OMV Swung to 1Q Loss; Cuts 2020 View

   By Giulia Petroni

OMV AG said Wednesday that it swung to a loss for the first quarter and revised its objectives for the full year.

The Austrian oil-and-gas company posted a quarterly loss of 159 million euros ($172.3 million) from a profit of EUR354 million for the year-earlier period.

On an adjusted basis, net profit fell to EUR316 million from EUR346 million a year earlier. A FactSet-compiled consensus had OMV's adjusted net profit at EUR337 million.

Sales decreased to EUR4.76 billion from EUR5.40 billion due to the lower global commodity price environment, the company said. Analysts had forecast sales at EUR5.51 billion.

OMV said total upstream production for the quarter was flat at 472,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. The company expects upstream production to be between 440,000 and 470,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2020, from a previous forecast of around 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day depending on the situation in Libya and production cuts imposed by governments.

Downstream performed well, as the indicator refining margin grew 22% on year to $4.90 a barrel and the refinery utilization rate was 94%.

In light of the impact of coronavirus on prices and demand for oil products, OMV revised its outlook for 2020, saying it expects the average Brent oil price--the global benchmark--to be at $40/bbl from a previous forecast of $60/bbl.

Organic capital expenditure excluding acquisitions is projected to come in below EUR1.8 billion from a previously forecasted EUR2.4 billion for 2020.

The company added it expects the indicator refining margin to be around $4/bbl from a previous forecast of above $5/bbl and refined products sales to be lower compared to 2019.

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2020 01:59 ET (05:59 GMT)

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