The presentation of the results for January - March 2010

Petrom, the largest oil and gas producer in Southeastern Europe, published its results for January – March 2010, on May 7, 2010 at 8:30 (local time).

• Q1/10 results supported by favorable oil price environment and optimized cost management: as the Urals crude price rose by 72% over Q1/09, clean CCS1 EBIT significantly improved compared to Q1/09, increasing more than twofold
• Economic downturn reflected in our operational results: hydrocarbon production was 4% lower than in Q1/09 and total marketing sales volumes decreased by 22%, while consolidated gas sales increased by 5% over the same period; refining margin recovered from Q4/09 lows, but middle distillate spreads remain comparatively low
• Outlook for 2010: we expect persisting volatility of both our key business drivers (crude price, refining margin indicator and FX rates), as well as the market environment in which we operate, to continue; we will continue to focus on further improving our cost position and on pursuing implementation of our considerable investment program, with half of it centered on E&P, in order to ensure our business sustainability

You can download the presentation of the results here (pdf format):
Results for January – March 2010, (PDF, 494,0 KB)

The results will also be reviewed within OMV's analysts and investor conference call broadcast as a live audio-webcast at 11.30 am (CET)/ 12.30 (Bucharest time).

Click here to acces the audio-webcast: http://www.thomson-webcast.net

Mariana Gheorghe, CEO of OMV Petrom S.A.: "In the first quarter of 2010, we managed to extend the steady improvement of our results despite the challenging business environment, when the usual seasonal effects were compounded by the economic downturn. In E&P, difficult winter conditions and natural decline impaired our production levels in Romania, whilst oil production in Kazakhstan further increased due to Komsomolskoe field being brought gradually onstream; furthermore, we continued improving our cost position. In R&M, results were supported by our optimized refinery operations and cost reductions that helped mitigate the effects of lower marketing sales volumes and lower margins. In G&P, our gas sales benefited from the difficult winter conditions, whereas the Brazi power plant construction project continued according to schedule. In order to ensure our business sustainability, we will continue to pursue our considerable investment program, with half of it centered on E&P, while also seeking the timely implementation of the share capital increase for which we received authorization from our shareholders on the April 29, 2010."