it expects its total production to grow thanks to new fields start-ups and the ramp-ups of the projects launched in 2014, mainly in Angola, Congo, Egypt, Venezuela, the United States and Norway, as well as expectations of higher volumes in Libya.
Claudio Descalzi , Chief Executive Officer, commented: “I am pleased with the results announced this morning. In line with our strategy, we put in place actions which recovered over €600 million to cope with the difficult trading environment caused by the steep drop in the Brent oil price.
Upstream production is increasing, and development plans supporting 2015-2016 production growth are in line with our forecasts. Further, all mid-downstream businesses have returned to profitability benefitting from our actions as well as the positive trading environment, thus proving the effectiveness of the upgrading initiatives implemented so far.
“These results, along with our focus on efficiency and working capital optimization, contributed to keeping leverage unchanged compared to December 2014, despite the Brent oil price halving.”