Serbian oil and gas group NIS [BEL:NIIS] turned to a net loss of 8.97 billion dinars ($90 million/76 million euro) in the first half of 2020 from a 3.89 billion dinars net profit in the like period of last year, as a result of the coronavirus crisis, it said on Wednesday.
The January-June operations were marked by the decreasing oil prices and the dramatic drop in demand for oil and petroleum products, caused by the coronavirus pandemic, NIS said in a statement.
The company's total sales revenue fell 24% on the year to 79.3 billion dinars in January-June, while total operating revenue declined 11% to 87.6 billion dinars.
As a result, NIS swung to an operating loss of 8.7 billion dinars from an operating profit of 5.4 billion dinars in the first six months of 2019.
In the second quarter alone, the group turned to an 8.84 billion dinars net loss from a net profit of 3.13 billion dinars in April-June 2019, as sales revenue plunged 45% to 30.7 billion dinars.
Still, the company invested 14.5 billion dinars in development in the first half of 2020, mainly in oil and gas exploration and production activities at its Duboka Prerada project in the Pancevo Oil Refinery, as well as in upgrading its retail network in Serbia and the region.
Oil and gas production amounted to 636,000 tonnes of oil equivalent in January-June, down 1% on the year, and 1.63 million tonnes of crude oil and semi-finished product were processed, up 35% compared to the like period of 2019, NIS noted.
NIS, 56.15%-owned by Gazprom, is one of the largest vertically integrated oil and gas companies in Southeast Europe. Its main activities include the exploration, production and processing of oil and gas, as well as the production and retail trade with a wide range of petroleum products. Serbia's government owns a 29.87% stake in NIS.
The company's shares closed flat at 548 dinars on the Belgrade bourse on Wednesday.
(SeeNews, July 29, 2020)
