27 April 2012, Sweetcrude, HOUSTON – Eni, the Italian energy giant, posted a 42% rise in net profit for the first three months of the year as higher prices helped offset a slight dip in production.
Net profit for the first quarter of the year was €3.6 billion ($4.7 billion), up from €2.5 billion during the first quarter of 2011.
The rise in profits came as net sales from the Italian company’s operations rose 16.3% during the quarter to almost €33.5 billion.
The company’s exploration and production division posted an adjusted net profit of almost €2 billion, up nearly 9% on the €1.8 billion booked during the same period a year ago.
The strong performance from the division came as net sales from operations for the division rose 25% to more than €9.3 billion.
Helping boost the sales figures was a 12.9% rise in average Brent crude prices to $118.49 per barrel and a 2.8% increase in the price of national balance point gas to $9.34 per million British thermal units.
This assisted in offsetting a slight dip in production from an average of 1.68 million barrels of oil equivalent per day during the final quarter of 2011 to 1.67 million boepd during first quarter of 2012.
Eni said the small slip in output was due to lower production entitlements from its production sharing agreements reflecting higher oil prices.
