Spain’s Naturgy swung to profit during the first half of 2019, following a loss reported in the corresponding quarter last year.
The company reported a net income of €592 million ($660 million) which compares to a €3.3 billion loss ($3.6 billion) in the corresponding period last year.
In Gas & Power, the first-half results have been driven by improvement in services sales, which has experienced a strong margin recovery in power supply, more than offsetting a more challenging scenario in international LNG and Europe power generation, Naturgy said in its report.
The company’s new commercial policies and de-risking efforts, together with efficiencies, have also helped offset the global decline in gas prices during the period, the report says.
The company noted in its report that its gas sales declined by 8.3 percent to 116.1 TWh during the period under review, mainly due to lower sales in the Spanish residential and industrial segments.
Its international LNG sales slumped 21.1 percent to 60.6 TWh as short-term sales dropped by 49.6 percent. On the contrary, long-term sales have grown by 56.5 percent, the company said. In terms of its de-risking efforts, Naturgy said it has already secured approximately 90 percent of its LNG volumes for the year.
Naturgy’s net sales for the period reached €11.6 billion, 4.4 percent below the €12.1 billion reported in the first half of 2018. This was due to lower energy prices and volumes sold in the liberalized businesses that offset the growth in the infrastructure activity.