Repsol returns to profit as energy prices soar

Spanish oil giant Repsol said Thursday it returned to profit in 2021 on the back of soaring energy prices, even as it battles a spill in Peru.

The world’s biggest oil companies have been reporting hefty earnings for 2021 as oil and gas prices recover due to soaring demand.

Repsol’s net profit reached a better-than-expected 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) last year after a loss of 3.3 billion euros in 2020, when the onset of the pandemic roiled the global economy and energy markets.

It was the company’s “strongest set of results in a decade”, Repsol chief executive Josu Jon Imaz said in a statement.

“We are coming out of 2021 with a solid financial position, ready to accelerate our strategy to be a net zero (emissions) company by 2050 through the improvement of our intermediate decarbonisation targets,” he said.

The group inaugurated its first solar farm south of Madrid in June, with a 126.6-megawatt capacity to supply power to 71,000 homes.

It has also invested in a wind farm in Zaragoza in partnership with the billionaire founder of the Zara fashion brand, Amancio Ortega.

Imaz said Repsol would raise dividends to shareholders in 2022 to 0.63 euros per share.

The group has scrambled to clean up an environmental catastrophe in Peru as thousands of barrels of crude spilled into the sea last month when a tanker was unloading oil at a Repsol-owned refinery.

“The company is making every effort to mitigate and remedy the effects of the spill and ratifies its commitment to collaborate with the Peruvian authorities and the affected communities,” Repsol said Thursday.

Repsol has previously vowed to finish the clean-up by March.

vab/abx/lth/jv