Oil production falls, refining margin grows. Galp Energia’s sales increase

  • ECO News
  • 12 July 2021

Despite producing less oil, Galp Energia's sales jumped in the second quarter of 2021.

Galp Energia produced less oil in the second quarter of this year. It showed a drop, albeit slight, due to some constraints caused by the pandemic, this in a period of a strong increase in the price of raw materials in international markets. The refining margin increased, as well as oil product sales.

Oil production shrank by 3% to 114.9 million barrels from 118.6 million in the second quarter of last year. Compared to the first three months of the year it rose, with Brazil and Angola performing similarly. The same happened with overall production, including oil and natural gas.

“Working interest production up QoQ, although still impacted by offshore operational and logistics constraints,” Galp Energia said in a statement sent to CMVM.

This evolution in production occurred at a time marked by rising oil prices in the international markets. In a period when Brent reached an average price of $69 per barrel, the processing of raw materials soared by more than 50% to meet the growing demand. Galp Energia’s refining margin grew 22%.

“Refining performance benefiting from a slight recovery of the international refining environment, although pressured by higher oil prices and reflecting some operational constraints,” the company says.

Oil product sales rose 44%, with sales to customers up 31%. “Oil products volumes benefiting from summer driving season and some relief of lockdown measures in Iberia, while natural gas sales impacted by seasonality,” the company says. “NG/LNG supply & trading volumes reflecting increased network trading (low margin),” it adds.

Meanwhile, electricity sales [which grew 50%] were supported by higher customer acquisition, in a period of increased energy production based on renewable sources. Installed capacity allocated to Galp Energia amounted to 692 MW, while production reached 355 GWh.