Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Maria, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the HELLENiQ ENERGY Holdings conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the second quarter and first half 2026 financial results. All participants will be in a listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on your telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to the HELLENiQ ENERGY Holdings management team. Gentlemen, you may now proceed.
Thank you very much. I would like to thank everybody who is spending today's afternoon to be with us in order to discuss the second quarter and the first half of 2026 results, and any issues that may arise as a result of this presentation. I would like to start, first of all, with something which is not results related, and it is something that was decided by our board of directors earlier today. It has to do with our support to areas which have been affected by the wildfires over the last few days in Greece. Over and above the usual local community support programs that we have, and they are quite extensive. We felt that the situation was quite severe, and as a result, the board approved a special contribution of EUR 25 million to be used with cooperation with the appropriate authorities.
As a means to accelerate any relief aid to people who have been affected. A lot of these areas are areas where we have operations, be it in the electricity production or in parts of Attica where we have the refineries. It is something that we feel very responsible for people in those areas. Clearly not for the fires, but for the people in those areas. I would like to say that this is a decision which has been made by the board of directors, but it was also a decision which is fully in line with our previous strategy on CSR and what our main shareholders are actually pointing to as a direction. We have received the confirmation and the, if you will, positive feedback in this respect.
At the end of the day, the company is effectively a legal vehicle for the representation of the shareholders. This is something which we feel it's important, and we should state upfront, before we go into the results. Moving on to the summary, which is page four of our presentation. Clearly, it is a quarter which has been exceptionally strong. It is a quarter which presented us with various challenges. These challenges had to do with safety issues, for example, because we completed the Aspropyrgos Refinery turnaround. That was done with success, with very good safety records, and the refinery started up operating mid to end April successfully.
We are actually seeing the benefit of a start of run refinery performance. We also had the challenges of crude supply. This continuous rollercoaster of supply routes being open, and then being closed, and then being open again. Before you actually send the ship in to the Gulf, the Gulf is closed again. It is something which has attracted a lot of our efforts, and we have managed to maintain a very high level of crude supply into our refineries.
That is something which effectively has supported the level of financial performance that we see in the quarter. In addition to that, I would like to emphasize that we are seeing, and especially in the last month or so, after the end of the quarter. We are seeing very high refining margins. That's a result of the supply-demand imbalance on products, and it's a result of restricted flows out of the Gulf.
It is a result of no Russian exports via a number of routes, and it's also a result of the last two decades of underinvestment in the European refining space, either because of economic reasons. Refinery is a cyclical business, yes, we have been enjoying good refining margins over the last period, but it has been a very long series of weak refining margins in previous years as well. A lot of majors or independent companies have not kept up with their investments in refining capacity, and this is the result of a series of years of underinvestment, leading to the supply shortage, especially in diesel in this part of the world.
In terms of operations, we have a very good run, with all of our refineries performing very well. We expect that this will continue for the rest of the year. In the third quarter of this year, we were planning to commence the refinery shutdown of Thessaloniki. This is likely to be pushed to 2027, which means that from a performance point of view, we should expect to be in a good spot given the current environment that we have. It's not just benchmarks which have done very well, it's also the overperformance or the additional performance that we are monitoring, which has been doing very well. That's a combination of two things. Much more detailed performance optimization at the refineries, which is driven by our recent investments in technology in AI and a result of the digital transformation.
Being able to extract more value out of the same molecule of hydrocarbons that goes into the refinery, but it's also a result of better coordination and performance with the supply and trading team in Greece and in Geneva, which has given us an additional agility and insight into the market, which has been able to be converted into additional profitability. The third level of performance is sales. We are doing very well at those levels. In fact, it is a case of being able to sell more than what we can produce or source at this point in time, which is very good. On the power sector, where we have the conventional, the thermal capacity and sales under Enerwave and the renewable portfolio.
The news are positive there as well. The news effectively come in the form of being able to hold a sliding performance in the old Elpedison system because of the process of changing ownership. That's been halted. The company has entered into a turnaround mode, which is evidenced by better metrics at pretty much everything. Clearly, we cannot double the financial performance of a company in a year, but the signs are very positive. On renewables, the rollout of additional megawatts is adding to the portfolio, and as a result, we are seeing some improvements there as well. On financials, I won't go into detail. Vasilis will be covering those later. It suffice to say that it is a record half year, and it looks like the remaining of the year will be at least as good, if not better.
The outlook, I just mentioned that performance for the remaining of the year is going to be at least as good. We see that subject to the two armed conflicts in Ukraine and the Gulf, we will continue to be seeing a higher than mid-cycle performance. The rollout of capacity of the renewables mainly is continuing as planned. It's up to us to effectively accelerate even faster, and the increased profitability does give us the ability to deploy faster our investment plans, both in hydrocarbons and renewables. I will end this introduction by just referring to the E&P portfolio, where we've completed the transfer of the 70% of Block 10 to Chevron, which effectively leaves us with five blocks that we are effectively exploring with Chevron. One block, which is soon to be drilled, Block 2 in the Ionian, and also two other blocks
South West Crete, which is currently 70% Exxon and 30% ourselves, and the Ionian block, which is 100% HELLENiQ. That's taking form. It is a portfolio which changes. That's the point. We focus on what we can do and what we should be looking into, utilizing international expertise, hoping that we'll be able to get something at the end of this process. Over to Konsta now for the market backup. Sorry.
Thank you, Andreas. Good afternoon. Starting off with the industry environment, the quarter was dominated by geopolitics, as has already been mentioned. There was a lot of volatility at both absolute crude prices and relative cracks. Brent prices averaged about $105. From the end of Q1, were mostly dropping up until the last few days of June. Product cracks improved during the quarter, reaching very high levels for distillates and gasoline. Smaller numbers and a small decline for Naphtha and fuel oils. Our system benchmark margin averaged $9.50 per barrel, which is a bit less than the previous quarter, but well above the $5.70 average last year, same period.
If we focus on the domestic market, the domestic market declined by 6% during the second quarter, driven mostly by the reduced LPG and gasoline demand as prices had reached high levels. Overall, diesel demand was stable, if not rising a bit. The demand in aviation fuels for the Greek airports is showing a steady increase from the start of the year and has reached 6% quarter-on-quarter raise, while bunkering has dropped a bit due to a bit lower demand of marine gas oil. Vasilis, over to you.
Thank you, Konsta. Good afternoon to all of you attending our call this afternoon. Moving on to the environment on nat gas and electricity. Effectively, as a result of the crisis, we saw natural gas prices escalating, as expected, around the 40s and 50s during the quarter, averaging 46, significantly higher than either the previous quarters or the similar quarter of last year. The impact on electricity price has been largely contained, mainly due to the fact of the penetration of renewables in the energy mix, which is certainly higher than what it used to be in a similar situation, perhaps three or four years ago with the Russian crisis. In terms of generation, the increase in renewables is also reflected here. Similar percentage at a much higher production base, and Greece being a net exporter to nearby countries.
Moving on to discuss a little bit more in detail our performance. A quarter of almost normal operations. Let me remind you that Aspropyrgos was started from the turnaround only after Easter, missed out perhaps two or three weeks from the quarter. Elefsina had a pit stop at the hydrocracker during June, a planned one, for the change of catalyst. Production and sales, much higher than last year, because last year, let me remind you, had the full turnaround at Elefsina at 3.8 million tons. For the half of the year at 6.8. Similarly, higher volumes at marketing and power. Power includes, obviously, the incorporation of Enerwave. We have the annualization. It's the last quarter that the comparables of last year did not include Enerwave.
Adjusted EBITDA of EUR 442 million for the quarter and more than EUR 700 million for the half year, with refining almost doubling its contribution for the quarter. Petrochemicals recovering from the lows of the last few quarters, mainly driven by the supply constraints due to the crisis of Hormuz. Marketing, a better performance both in our domestic business and our international, and power, largely driven by the very strong performance of Enerwave, even if we compare their reported numbers last year. Before we go to cash flow, during the first half, CapEx and investments in total exceeded EUR 400 million. This is the highest reported on a first semester ever, driven by the turnaround at Aspropyrgos Refinery that we discussed before, as well as the addition of the two PV parks in Romania with the two more coming in the next few weeks.
Despite a relatively heavy maintenance half, the normalization of working capital, because let me remind you, in the first quarter, we had the impact on the supply chain because of the Aspropyrgos turnaround together with the start of the crisis. This has largely normalized. As a result of that, the second quarter cash flow was around EUR 300 million, and the impact on the net debt versus the previous quarter was EUR 700 million, a significantly better performance. In terms of our profitability and how it would connect with last year, we discussed about the impact of benchmark margins. On top of that, we had very strong margin capture because of the crude differentials, and we certainly paid more than normal for crude supply, especially at the height of the crisis during April and May. Still, we paid much lower than what the benchmark was.
That margin capture is also reflected in the overperformance. Similarly, in terms of our operations and ability to realize, especially export premium because of the shortage in diesel and jet, we were able to maximize the production of both, with Elefsina running flat out, and to the extent possible, squeezing a bit more the production towards mid distillates because of the shortage in our markets and the region in general. That came with higher export premium that we were able to realize and achieve a much better performance in that respect. The net impact of the maintenance in terms of volumes was certainly lower because last year we had the full turnaround at Elefsina throughout the quarter, more or less. However, that came at a much lower impact in terms of lost profitability because of the very high margins, if we look at the second quarter of 2026.
One more point is the accounting profit and the cash profit that came from the farming out of Block 10 and the partnership with Chevron. That is also included in our EBITDA numbers. In terms of our balance sheet, as we discussed before, the very strong cash flows resulting in a deleverage both on an absolute basis with net debt below EUR 2 billion and having the bulk of the CapEx already behind us for the year. What is coming for the second half, there's not much in refining really as we push the Thessaloniki turnaround for next year. There is the acquisition of the two more Romanian PV parks. The battery will be connected, but the CapEx has been largely spent. There's not much we would expect compared to the first half in terms of CapEx.
The cash flow generation will be even better in the third quarter. Still, if you look even on a relative basis, a leverage of 1.3 based on our last 12 months numbers. If you look at downstream, it's actually one courtesy of both the higher profitability, higher EBITDA, but as well as the very low net debt figures on an absolute basis. We move on to discuss a little bit the business performance in each of our strategic business unit. In terms of refining, not much to add on page 15. We'll discuss more in detail about the margin capture. Almost EUR 250 million CapEx for the half, including mostly the full turnaround and the improvement works at Aspropyrgos Refinery.
Let me comment here that out of the improvement projects, we have already seen a very strong performance at Aspropyrgos Refinery, especially at the energy efficiency projects at the reformer unit. Certainly the fresh beginning of run performance is as expected and even a little bit better than we anticipated. On the operations page, let me highlight the very good yields of mid distillates, a result of Elefsina operating at full capacity, as well as our efforts and the selection of crews with the proper net backs in order to maximize output of diesel and jet. On sales, let me highlight the 270,000 tons of crude. This refers to two cargos that we were effectively able to trade during the quarter. It was a kind of difficult situation in the sense that we had to make sure that we had enough crude. The market was very volatile.
Amid this environment, our S&T team in Geneva was able to take advantage of opportunities that arose in terms of both the forward curve as well as the relative net backs between the various crude types, and made two trades in May and June with a very good outcome for the business, and financially, obviously. In terms of profitability, the benchmark margin at around $10 per barrel in the second quarter was a bit distorted in the sense that that included a significant premium on the crudes. If you would look at Brent-based refining margin, assuming that there was no cost or discount on the crude, the number would be something like double that. The over-performance includes other than the very good export premium, a significant discount, effectively, a relative discount, that we were able to realize on the crude supply versus the benchmark.
Petrochemicals, we've seen a strong spike in the benchmark PP margin, hovering even above the EUR 700 per ton. That was the average for the quarter. To a large extent, we were able to take advantage of this with the business operating normally, with the exception of the first couple of weeks of April because of no output from the Aspropyrgos splitter. Margins have corrected since, but still, they are in areas much better and much more favorable than the previous few quarters. In terms of our fuels marketing business, important to note, a very difficult environment in the sense that the prices were high. Consumption was slightly affected, but more so on the premium fuels that we've been focusing a lot on in the last few years. We also had the margin cap for several weeks during the crisis.
Despite this environment, our business continued delivering much better results. A very strong momentum that we capitalized on. A very good performance, improved NFR, and overall, better stability, both on the quarter and the six-month basis. In the second quarter, also, very strong aviation business performance that we were able to take advantage of. In our international marketing business, the backdrop in the sense of sanctions affecting refineries in the region and reducing supply options brings all the group companies at a much better position, and having to cover the shortfall.
The operation now, it's already more than six months of the diesel converted pipeline between the Thessaloniki refinery and our OKTA facilities enables the transfer of products at a much lower cost and much higher volumes in order to cover also the deficit in the market, and as a result of that, improved volumes, mostly on the wholesale, as well as EBITDA. At this point, I'll pass you over to George Alexopoulos, that will discuss our power business. George?
Thank you, Vasilis. Good afternoon, everybody. On page 24, we show our power business key numbers. Since we did not consolidate Enerwave and Elpedison in Q2 of 2025, we're showing it on a pro forma basis to enable comparisons. On the operating capacity, we have about 60 MW more as a result of the completion of two of our Romanian PVs. Power generation is essentially flat, although the mix is somewhat different. EBITDA is considerably higher as a result of a marked improvement on the Enerwave side. Both the turnaround of the retail business and better balancing market opportunities contributed to this increase. On the renewables side, we're starting to see the contribution of our Romanian assets. The market remained challenging in Greece as a result of curtailments and very low prices during the midday hours.
I will skip page 25 with the numbers, I'm sure you have reviewed them, and go to page 26 to update you on our renewables development plan. As you can see on the graph on the left side, we have currently over half a gigawatt under construction. Most of the projects are in Southeastern Europe. Out of these projects, we expect to have 250 MW of PV and battery projects entering operation in this quarter. The path to 1.5 GW by 2028 remains secure.
Through our pipeline, we can also comfortably achieve the 2 GW target in 2030. Our technology mix remains diverse, both at the operating level and the pipeline level. As we roll out our plans in Southeastern Europe, our geographical diversification increases. With this, I think I will close our presentation. I will turn it over to questions. Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Those participating via the webcast, you may submit your written questions using the Ask a Question window. To our audio participants, please use your handset when asking your question for better quality. Anyone who has a question may press star one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. The first question is from the line of George Grigoriou with Wood & Co. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. I've got three, please. I'll shoot them all out together. One, if you could please explain in the refining segment, the main difference between reported EBITDA and adjusted, given that Brent prices towards the end of the second quarter were lower than what they were at the end of the first quarter. That is my first question. The other question relates to marketing. There was a substantial decrease in the number of petrol stations quarter-over-quarter.
I presume that relates to dealer-owned network. If you could give us some color on how you see that evolving in the remainder of the year or going forward, if you like. My third question is, you mentioned something about an accounting gain from the farm out of your E&P, if you could explain to us a bit more what that main gain at the other line in EBITDA relates to. Whether that is actually net of taxes, or capital gain. Thank you.
Vasilis, do you want to take at least the first and the third question?
Yeah, sure. Thank you. Thank you, George, for the question. In terms of our reported versus adjusted EBITDA, 95% is inventory gains. In the first quarter, we recorded something like EUR 150 million. The reason for that, two reasons. One is we don't do FIFO, we do weighted average. The increase of the prices takes some time to replenish through our inventory. The price increase takes some time to get through both ways, and that explains also how we see the decline. That's one thing. The second is that the crude we acquired versus the benchmark, first of all, is the date of Brent versus the ICE, and the premium on top of that. The realized price of procurement is actually higher than the Brent price that you see on the screen.
The third one is that we were a little bit late to record those numbers because of the lower sales in March, because of the Aspropyrgos turnaround. The result of that is pushing the inventory gains mostly in April and May effectively. In June, we recorded a small loss, to be honest, because the prices went down. The prices went up a bit. Let's see in the third quarter if prices remain at EUR 80 or below, then we should see additional losses.
The partial offset of the gains recorded so far. In terms of the impact of the farm out with Chevron, effectively the agreement was a cash consideration for the expenses that we have paid up until the farming of Chevron. That was around EUR 17 million, which given the fact that those have gone through our OpEx in the previous years, it's a gain of EUR 17 million, which is net of taxes. There's no impact in terms of tax.
Okay. On petrol stations, I think your comment is spot on, George. It's an ongoing process of reducing the DODOs, which are underperforming and replacing them partly with CODOs or with better performing stations. It is a trend that will continue. It's difficult to predict what is going to be the magnitude of the network reduction. As you might know, we've seen reductions of 3,000, 3,500 petrol stations increase over the last 10 years, 10-15 years. It's a one way street. We'll see how that goes. There is a plan, which will take the number of petrol stations even lower.
Okay. Thank you. Vasilis, sorry, just to follow up on that net capital gain of EUR 17 million you mentioned. The reported and the adjusted numbers are shown in the presentation. There's a difference about EUR 13 million. Can you please explain that as well, if you can, while you're at it? Thank you, and I'll finish off here. Thank you.
Sorry, Grigoriou, which number you're referring?
Yes. On the presentation at the end on page 31 of the presentation, where it shows the breakdown of reported and adjusted EBITDA. The other, which includes mainly E& P, between adjusted and reported, there's a EUR 13 million difference. In the second booth.
Okay. Maybe, Vasilis, if you cannot see it now, maybe there's a point of picking that later.
Yeah.
Calling George to sort it out.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you, George.
The next question is from the line of Christiana Armpounioti with Eurobank Equities. Please go ahead.
Hello. Congratulations for the results. One question from me. Could you clarify whether the EUR 20 million contribution aimed at lowering fuel prices at the pump represents one-off measure only for August, or whether you could consider extending similar support over the coming months if prices remain elevated? In relation to that, do you have any insight into following this action, whether the government could still be considering a windfall tax on excess refining profits, as we saw in Portugal? Thank you very much.
Well, thanks. Very relevant questions. Going the wrong way for the results, of course. On the discounts, we have offered a EUR 0.10 and EUR 0.05 per liter effective discount at the pump price. For us, you have to take out the VAT cost. In reality, the value of that discount is going to be higher than EUR 30 million, simply because volumes are picking up. We are not seeing any real demand destruction as a result of high prices. It's going to be a little bit higher than that number. In the context of things, still a very manageable number. We have not made any decision whether we will continue for the following months. There are two issues here. The first one is the absolute level of pricing. That level is changing on a daily basis.
As you may have seen, product prices have dropped significantly, this will find its way into the pump price over the next few days, unless there is another change in the Arabian Gulf situation. It's very difficult to be able to see what's going to happen. Clearly, our performance has been very good, and it's going to be even better in the third quarter. To the extent that we can afford and, in a responsible way, responsible meaning to all stakeholders, provide some price support to maintain the demand for private consumers, especially in the period, which is very sensitive for Greece, I would not count out a continuation of this process. It's early days.
Now, on the windfall tax, we've seen what Portugal has done. Portugal is a totally different case, much smaller system, much lower investment in refining. They don't have enough products to serve their own market. It's a bit of an easy case for them. Much smaller numbers as well. I think it's roughly 200,000 bpd refinery, compared to just under one million barrels per day refining capacity increase. It is something which is a totally different ball game.
Very difficult to say what's going to happen. This is clearly something that the government will have to be taking as a question. I will leave it there. From our end, we're doing what we can to provide support to the Greek market, as part of the profitability that we are enjoying, mainly from international factors and exports. We are sort of doing in a prudent and responsible way, a rebalancing through our commercial policy. I don't have anything else to add on this front, so we'll have to wait what the government will decide, if they decide on anything.
Thank you very much.
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone. There are no further audio questions. I will now pass the floor to Mr. Katsenos to accommodate any written questions from the webcast participants. Mr. Katsenos, please proceed.
Thank you, operator. We do have some questions through the webcast. The first question comes from Optima Bank. Konstantinos Komnos, who asks, "Could you update us on the North Ionian exploration program with ExxonMobil and Energean? Are you still targeting the first exploration well in first Q2 2027, and what are the key milestones over the coming quarters?
Okay. George, you want to take this?
Sure. Nothing has changed. We're still targeting Q1 of 2027. There is currently the environmental permitting process, which is required in those cases. The drill ship has been reserved. It was reserved earlier this year. The program is on track, and we expect to be drilling with our partners in Q1 of 2027.
Thank you. We do have another question from Edison Research, Nicholas Layton. "Please could you discuss your outlook for refining margins in 2027 and beyond under three scenarios? First, continued Middle East disruption. Second, a return to 2023 conditions. Third, a return to 2019 conditions, pre-COVID and pre-Ukraine.
The second part of the question is, how do you view HELLENiQ's renewables business as the energy transition evolves towards a more balanced energy mix? Is your capital allocation strategy flexible if market views on wind and solar continue to change? The third part of the question, should investors increasingly view HELLENiQ as a company with a greater focus on exploration? If exploration is successful, how could this change HELLENiQ's long-term strategic positioning?
Okay. A question which covers pretty much most of our portfolio. I think we left engineering out and retail. Nevertheless, very relevant and thoughtful question. I cannot, in all honesty, tell you which of the three scenarios will prevail. What I will tell you, it doesn't mean I can't, but what I will tell you is that my prediction is that the refining margins in 2027 will remain high. They will remain high not only because of the crisis, but because there are fundamental reasons why they cannot go back to where they were 10 years ago. Demand is increasing. Demand for energy is increasing. Demand for hydrocarbons is increasing. We are seeing regional imbalances.
We are seeing disruptions to supply, either because of wars or geopolitical issues, or because of the need to upgrade refineries. Make no mistake, the refining market and assets in terms of capacity and conversion is not the same as it was five years ago. It is not the same as it was before the beginning of the war. You will be having an ongoing demand increase, you will be having less supply, and you will be having either crisis, meaning war, or you will have countries coming out of war, which means reconstruction. Overall, I am a little bit more positive on the expectation for the refining margins and the refining business overall. Renewables, I do not know, you want to take that as a general comment? I think you have covered it.
Yeah, sure. First of all, I think we have said from when we started with Vision 2025, that our approach is actually a balanced approach. While we support the energy transition and we are investing in renewables, we also see a continued relevance of hydrocarbons for many years to come. This has not changed, and in fact, I would say it is being confirmed. Regarding our focus, we do take into account developments.
We are investing in a balanced renewables mix, which includes wind and solar, but also energy storage, which is essential for the increased penetration of renewables, either in the form of standalone storage or hybrid renewable projects or co-located storage. We see relevance in this approach, and frankly, we expect growth in our renewables business, but also in our downstream business as well.
That is in a natural balanced approach, which we have adapted since Vision 2025, and it is something that we are very careful. We are growing into green energy, but we are doing that in a prudent way and in a balanced way. On exploration, I would not expect the company to become an exploration super major. Okay? I stand to be corrected in a few months, and I will not complain if I am. I do not expect the structure of the company to change significantly.
Thank you. We do have another question from Beta Securities, from Agapi Mavrogianni. Congratulations on the results. Two questions from my side. Following your geographical expansion strategy in renewables business, would you consider further investment beyond Bulgaria and Romania? First, 1H 2026 cash flow generation has been strong. Do you intend to offer an increased dividend?
I will take the question on the geographical expansion. Look, we have a regional expansion strategy building on our renewables, but also our conventional assets and our energy management position, our market position. We see our focus in markets like Bulgaria and Romania, which are interconnected to Greece, and they follow more or less the pricing of Greece. They also offer, at this point, better opportunities, being less mature markets. Will we consider other countries consistent with this strategy? I suppose we could, but it is more important at this point to build material positions in these markets as a priority.
Okay. Now, on dividends, Vasilis, are you planning to share any good news with us?
Okay. Let me remind you, our dividend policy is to distribute anywhere between 35%-50%, that is the range of the adjusted net income. Considering certainly other things like cash flows, CapEx, taxes, so all those things have to be considered when time comes. Certainly, we are looking towards an improved profitability versus last year. Someone could expect that on absolute basis, the total payout should be higher. I think we will be able to become a little bit more specific with the Q3 results announcement, that we usually announce also our interim dividend.
Thank you, Vasilis. We have another question through the webcast from Morgan Stanley, Sylvia Richards. How do you see refining margins developing into year-end? Secondly, have you increased your market share in international exports, taking market share from customers usually served from Russia? Third, have you been seeing any demand destruction in Greece or your other export markets?
Thank you. I'll take it from the top. As Andreas already mentioned, our outlook for refining margins is strong. In the months following the end of Q2, cracks and margins have reached quite high levels, and we expect that to persist given the bottleneck in refining capacity, as was explained. Increased market share international exports. Market share international exports is a bit of a strange term, but our international exports have increased.
There's elevated interest from the Black Sea, which was, as said, previously served by Russia. The Black Sea area would be an area where you're seeing substitution quite vividly. For the other markets, there's nothing particular. Demand destruction in Greece or other export markets. For Greece, we haven't seen any major demand destruction. In fact, demand for diesel has probably increased a bit. Demand for jet has increased significantly. It's a record aviation year. There are small drops in general retail, things like gasoline and LPG, but small numbers. Thank you.
Thank you, Konsta. We have another question from Sefton Place Advisors, Nick Linnane, who asks, "In the current security environment, would you purchase crude to be loaded at Yanbu? What about crude loading inside the Arabian Gulf?
Last one's easier. Loading inside the Arabian Gulf has been suspended since the war broke out, as no international maritime organization could provide any solid safety clearance. For Yanbu, it would be on a more case-by-case basis. It is less risky. It's much easier for us to load at Sidi Kerir inside the Med for the same grade.
Thank you. Operator, we don't have any other questions through the webcast. Back to you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I'll now turn the conference over to management for any closing statements. Thank you.
Once again, thank you for attending the call. Overall, a very good quarter on all fronts, which is very reassuring for us. I believe that the company is demonstrating, in the best possible way, that it has come a long way over the last few years. We have the improvement in every single aspect of our operations. We are deploying a very solid, well-thought-out, and well-implemented strategic plan without delaying, without spending money where we don't see value. Of course, being in a position to take advantage of very good backdrop in refining. The remaining of the year looks to be at least as good as the first half of the year. I would dare say that 2027, if not 2028 as well, also look very positive.
With that, we expect that we'll be able to take the company into even better performance levels in the coming years. Take the advantage of this run of good results and good background, good environment to accelerate the transformation of the company, invest both within our own core business in Greece, but also expand internationally and accelerate the transition into cleaner forms of energy. Thank you very much. I wish everybody to have a relaxed August, with no more fires, hopefully, in Greece. We'll be back with you in the next few weeks. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a pleasant evening.