Italian petrochemical company Eni SpA posted a profit of 1.52 billion euros (105.93 billion meticals) in the second quarter of 2024, beating expectations due to the strong performance of its oil and gas exploration business. The company also increased its profit forecast for the year, now estimating it at around 15 billion euros.
According to a publication by the Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM), one of the main factors for this success was the floating natural gas platform, Coral Sul FLNG, located in the Rovuma Basin in Cabo Delgado.
Since it began operations in November 2022, the platform has exported 4.48 million tonnes of gas in 63 shipments until June 2024. However, it has not yet been revealed how much Mozambique has earned from these exports.
The Energy Connects platform, which monitors the hydrocarbon sector, confirmed these figures, which were also mentioned by President Filipe Nyusi in his speech on the General State of the Nation on 7 August.
On that occasion, despite emphasising the importance of Coral Sul FLNG for the country’s development, Nyusi did not disclose the tax revenues generated by gas exports, but said that the project is part of his legacy and strengthens Mozambique’s position in the global energy market
Eni achieved these results at a time when several European energy companies are facing difficulties, such as the fall in natural gas prices and reduced demand for fuel.
However, the rise in oil prices helped the company achieve higher than expected profits.
Eni’s exploration and production unit recorded a profit of 3.53 billion euros, 26 per cent more than the previous year.
Eni’s oil and gas production also rose by 6 per cent, reaching 1.71 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. ‘This growth was supported by the acquisition of Neptune Energy, the increase in projects in Ivory Coast and Mozambique and the increase in production in Libya,’ said the company.
For 2024, Eni expects to reach the upper limit of its production target, between 1.69 million and 1.71 million barrels per day, with the price of Brent oil above 86 dollars per barrel. In the second quarter, the company also sold an asset in Alaska and a stake in its bio-refinery unit.
‘With the progress now made on divestments, we expect leverage to be significantly below 0.2 by the end of the year, better than our original expectation,’ said Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi. ‘This will allow us to accelerate the execution of our 1.6 billion euro share buyback programme,’ he added.
To conclude, Descalzi said that, despite the positive results for Eni, Mozambique is still waiting for more clarity on the earnings from gas exports.
