Warsaw, March 18 - Neftegaz.RU. In 2018, the PGNiG Group’s net profit amounted to PLN 3.2bn and rose by 10 %. EBITDA amounted to PLN 7.1bn and rose by 8 % y/y. EBIT was up 12 %, to nearly PLN 4.4bn. The Group’s revenue grew to PLN 41.23bn,up by 16 % y/y.
«2018 was a great year for the Group, marked by a strong performance. Growth in revenue from oil sales was largely driven by rising oil prices and increased demand for crude, while revenue from gas sales rose mainly on the back of an upward price trend on the Polish Power Exchange,» said Piotr Woźniak,CEO of PGNIG.
«In 2018, our gas sales went up by more than 2.26 bcm, or 8 % year on year», he added. Driven by growing oil and gas prices, sales of the Exploration and Production segment rose by 25 %, to PLN 7.67bn, with EBITDA up 30 %.
«We increased capex in the Exploration & Production segment. Supported by state-of-the-art exploration technologies, we achieved a high success rate in drilling for hydrocarbons. With stepped up exploration efforts, new expenditure on production from existing fields and optimised field development times, the Group was able to maintain its overall natural gas output at 4.55 bcm. Our crude oil production in Poland and Norway expanded by 4 and 12 %, respectively. By continuing asset acquisitions on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, we will steadily increase production from our own sources to the target level set in our Strategy”, said Piotr Woźniak.
The volume of gas sales in the Trade and Storage segment altogether rose by 8 %, to 28.16 bcm, with revenue up 19 %, to PLN 31.70bn. While in the Exploration and Production segment higher crude oil prices are a performance driver, for Trade and Storage they translate into higher costs of gas imports.
The Distribution segment’s revenue and volumes of distributed gas remained largely flat on 2017, despite a reduction in the distribution tariff rates effective from March 2018. In 2018, the number of new grid connections was 60,750, up 10.6 % versus 54,922 new connections in 2017.
The Generation segment’s revenue, mainly from heat and electricity sales, grew 6 %, to PLN 2.39bn. The segment’s performance was supported by increased electricity prices, offset by higher temperatures in the 2nd half of 2018 and coal price levels. In 2018, a new multi-fuel unit at the Zofiówka CHP Plant, with a capacity of 70 MWe and 120 MWt, was brought on stream.
