Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to OMV Petrom’s Earnings Call . Today's presentation will last around 30 minutes and will be recorded. By now, you should have received the presentation by email. The slides and the speech are also available online on www.omvpetrom.com in the Investors section. These also include the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements. Now, let me hand over to Simona Crutu, Manager of the Investor Relations and Stakeholder Engagement Department, who will moderate the event.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us. We'll have a presentation followed by a Q&A session. Christina Verchere, Chief Executive Officer, will provide the key highlights about the macroeconomic and the regulatory environment and the Q3 operational performance. Alina Popa, Chief Financial Officer, will give you more details on our financial performance and the brief outlook. Afterwards, they will be available to answer your questions. We recommend that you register for the Q&A session during the presentation by pressing star one one on your telephone keypad. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised . You can also register during the Q&A session itself. I'm now handing over to Christina.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome from my side. Thank you for joining our call. It is a real pleasure to present our performance for the Q3 of 2023. Please let me first draw your attention to our legal disclaimer, which you can read in detail on slide 2. Let me start by taking a look at the evolution of commodity prices in the Q3 of 2023. Brent price increased by 11% versus the previous quarter and averaged $87 per barrel. This evolution was a result of the voluntary Saudi Arabian production cuts, reduced Russian exports and drawdown in global oil inventories. In a year-on-year comparison, the average Brent price was down by 14%.
OMV Petrom indicator refining margin reached $16.81 per barrel in the Q3, slightly lower year-on-year, driven by lower product spreads, mainly for diesel and jet. In the natural gas market, European spot prices continued to decline, reflecting the weaker demand and the higher storage levels. At an average of 34 EUR per MWh, the CEGH price was down by 83% from the exceptionally high levels in the Q3 of 2022, and by 9% quarter-on-quarter. Following the trend in European markets, gas prices on the Romanian centralized market also decreased, with day-ahead prices lower by 82% year-on-year to an average of 31 EUR per MWh. Baseload electricity prices in Romania, in euro terms, decreased by 75% from the high levels recorded in the Q3 of 2022, but increased by 12% quarter-on-quarter.
The average CO₂ price increased year-on-year by 6% to 84 EUR per tonne. Moving to the Romanian macroeconomic environment, the latest available data shows that in the second quarter of 2023, GDP increased by 2.6% year-on-year, mostly supported by services. In October, IMF revised slightly upwards its estimates for 2023 GDP growth to 2.8% from 2.4%. For 2024, the GDP growth is estimated at around 3.8%. The fund considers that Romania has managed relatively well the economic shocks from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the resulting surges in energy and food prices. The Consumer Price Index for the month of September 2023 versus September 2022 was 8.8% on a downward trend, still at high levels compared to most EU countries.
Looking at the Romanian energy sector in the Q3 of 2023, the demand for gas and power further decreased, although at a lower pace than in the first half of the year. According to our internal estimates, gas demand decreased by 10% year-on-year, reflecting mainly reduced overall industrial gas offtake. Power demand was lower by 4% year-on-year, while domestic power production was relatively flat, Romania being a net importer of power in the Q3. Power production from hydro renewables had a significantly higher contribution to the generation mix. Nuclear slightly increased, while coal and gas significantly decreased year-on-year. Based on our estimates, the demand for retail fuels increased in the Q3 by around 5% year-on-year, driven by lower prices, while the commercial market demand increased by 14% year-on-year, boosted by the expansion of road construction activities.
It's been more than 1 year since the Romanian government implemented measures to address the high gas and power prices, regulations that will be in place from April 2022 until March 2025. These have also impacted the Q3 of 2023, as around 70% of our gas portfolio was subject to regulations, while for the full year 2023, we expect this weight to be close to 80%. When it comes to electricity, all our sales in Romania were subject to some form of regulation or taxation in the Q3. In September, the government proposed a set of fiscal measures in order to reduce the high budget deficit with the law published in the Official Gazette last week.
The two main provisions impacting our company are, first, an additional tax of 0.5% on turnover for companies operating in the oil gas sector, applicable in 2024 and 2025. Second is a tax of 1% on companies' revenues, which exceed EUR 50 million, payable only if 1% of companies' revenues is greater than the 16% corporation profit tax. This tax is applicable from the start of 2024. We estimate the yearly impact on OMV Petrom financials to be less than EUR 50 million for the next two years and lower thereafter. However, the exact fiscal burden only can be assessed after the secondary legislation is published. An emergency ordinance introducing higher royalty rates for oil and gas was adopted by the Romanian government last Friday.
According to our preliminary estimates, based on our current understanding, these new rates apply prospectively to future concession agreements, and we expect no impact in the short term. Romania already has one of the highest effective tax rates for hydrocarbon production in Europe. As previously mentioned, we need a stable and supportive fiscal and legacy framework in order to implement our future investment plans. On slide six, we present the key highlights for the quarter. Our financial performance was the best quarterly result recorded this year. Still, it reflected the lower commodity prices from the exceptionally high levels recorded last year. This was partially compensated by the resilience of our business, including sales optimization measures, as well as a continued focus on cost and working capital.
At RON 2.5 billion, our Clean CCS operating result was 40% lower compared to the record high result in the Q3 of last year. Our operating cash flow reached RON 3 billion and decreased only by 6% year-on-year, as lower EBIT was largely offset by an improved working capital position. The Clean CCS return on average capital employed remained robust at 25 percentage points. In exploration and production, the decreased result is mainly due to lower commodity prices and sales volumes. The result in refining and marketing was driven by the lower contribution from retail and commercial channels due to lower margins. In gas and power, the result was impacted by the challenging market environment and additional regulatory interventions. I will detail later on our operational performance. We are further focused on delivering on our three strategic directions.
In our strategic pillar, Grow Regional Gas, following the endorsement by the regulator, the field development plan of the Neptun Deep project, we signed the main contract for the offshore facilities with an estimated total gross value of EUR 1.6 billion. We continued the awarding of additional key contracts as well as permitting activities. Regarding our renewable power portfolio, following the signing of the financing contracts to build four PV parks totaling 450 MW with CE Oltenia, the public tendering for the EPCC contract was launched. On alternative mobility, 175-178 fast and ultra-fast charging points were installed by the end of September 2023, while our plan by year-end is to reach around 270 charging points, partially within partnerships.
In our third strategic pillar, optimizing our traditional business, we finalized ahead of plan, the rollout of our partnership with Auchan in our Petrom-branded filling stations. I will go into this in more detail later on. Regarding gas supplies, in August, we signed an 18-month contract for the purchase of natural gas with BOTAŞ, the National Oil and Gas Company from Turkey. Through this contract, we ensure access to a new source of natural gas for Romania, and we contribute to the consolidation of the country's energy supply. At the same time, we also announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding regarding LNG supplies. In the Q3, we also made gas exports to Moldova of 1 terawatt hour. In addition, we are also delivering on our commitment to offer attractive shareholder returns.
In September, the General Meeting of Shareholders approved the distribution of a special dividend of 0.045 RON per share, and the payment starting on the 19th of November. Together with the base dividend distributed in the second quarter, this has led to total dividends paid this year of 5.1 billion RON, a record high in OMV Petrom's history. On HSSE, the total recordable injury rate for the rolling period, October 2022 to September 2023, was 0.51. Moreover, we further continue our efforts to reduce GHG intensity with projects in all three business segments. As a recognition of our continued focus to increase GHG performance and disclosure, our scores from top rating agencies were reconfirmed. Sustainalytics places us in the top fifth percentile within the oil and gas producers industry, while EcoVadis maintained our silver medal.
Now a few words on our partnership with Auchan. As a leading provider of products and services for mobility in the region, we are constantly looking for new ways to bring value and create an enhanced experience for our customers. To this end, starting with 2019 and accelerating in 2021, we have partnered with Auchan to open My Auchan proximity stores in almost 400 Petrom-branded filling stations, a successful project finalized on budget and one year ahead of plan. The project has already shown its strengths even during the rollout period. First, to our customers by offering them the opportunity to save time and further benefit from Petrom's value for money proposition.
And second, as a margin business for the company, by contributing to the almost 40% increase since the deployment in the non-fuel business turnover in the Petrom network, and to the 55% increase in the group's non-fuel business margin compared to 2020. This is an important step towards delivering our 2030 retail strategy, and we continue to work on new initiatives to benefit our customers. On slide 8, I would like to present our operational performance, and I will start with exploration and production. Hydrocarbon production decreased by 3%, reflecting the natural decline in the main fields, partly offset by the contribution of workovers and new wells. However, compared to the previous quarter, the hydrocarbon production was broadly flat, while gas production even increased, a better-than-expected performance.
Production cost per barrel of oil equivalent increased year-on-year to $16.20, reflecting mainly the unfavorable FX trend, lower production available for sale, and increased costs. In refining and marketing, refining utilization rate was 95%, below the more than usual performance rate of just below 100%, reflecting the prolonged turnaround of the refinery into the Q3 due to discovery maintenance. Total refined product sales volumes increased by 1% year-on-year, while our retail sales volumes were up by 2%, supported by higher demand. In gas and power, total gas sales volumes were up by 19% year-on-year, a very good performance in the context of decreased consumption at national level. This performance reflects our strong end customer sales performance, the higher Brazi offtake, and our deliveries to the regulated market.
The Brazi power plant generated an electrical output of 1.5 terawatt-hours, the highest level of production for a Q3 since the start of operations, 4% up year-on-year and representing 11% in Romania's generation mix. Moving now to Slide 9. Total organic CapEx amounted to RON 3.4 billion in the first nine months of 2023, higher by 48% year-on-year. Half of this was directed to exploration production, where we finalized the drilling of 31 new wells and sidetracks, including 2 exploration wells, and we performed around 360 workover jobs. In refining and marketing, most of the RON 1.6 billion investments were dedicated to a major turnaround at our Petrobrazi refinery, as well as to the ongoing projects such as the new crude oil tank and new aromatic complex.
In the Q3, we also successfully finalized the replacement of four coke drums at the Petrobrazi refinery, a project totaling approximately RON 350 million. In gas and power, most investments were allocated for the planned maintenance shutdown at the Brazi power plant. For 2023, we slightly decreased our CapEx guidance to up to RON 5.5 billion from the previous guidance of around RON 6 billion. This decrease is mainly in gas and power, due to the revised timing of our renewables projects into 2024. Please let me hand over to Alina, who will go into more details about the financials and outlook.
Thank you, Christina, and good afternoon also from my side. I will continue the presentation with slide 11, starting with some highlights on the income statement, with focus on the developments of the Q3 of 2023. Sales decreased by 43% year-on-year, following lower commodity prices and lower sales of electricity. The decrease was only partially compensated by higher sales volumes of natural gas and refined products. Clean operating results in exploration and production stood at RON 1.1 billion, lower than RON 1.4 billion in the Q3 of last year. This was driven by lower oil and gas prices, lower sales volumes, unfavorable FX effect due to weaker US dollar versus RON, and higher production costs, partly offset by lower E&P taxation.
Clean CCS operating results in refining and marketing reached almost RON 1 billion, 26% lower year-on-year, mainly due to lower retail and commercial margins. Clean operating result in gas and power was lower by 66% year-on-year, at RON 437 million, in the context of steep decrease of gas and power prices and significant regulatory and fiscal intervention. The clean consolidation line stood at -RON 4 million in the Q3 of 2023. Consequently, the group clean CCS operating results decreased by 40% year-on-year to RON 2.5 billion, the highest quarterly operating result this year. For the Q3 of 2023, we recorded inventory holding gains of RON 94 million, mainly reflecting the increase of crude prices over the quarter.
For comparison, in the Q3 of last year, we recorded inventory holding losses of RON 143 million. Net special charges of RON 207 million were recorded in the Q3 of 2023, driven mainly by the net temporary effects from forward power contracts. For comparison, in the Q3 of 2022, the net special gains of RON 1.1 billion were related mainly to temporary gains from forward power contracts. The clean CCS net income attributable to stockholders decreased by 44% year-on-year to RON 2.1 billion. As mentioned in our previous conference call, the new legislation, issued in May 2023, introduced the obligation to pay a Solidarity Contribution for the crude oil process for 2022 and 2023.
Consequently, the Q3 of 2023 has an impact from solidarity contribution of RON 372 million, presented as a separate line in the consolidated income statement below the operating result line. This contribution is treated as special item in the computation of clean CCS net income. Therefore, the reported net income attributable to stockholders decreased by 64% year-on-year to RON 1.6 billion. Let me go on to slide 12, which shows the major building blocks for the development of the clean CCS operating result. I will start with exploration and production. The market effect deviation of -RON 67 million reflects the negative effect of lower oil and gas prices, partly compensated by the positive effect of lower EMP taxes.
For gas, this year, taxes reflected higher regulated sales quantities, which are exempted from overtaxation and for which royalties are calculated at kept prices instead of sales. The operational effects include mainly the lower hydrocarbon sales, higher depreciation, and higher production cost. Looking at the lower chart, the negative market effect in refining and marketing reflects the lower refining margin, driven by lower product spreads, mainly for diesel and jet. Operational effects were negative due to the lower retail and commercial margins and prolonged turnaround of Petrobrazi refinery. These were only partially compensated by the higher retail sales volumes, as well as an improved performance in the non-fuel business margin. In gas and power, the significantly lower market price environment led to reduced realized margins from both equity and third parties gas.
Transactions with third-party gas, mainly outside Romania, decreased both in terms of volumes and margins from the very high levels recorded in the Q3 of 2022. The power business result reflected a 4% higher net electrical output and increased margin contribution from transactions outside Romania, largely compensating the impact of lower market prices. On slide 13, I would like to continue with the highlights regarding our cash flow statement. In the Q3 of 2023, the operating cash flow was RON 3 billion, and dropped by only 6% year-on-year, supported by strong net working capital management. In the Q3 of 2023, we recorded a cash outflow from working capital changes of RON 39 million, compared to a cash outflow of RON 1.3 billion in the Q3 of 2022.
Our net payments for investing activities amounted to RON 1.7 billion, higher by 125% year-on-year, due to increased advanced payments for Neptun project following final investment decision, and also payments for government bonds and treasury bills in the Q3 of 2023. The net cash position, including leases, increased to RON 14.5 billion at the end of the Q3, versus RON 12.3 billion at the end of the similar period of 2022. Let me continue our presentation with the outlook on slide 14. We revised upwards our expectations in terms of Brent oil price for 2023, and we see it now to be above $80 per barrel.
Our hydrocarbon production delivery has performed better than expected so far this year, and therefore, we have fine-tuned our expectations for the full year at more than 112,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. This would result in a year-on-year decline of up to 6%, better than our previous guidance of 8% decline. The production cost estimate intent is maintained at around $16 per barrel of oil equivalent for the year. In refining and marketing, we revised upwards our estimate for the average refining margin, now expected between $12 and $14 per barrel in 2023. The refinery utilization rate is maintained at around 80%, considering the prolonged major refinery turnaround.
As Christina mentioned earlier, CapEx is expected to be up to RON 5.5 billion for the full year 2023, of which RON 2.8 billion dedicated to EMP. In 2023, we expect a positive free cash flow before dividends, yet lower compared to 2022, mainly due to higher investment and the payment of the solidarity contribution. The contribution for 2023, of around RON 1.3 billion, is due for payment at the end of June 2024. We estimate demand for retail fuel products in Romania to be slightly above 2022. Demand for gas and power is expected to be significantly lower compared to the previous year. We expect total refined product sales to decline compared to 2022 due to lower exports year-on-year, while our retail fuel sales are expected to increase year-on-year.
Our total gas sales volumes are envisaged to decrease, mainly on lower supply, both from equity and third parties, as well as depressed demand. The net electrical output is expected to be lower year-on-year in the context of the extended Brazi power plant outage. For 2024 and 2025, we maintain the, for the time being, our guidance communicated early this year. With this, I close our presentation, and thank you for your attention. We are now available for your questions.
Thank you, Alina. Let me remind you that if you want to ask a question, you need to press star one one on your telephone keypad. We kindly ask you to limit to three questions per participant. Once again, to ask a question, please press star one one. We'll pause for a moment to assemble the queue.
Thank you. We will take our first question, and your question comes from the line of Iuliana Ciopraga from Wood & Company. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi, good afternoon, and thank you for the presentation. I have a number of questions, actually. So first on the royalties, is so the change in royalties, would that impact Neptun? And you're mentioning there is no short-term impact, but when do you expect to see any impact? Can you comment anything on the duration of the existing concession agreements? Second, if financial results turn negative, this quarter, and interest income is actually lower compared with previous quarters, is there one out there? I mean, you do mention something about receivables, but I just wanted to understand if it's not one of the negative results we're seeing this quarter.
And also in the net debt, net position, net cash actually position that you're reporting, do you include the financial assets, the short-term financial assets? I guess that's the treasury bill that you mentioned. And also, if I may, one final question regarding production. I mean, production, you're guiding that production will be better than initially, initial guidance, but you haven't changed yet the guidance for the following two years. Is that a one-off what we're seeing right now in terms of production, or you will just revise production a bit later? Thank you.
Thank you, Iuliana . Maybe, Alina, you want to take the royalties, and I'll come in with the production, and we can follow with the other two, yeah?
Mm-hmm. Yes, I'll start with royalties.
Yeah.
Hello, Iuliana, from my side, and thank you for the questions. So on the royalties, as you can, as you know, it's quite a recent piece of legislation, so we got it last Friday, as well. Based on our current understanding, basically, the new government ordinance, which introduces the new royalty rates, is not applicable to us in the short term , as we have royalty rates in our concession. Consequently, this does not apply to Neptun project either. New rates apply prospectively to future concessions, and this is what we mean by short term as well. All in all, it's a negative change for the oil and gas industry. We have one of the highest effective tax rates in Europe, so having increased royalty rates definitely is not good.
We need competitive, stable, and predictable fiscal regimes. Now, with regards to durations and so on, these are confidential information. We do not provide such details on duration of the concession, but I have confirmed related to Neptun, does not apply to Neptun.
Thank you. With regards to your question on the production, yes, we have, as we said, increased our expectation for this year to be above 112,000 barrels of oil equivalent . This actually means that we have a lower than 6% decline expectation for the year, better than the 8%, year-on-year decline that we had, anticipated, originally guided. With regards to 2024 and 2025, we have on the slide that we would get to the range of 95-100, considering no divestments.
However, we are in the middle of the new midterm planning exercise, we will provide an update on that , when we give our Q4 results for 2023, when we talk to you in February of next year, Iuliana.
Thank you.
Okay. Iuliana, I'm not sure if I understood the next question. Was it related to the financial result? Could you repeat the question, please?
Yeah, financial results. So in financial result is negative-
Okay.
This quarter. There's a bit of a change compared with previous quarters.
Yes. Yes. Okay. So it is, the impact on the financial result is related to the reassessment of our receivable from the state . As you might remember, we have a receivable from the Romanian state related to an Annex P agreement , and we are in arbitration with this, with this file for, for quite a while. Due to the delays in the process, we had to reassess the recoverability in the sense of the timing of the recoverability, and we had a, an impact in the financial result in, now in Q3 out of from this assessment.
What, you mentioned what, what sort of receivables from the state?
So the receivable from Romanian state with regards to an Annex P, it's approximately EUR 400 million, approximately. You can see it exactly in our financial statement, disclosed there. And when it comes to the impact in the financial result of the delay recoverability of the receivable, this is approximately EUR 30 million in Q3.
That had an impact also on the interest income, right? Because you booked lower interest income compared to the previous quarters as well. There was a surge in interest expenses-
Yes, correct.
Lower-
It, it affects both interest income and interest expense. On both sides, you see it if you look at different lines.
Okay. Okay.
With regards to your last question related to the net debt, on the net debt, the investments which we do in treasury bonds do not qualify as cash equivalent because they are longer than three months. Therefore, they are not reflected in our net debt number. I hope it's clear. Thank you.
Currently, there is no one waiting in the queue, so let me remind you that in order to ask a question, you need to press star one one on your telephone keypad.
Thank you. We will take our next question, and the question comes from the line of Daniela Mandru Petrovici from Swiss Capital. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Hello. Thank you for the presentation. I just, I have just a few questions, short questions. First, regarding the non-fuel business margin that you, that you presented on the page 7 of the presentation. What kind of margin are you referring to? EBITDA margin, EBIT margin? Then, still with the non-fuel business, can you provide as well the percentage of non-fuel business in the R&M segment? Non-fuel business turnover in the total R&M segment turnover. And then the third question refers to the volumes at the regulated prices of 150 RON per megawatt. If you can disclose, because I'm sure you have the quantities, the volumes for the first, Q4 and for the next quarter. For the Q1 next year.
Thank you very much.
Okay. Okay. Alina, you want to take the, take the first two?
Yes. Mm-hmm. On the non-fuel business margin, we talk about the gross margin, Daniela. So it's gross margin, this means revenue minus costs. We don't include here depreciation.
Okay.
It's a gross margin number. With regards to the non-fuel business impact , I give you a rough estimate of, not at the turnover, as the total margin, it's approximately 30% of the margin is non-oil business margin.
Okay.
And on the-
Oh
regulated, yeah. On the regulated sales, you asked about Q4 and Q1. If I understood correctly, we have 2.2 terawatt hours for Q4 and 2.6 terawatt hours for Q1, 2024.
Okay, thank you. 2 point-
And these three heating companies. They are the sales of one of the-
Yes. So for the last quarter of this year, for the next quarter, 2.2, and for the Q1 of 2024, you have 2.6, correct?
Q1, 2.6, yes. Mm-hmm.
Yes. Okay. Now, regarding this increase in royalties quota, because, yes, I've read in the newspapers that that would apply only for the new concessions. But I spoke as well with Romgaz. They are saying that this is not true. So I don't know. Are you sure? So there is the final form of the ordinance in place?
Mm-hmm, yes. So, the final form of the ordinance is in place, was published on Friday, and it's applicable since then. We cannot comment on behalf of Romgaz. This is our current estimation right now and understanding right now. This is the reason why concession agreements have royalties in them, in order to ensure that we, we have this stability. And this, this understanding was also confirmed by government officials, based on our hearings. So, yeah, as I said, based on our current understanding-
Okay
this is our view.
Okay
for our concession.
Okay, thank you. And now, regarding the 0.5% turnover tax for oil and gas companies, that would apply until 2025 only, so not in perpetuity, nothing like this?
It is, it is clear in the legislation. This is also now, in the meantime, published in the Official Gazette, so was approved by the parliament, by the president, and published, and it's applicable only for 2024 and 2025. What the ordinance says is that after this, a company should apply the other one, the 1%. Yeah? So oil and gas companies should apply the 1%. Now, in our case, this 1% is applicable, as you know, only if you have the profit tax below the 1% of the turnover, which is not our case. Yeah. Therefore, for us-
Yeah
it's 2024 and 2025 only.
Okay. Yes, that explain also my next question. I have no further question. Thank you a lot.
Thank you, Daniela.
Thank you for the presentation again.
Thank you.
Before we move-
Thank you
on to the next question, let me remind you that if you want to address a question, you should press star one one.
Thank you. We will take our next question. Your next question comes from the line of Tamas Pletser from Erste Group Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes, thank you very much. Good afternoon. I got also two follow-ups on these issues that the colleagues already mentioned. So, these two new taxes you mention on the page five, I mean, when did, where were they, or which time were they announced, and how new they are? That will be my first question. And the second issue is you mentioned about this receivables, what you revalued. Can you clarify a little bit about this, what they are related to? Thank you.
Thank you, Tamas, for the question. So the new, the two new taxes are, one is 0.5% of revenues applicable for oil and gas companies in year 2024 and 2025. This is first. And second, there is a 1% tax for all the companies which have not, the profit tax is not at the level of 1% of the turnover. This does not apply to OMV Petrom SA, but applies to one of our group companies, OMV Petrom Marketing, which has a profitability lower than 1%, so will have some impact there. We also indicating the, both of these taxes have a low, overall impact in 2024 and 2025 of less than EUR 50 million per year, now, both together.
After 2026, we will remain with less than EUR 20 million per year, yeah, because only one of them will stay.
And I think, Tamas, you're also asking sort of when, when did this happen, if that's correct?
Yes, correct.
So it actually was, it was gazetted, it was gazetted last week. I'm trying to actually remember when it was actually. cause it actually went through-
Yesterday was
No, it was Friday. Yeah, but it went through, it went through constitutional court before it went to the president. So it actually, I think it's been around for maybe a month or two, Tamas.
Okay. but it has been approved, as you say now, so it went through all the legislative,
Yes
channels already.
Yes.
Okay.
Okay. With regards to the discounting of the receivable that impacted the financial result, this is a long-term receivable that we have from Romanian state, and it's coming from a privatization agreement . So of course, it's a privatization agreement for historical pollution. We do the work, we spend the money, and then we are entitled to recover it from the Romanian state, and we have delays in this recovery. Reason for which we started arbitration with Romanian state, we have a few files under arbitration . What we see now is some further delays, and if our estimation of the recoverability of the money is prolonged, then you have a negative impact in the financial result because we are required, according to IFRS, to discount that receivable and show this impact in the financial result.
What are your expectations? When can you receive this money?
We are continuing with our process of arbitration, so we are continuing and hopefully we will be able to recover it. So we have an entire schedule that is quite detailed, different amounts and different dates.
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you, Tamas.
We will take our next question. Your next question comes from the line of Iuliana Sia Praga from Wood & Company. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi, I just wanted to clarify actually if this is a one-off. I mean, you're mentioning that if this is not recovered, then you're going to see an impact. But what happened right now, is that a one-off or not? Or are we going to see impact in the following quarters from this.
From the discounting receivable, Iuliana, you are asking?
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Now, it depends on the evolution. I don't expect to see something similar every quarter, not at all, but depending on the evolution on how. So now, right now, we have an expectation of recovery, and then depending on the evolution, we might have, if there are further delays, we might have, in the future, some further discounting. And we had in the past also, it's not first time ? But, not, not every quarter, definitely. It depends a lot on how, how successful we will be in arbitration and how fast it goes.
And one more, if I may. Regarding these volumes at regulated prices, up to point you see in the Q1 of next year, do you have any visibility for the following quarter as well, for the rest of the-
For the regulated quantities, we have not yet been informed , starting with Q2. Somewhere in, in February, we understand we will get the new information for the next year.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will take our next question. Your next question comes from the line of Daniela Mandru Petrovici from Swiss Capital. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi. Hello, I'm back. So, regarding this impact of the new taxes, just for me, I want to clarify because I'm not sure I understood well the figure. So for 2024, 2025 period, you have—you expect an impact of less than EUR 50 million, 50 million euro per year—
Correct.
Or in total?
Correct, Daniela.
Per year?
Per year.
Per year.
Per year.
Then starting 2026, this tax, this impact is expected to halve, to more than halve, yes, to EUR 20 million. But why? Because I don't understand. We have a turnover tax of 0.5%, yes, that applies until 2025. And then, from what I've seen up to now, I know for sure that your profit tax, it's larger than 1% turnover tax. So,
On Petrom, correct. If you look on consolidated accounts and if you look on Petrom S.A., that's absolutely correct. But we have OMV Petrom Marketing, and on OMV Petrom Marketing, we have a lower profitability and they buy and sell like most of the retailers, have lower profitability. On that company, we will have also, after 2026, this impact up to less than EUR 20 million, EUR 20 million.
Mm. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. As there are no more questions, we want to thank you for taking part in our conference call. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact our IR team. Until our next call, we wish you all the best. Goodbye.
That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect.