Page 12 - EurOil Week 44 2022

EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil

Hungary’s MOL raises guidance

after posting gigantic Q3 profit

HUNGARY HUNGARY’S MOL has upgraded its guid- The Ebitda of the gas business increased by
ance for full-year Ebitda, adjusted for one-offs 25% y/y and 147% q/q to $38.1mn, supported
MOL gained from and at current cost of supply, from $3.3bn to by record gas prices, which drove the company’s
soaring prices. $4.1bn-4.4bn after posting record earnings in average realised hydrocarbon price to $134/boe.
the third quarter, the oil, gas and petrochemicals The consumer services Ebitda remained
giant said in a report before the bell on Novem- under pressure and reached $121mn in Q3 2022,
ber 4. mainly due to fuel price regulation.
Clean CCS Ebitda reached $1.45bn in Q3 and MOL noted that the estimated impact of
$3.63bn in Q1-Q3, exceeding analysts’ targets. fuel price regulation and windfall taxes came
Earnings were driven by the strong upstream to around $1.18bn in the first nine months. It
and downstream performance despite regula- added that the potential introduction of a Euro-
tory headwinds, such as fuel price regulation and pean Union “solidarity contribution” by mem-
windfall taxes. ber states may have “further negative impact” on
Third-quarter net income rose 66% y/y to profitability.
$658mn, but fell 5% from the previous quarter, Chairman-CEO Zsolt Hernadi acknowl-
well above the $581mn consensus. edged that macro conditions “evolved favoura-
Upstream Clean CSS Ebitda surged 97% y/y bly” for the oil and gas industry in Q1-Q3, but
in the quarter to $640mn, driven by high global said the uncertain external environment, loom-
crude prices, which averaged $98 per barrel in ing recession, state interventions and windfall
the July-September period, according to calcu- taxes “cast uncertainty over the industry”.
lations by financial website Portfolio.hu. He said MOL’s “biggest achievement” in Q3
In downstream business, adjusted Ebitda was maintaining stable fuel supplies amid “very
came in at $741mn in Q3 from $436mn a year tight” energy supply in the CEE region.
ago, but down from the record $863mn in Q2, Among highlights in Q3, MOL was awarded
even as refining margins retreated from the pre- a 35-year communal waste management conces-
vious quarter. MOL however continued to ben- sion by the state, which allows the company to
efit from the Brent-Ural spread at around $24. expand in a new, low-carbon, circular economy
Hungary received an exemption for Rus- business and to meet sustainability goals in the
sian oil in June, when EU leaders sanctioned 2030+ strategy.
imported oil from Russia, with the sanction to MOL is aiming to become net carbon-neu-
come into effect next month. Sales fell 2% y/y in tral by 2050 while shaping the low-carbon cir-
line with the completion of the planned refinery cular economy in Central-and Eastern Europe,
maintenance in Hungary. it said.™

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