Hellenic Petroleum sees sales volume grow

Greece’s biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum on Thursday reported a 20 percent rise from a year earlier in its sales volume, which came in at 4.34 million metric tons.

Core profit, or underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), stripping out oil inventory holdings, came in at 191 million euros ($208 million), down from 240 million euros a year earlier.

The figure exceeded analysts’ forecasts for underlying EBITDA of 180.7 million euros in a Reuters poll.

Hellenic, which owns three refineries in Greece, has spent 2.5 billion euros to boost capacity in recent years and increase exports of diesel and gasoline to the southeastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, which together now account for more than half of its sales.

Including oil inventories, Hellenic Petroleum’s EBITDA rose 74 percent to 199 million euros thanks to a rise in crude prices. Last year’s profit was hit hard by a plunge in oil prices.

[Reuters]