Galp’s oil products sales drop 10% in the first quarter

Galp Energia’s oil production rose 5% in the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, but oil products sales fell 10% on a year-on-year basis, a result of rising prices that put pressure on consumer and business demand. The company said in a statement issued by CMVM.

In the first trading update of this year, Galp stated that oil production rose 5%, to 117,500 barrels per day. Production in Brazil rose by 6%, but fell by 9% in Angola.

However, the company’s oil products sales led by Andy Brown fell 10% in a quarter marked by the start of the war in Europe, to 1.7 metric tons.

The decreased is explained by Galp with the effect of “seasonality”, but also the “higher commodity price environment”, which pressured sales to consumers and companies. Meanwhile, in a year-on-year (YoY) comparison, there was a growth of 25%.

Natural gas sales rose 13% YoY and 24% QoQ to 5.6 TWh, while electricity sales grew 20% YoY and 2% QoQ to 1,139 GWh.

In a period of great turmoil in the oil market, Galp processed 10% more raw materials and the refining margin rose from $5.5 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $6.8 at the start of this year.

For liquefied natural gas (LNG), supply and sales volumes were down 19% YoY to 14.8 TWh. The company justifies the drop with market conditions in Iberia.