OMV Petrom sees 2.2% decrease in hydrocarbon production

Romanian oil & gas company OMV Petrom recorded a decrease of 2.2% in its hydrocarbon production in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period last year. The production reached 177,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day. However, it increased by 1.1% compared to the first three months of the year, according to data released by Austrian group OMV on Thursday, July 21. The decline in oil and gas production was due to lower upstream investments. Last year, OMV Petrom invested some EUR 880 million, 38% less than in 2014. Austrian group OMV, which controls OMV Petrom, recorded a hydrocarbon production of 316,000 boe per day, up 2.9% year-on-year. Compared to the first quarter, the group’s production increased by 1.3% due to the higher contribution of the production in Norway. OMV saw a negative effective due to intra-group consolidations that amounted to about EUR 25 million, predominantly in OMV Petrom. OMV Petrom will release its financial results for the second quarter on August 10. The group saw a 24% drop in net profit, in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period of last year, as its revenues went down by 17% on lower oil prices. editor@romania-insider.com