OMV Petrom remains cautious in planning investments this year

OMV Petrom (SNP), the Romanian company with the biggest investment budget, earmarked capital expenditures of only RON 2.9 billion (under EUR 600 million) for this year, half the budget planned for 2020, but only marginally below the actual investments realized last year.

This is bad news for OMV Petrom's suppliers, Ziarul Financiar daily comments in the context of an interview with the company's CFO Alina Andrei.

"In 2021, we plan to invest approximately RON 2.9 billion," said the financial director of OMV Petrom.

"Approximately RON 1.8 bln are allocated to the upstream area and about RON 1 bln to the downstream area. These are not our typical investments, they do not include other possible acquisitions or strategic investments, but we consider that the value of RON 2.9 bln is high in the context of this year's volatility," she explained.

As for regional investments, Alina Popa says that OMV Petrom's focus remains on the Black Sea.

"We announced last year that we have entered the Han-Asparuh exploration block in Bulgaria, we are exploring it together with Total. We own about 43%, while Total is an operator and has 57%. We are in an incipient exploration phase. In 2021 we will have an activity that involves an interpretation of seismic studies."

While OMV Petrom lowered its investment budget, it has maintained its dividend proposal for shareholders at the same level as last year, despite a 64% drop in net profit. The company will thus use some of its reserves to pay the dividends, which are higher than the 2020 net profit.

(Photo source: Facebook/OMV Petrom)