• Oil and natural gas production exceeded 100,000 barrels per day
• Growth plans extended with North Carcará acquisition in pre-salt bid-rounds
• Operational efficiency and economic recovery in the Iberian Peninsula supported gas and electricity businesses
• Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of 1,379 million euros, with 74% coming out of our international businesses
• Adjusted net income increased 15% to 416 million euros
• Responsible and sustainability practices recognized internationally
Galp’s results for the first nine months of 2017 reflect the good execution of a strategy anchored in its upstream projects and the strengthening of the competitiveness of the company’s refining and marketing and natural gas and electricity activities.
With a 36% increase in the company’s results compared with the previous year – Ebitda of 1,379 million euros – and a net debt to Ebitda of 0.9X, Galp is a reference among its peers.
The conviction in the success of our strategy allowed Galp, in partnership with Statoil and ExxonMobil, to be the winner of the North Carcará area in the most recent auction of pre-salt oil blocks in Brazil, which will sustain our growth in the coming decades.
Oil and gas daily production doubled in two years, exceeds 100,000 barrels
The rigorous execution of the development projects in the Brazilian pre-salt allowed Galp to produce more than 100,000 barrels of oil and natural gas per day, doubling its production in two years and fulfilling the transformational project it committed itself to with its stakeholders.
The new milestone of the 100,000 barrels was reached with the continuous increase of the production in Brazil, with six floating units (FPSO) pumping at maximum capacity and an additional one, which produced first oil in May, currently ramping-up.
Galp's oil and natural gas production is expected to continue increasing, not only due to the connection of new wells to the recently installed unit in Brazil, but also with the entry of new units in the future.
In cumulative terms, at the end of September this year, Galp's total oil and natural gas production was 90.8 thousand barrels per day, a 47% boost over 2016 with a higher pre-salt contribution, as two new FPSOs (Cidade de Maricá and Cidade de Saquarema) increased production and the P-66 replicating unit started producing. Net entitlement production rose 50% to 88,900 barrels per day. This performance contributed to a more than six-fold Exploration and Production EBIT increase from the same period of 2016.
Economic recovery and operating efficiency support downstream and gas
In refining and marketing, international refining margins reached historically high levels during the first nine months, partly due to the climatic phenomena that limited the operability of the US oil sector, especially refining, and additional operational limitations at the Atlantic basin refining system.
The higher margins brought about in part by the availability of our refineries in this period (in contrast to the previous year’s stoppages), the improving economic situation in the Iberian market and the higher downstream operational efficiency helped the area’s results (Ebit) increase 46%.
Sales of natural gas to direct customers also benefited from this favorable economic environment in the Iberian Peninsula, increasing by 20% compared with the first nine months of 2016. However, sales were hurt by lower trading opportunities in the international liquefied natural gas markets. That, and the deconsolidation of Galp Gás Natural Distribuição, negatively influenced the results of Natural Gas and Electricity (Ebit decreased by more than 50% over the same period of last year).
Sustainability recognized by international reference indices
Here too, our strategies and policies brought important results last week, when CDP, whose evaluation is a leading indicator for sustainable investment, especially for institutional investors, recognized Galp as one of only 25 companies worldwide, the only energy company and the only Portuguese company to get top marks in both climate and water resource management policies.
Previously, in September, we were one in only nine upstream and integrated oil & gas companies worldwide – and one in just two European industry peers – listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.