Eni’s gas and LNG business reported higher earnings in the first quarter of this year, while the company’s LNG sales dropped when compared to the same period last year.
The Italian energy firm said on Friday that its global gas and LNG portfolio (GGP) reported record 1.37 billion euros ($1.52 billion) of adjusted profit or EBIT.
This marks a rise of 47 percent when compared to the same quarter last year.
This result emphasizes how the business, that is increasingly integrated with the upstream, has “swiftly reacted to the supply disruptions and taken advantage of the new realities of the gas and LNG markets,” Eni’s finance chief, Francesco Gattei, told analysts during the company’s earnings call on Friday.
“Also, given the drop in European hub prices in the quarter it is important to reiterate that this is not a business that is solely dependent on the prevailing gas price,” he said.
Eni’s adjusted net profit before tax of 4.98 billion euros was just 5 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago despite a 20 percent fall in crude oil price and a 42 percept drop in gas price, the firm said.
Adjusted net profit dropped 11 percent to 2.9 billion euros in the first quarter.
LNG sales down 4 percent
Eni’s LNG sales dropped by 4 percent in the first quarter when compared to the same period last year.
The company sold 2.7 bcm of LNG (1.98 million tonnes) in the January-March period.
This compares to 2.8 bcm in the first quarter of last year and 2.4 bcm in the prior quarter.
Total natural gas sales of 14.84 bcm decreased by 19 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period of 2022, mainly due to the lower gas volumes marketed in Italy, particularly in the wholesalers’ segment, Eni said.
In the European markets, gas volumes decreased by 12 percent mainly due to lower sales in the UK and the Iberian Peninsula partly offset by higher volumes sold in Germany and Austria, it said.