Page 12 - Euroil Week 38 2019

EurOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
EurOil
MOL joins central bank bond-buying scheme
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL auctioned HUF28.4bn (€85.4mn) of bonds
in the framework of the National Bank of Hungary’s (MNB’s) Bond Funding for Growth Scheme (BGS) on September 20.
The ten-year bonds, issued in a private placement, carry a 2% annual coupon. They were sold at a yield of 1.9055%, a 73bp spread over mid-swaps. MOL said it had achieved “highly competitive financing conditions” with the transaction.
The transaction is relatively small for the likes of MOL, which usually goes to the market for five times that size of funding.
The company did not say what the inflows will be used for, but it definitely sees an attractive opportunity in the MNB programme to increase forint-denominated financing.
MOL intends to have the bonds listed on XBond, a multilateral trading facility operated by the Budapest Stock Exchange
The central bank launched the HUF300bn bond purchase scheme in
the summer with the aim of beefing up Hungary’s relatively small corporate bond market. The programme limits the MNB’s purchases to 70% of a series and caps
its exposure to any corporate group at HUF20bn.
So far some 150 companies with combined total assets close to 15% of GDP have registered for the scheme.
bne IntelliNews, September 22 2019
Brod refinery cuts 70 jobs,
to lay off 88 more by end-
2020
Bosnia’s sole oil refinery Rafinerija Nafte Brod has fired 70 people and plans to lay off 88 more by the end of 2020, Indikator.ba reported on September 24.
The refinery ended 2018 with a net loss of BAM10.9mn (€5.6mn), significantly lower compared to the BAM15.03mn net loss posted a year earlier. The better performance came thanks to much lower costs.
According to Indikator.ba, the refinery’s existence following the job cuts is in question. It added no further details.
The refinery is controlled by Russia’s NeftegazInKor, which also owns Bosnian lubricants maker Rafinerija Ulja Modrica, fuel stations chain Nestro Petrol and
their umbrella company Optima Group. NeftegazInKor, which is controlled by Zarubezhneft, bought majority stakes in the Bosnian companies in 2007.
In June 2018, Zarubezhneft said it was ready to cut its stake in Bosnian refineries
Brod and Modric, planning to attract other investors, as its main mandate is upstream project. Brod and Modric are the only downstream assets of Zarubezhneft, in which it holds 80% and 75.7%, respectively.
bne IntelliNews, September 24 2019
Serica eyes North Sea expansion, quits Ireland
UK-based Serica Energy is looking for acquisition opportunities, after swinging back to profit in the first half, the company said in its interim statement on September 24.
Serica now controls 98% of the Bruce field, 100% of the Keith field and 50% of the Rhum field, all situated in the North Sea, after purchasing stakes from BP and other companies last year. Prior to the deals its only source of production was the North Sea’s Erskine field.
The company posted a pre-tax profit of £52mn ($64.6mn) in the six-month period, versus an £8mn loss a year earlier, on £146.3 million in revenues. It produced 31,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day during the year and has provided a full-year guidance of 26,000-30,700 boepd.
Its steady cash growth and lack of debts has put Serica in a good position to “pursue further value-accretive opportunities,” it said.
However, it also announced its withdrawal
P12
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
Week 38 26•September•2019