Burst of quarterly e half-yearly these days for the energy sector which show, it is true, stratospheric data, but there is a strong risk that they hide one bubble from raising gods commodity prices, which could deflate as soon as the situation – also fueled by the Russia-Ukraine war as well as by the post-Covid economic rebound – should cool down.
Repsol, Total Energie, Shell, Edf, are just a few of the companies that showed sparkling second quarter accounts, supported, as their managers chorused, by stellar refining margins and high quotations of the Petroleum and prices of the petrol. They don't escape the rule Enel and Terna. Eni post accounts on friday, but also of ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP are expected in line with industry accounts.
On the one hand, the new revenues will serve to fix the red of balance sheets accumulated during the pandemic period. But what will the situation be net of prices in the coming months? The politics of profit distribution will have to take this into account.
Oil prices rose in the second quarter, with benchmark Brent crude averaging about $113 a barrel in the quarter, compared to $102 a barrel in the first three months.
“Given the amount of balance sheet reviews that have already taken place over the past 18 months, we believe there is a benefit to shareholder distribution plans across the sector,” RBC Capital Market analyst Biraj Borkhataria said in a statement.
Repsol half-year: best ever net profit after deep 2019-20 losses
The net profit of the Spanish oil group Repsol recorded 2,539 billion between January and June with a 165% markup, the best result ever. A great recovery, if you think that the company had suffered in 2019 and 2020 Prevention for 7,1 billion "derived from capital adjustments for the zero emissions goal and from the global health pandemic", says the company. But the data for this semester were conditioned “by a increase in raw material prices on world markets” resulting from the tensions caused by the war in Ukraine. Between January and June, just over half of the company's adjusted net income came from its international operations, which were primarily engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. The rising value of hydrocarbons held in strategic reserves in Spain contributed 1,2 billion euros to Repsol's net profit in the first half, the company said.
TotalEnergies: profit tripled in the half year, even after provisions
The French group Total Energy announced that it has accomplished a net profit of $5,7 billion in the second quarter, more than doubling in one year, taking full advantage of theprice increase of oil and gas following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. “This profit was realized after making a new $3,5 billion provision related to the potential impact of international sanctions on the value of its stake in Russian group Novatek,” the group said in a news release.
Excluding these exceptional items, theadjusted net profit it reached $9,8 billion in the quarter, versus $3,5 billion a year earlier. In the semester it reached 18,8 billion, almost tripling compared to the first half of 2021. “The effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on energy markets continued into the second quarter, with oil prices averaging above $110 a barrel over the quarter,” said the CEO Patrick Pouyanné in the press release.
Shell: profit multiplied by 5 in the second quarter
The British oil group Shell quintupled theNet income in second quarter, to $18 billion, in the wake of thesoaring prices of hydrocarbons, a company statement said. The result also benefited from a $4,3 billion provision reversal, after the oil major revised upwards its medium- to long-term oil and gas price projections, reversing part of billions of dollars in charges for write-downs taken during the pandemic.
ExxonMobil, ahead of a quarter at historic highs
ExxonMobil earlier this month said it could post its strongest quarter, a profit it could exceed 16 billion dollars, nearly double its first-quarter earnings, so much so that President Joe Biden accused ExxonMobil of making "more money than God" and said companies are exploiting global oil supply shortages to boost profits.
Edf: at a loss due to nuclear power, but strong in terms of prices
The French Edf which relied on the nuclear, as a large part of its business, has undergone one of heavier losses of its history in the first half of the year due to the closure of 12 out of 56 reactors in France and a further 18 are subject to maintenance operations. According to data released today, Edf has registered a loss of 5,3 billion, "due to the drop in nuclear electricity production linked to corrosion problems in some reactors and the State's contribution to containing bills".
Even for Edf, however, the turnover overall (+67,2%) to 66.262 billion, due to the fort price increase of electricity and gas. "The first half results reflect the difficulties encountered in terms of nuclear generation in France and to a lesser extent hydroelectric generation, and also the effect of the tariff shield activated by the French government for 2022", commented the CEO Jean -Bernard Lévy , referring to the need to purchase electricity from outside in a context of high market prices.
New data is coming from the energy majors in the next few hours
Terna will present the data of its half-year in the afternoon, Enel will wait for the closing of the Stock Exchange.
Friday will be the turn of Eni instead that just today it announced that it has completed the negotiations for the start-up of the New Gas Consortium in Angola. Also Exxon e Chevron will publish their balance sheet data on Friday, while August 2 will be the turn of BP.
