Spanish integrated energy firm Repsol posted a third-quarter profit of €574mn ($668mn), more than triple the €166mn recorded a year earlier, driven by stronger refining margins, higher realised natural gas prices and a sharply reduced inventory loss.
The result marked Repsol's highest quarterly profit in five quarters, as negative inventory effects narrowed to €88mn from €296mn a year earlier.
Adjusted profit rose by 47pc on the year to €820mn, excluding inventory effects and around €125mn in one-off items, mainly provisions related to Repsol's Venezuelan upstream business. The result beat analyst consensus estimates of €804mn.
Repsol confirmed a year-on-year doubling of its benchmark refining margin in the third quarter, previously flagged in October. This drove a 70pc increase in adjusted profit at its industrial division to €315mn — triple the second-quarter figure.
Upstream adjusted profit rose by 11pc on the year to €317mn, supported by a 14.7pc increase in realised gas prices to $3.90/'000 ft³, which offset a 3.5pc decline in gas output to 2.02bn ft³/d. Liquids production rose by 6.4pc to 192,000 b/d, helped by the absence of force majeures in Libya and the July merger of Repsol's UK assets. This partly offset a 10.9pc drop in realised crude prices to $65.30/bl.
Lower production and exploration costs also supported upstream earnings, helping to offset the impact of dollar depreciation, higher royalties and taxes, and the negative effects of Indonesia and Colombian upstream divestments.
The Customer division reported adjusted profit of €241mn, up 34pc year-on-year, supported by higher service station sales and direct sales of LPG, power and gas, aviation fuel and asphalt.
The Low Carbon Generation segment swung to a €31mn adjusted profit from a €7mn loss a year earlier, as a 39pc increase in global power output to 3.3 TWh offset a 16pc drop in Spanish wholesale power prices. Most of Repsol's renewables assets are located in Spain.
Net debt rose to €6.89bn at end-September from €5.73bn, reflecting the cost of the UK asset merger with Neo Energy completed on 30 July.
Repsol reiterated its July guidance for 2025 production at the top of its 530,000–550,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) range. It expects operating cash flow and net investments to come in at the bottom of their respective €6.0–6.5bn and €3.5–4.0bn ranges, and plans to update its earnings guidance to 2028 in March.
