MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Repsol-YPF net profits rise 29% in 2005

Spanish-Argentine oil and energy company Repsol- YPF said yesterday its net profit rose 29 percent to a record in 2005 thanks in large part to a robust fourth quarter, when earnings more than doubled.

Repsol-YPF's net profit rose to 549 million euros (US$656.4 million) in the fourth quarter of 2005 with strong refining operations offsetting another consecutive quarter of declining oil and gas production. That compared with 230 million in the same period of 2004.

Fourth-quarter revenue increased 41 percent from the same period of 2004, reaching 14.4 billion euros (US$17.22 billion).

For the full year, the oil and gas company said net profit increased to a record 3.12 billion euros from 2.41 billion in 2004. Revenue jumped 26 percent to 51.05 billion euros.

The results included the impact of a 50-million euro charge for a 25 percent downward revision of the company's hydrocarbon reserves, primarily relating to natural gas reserves in Bolivia and Argentina.

In addition to its reserves write-down, Repsol-YPF's exploration and production operations suffered from declining output in the fourth quarter. Overall production dropped to 1.089 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, or 5.1 percent less than in the same period a year before.

??It looks like a good set of numbers,'' said Lisbon-based analyst Pedro Morais of Espirito Santo, adding that the lack of negative news was a surprise after the reserves controversy.