Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the OMV Petrom's earnings call. Today's presentation will last around 20 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 the forward-looking statements. Now, let me hand over to Simona Crutu, Manager of the Investor Relations & Stakeholder Engagement Department, who will moderate the event.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us. We'll have a presentation of the first quarter results, followed by a Q&A session. Christina Verchere, Chief Executive Officer, will provide the key highlights about the macroeconomic environment and our 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 you to register for the Q&A session during the presentation by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. You can also do this during the Q&A session itself. I'm now handing over to Cristina.
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 to you today OMV Petrom's performance for the first quarter of 2022. Please let me draw your attention to our legal disclaimer, which you can read in detail on slide two. Let me start with some highlights regarding commodity prices and main currencies in the first quarter of 2022. Brent oil price continued its growth to an average of $102 per barrel in the first quarter of 2022, 67% higher year-over-year. Within the quarter, it even breached $137 per barrel, the highest level since 2008. The price increase was a result of strong demand, driven by economic growth and supply disruptions generated by the Russia-Ukraine war.
Following financial sanctions and ban or self-sanctioning on Russian energy imports, the market became very tight in March and is expected to remain so as long as the sanctions continue. Urals started the first quarter on a strong note with its differential to Brent in January, reaching an almost 1-year high as supply tightened given outages in Libya and higher import demand from China. However, once the Russia-Ukraine war started, the differential reached a record discount of over $30 per barrel versus Brent, where it remains to date, as European buyers have been self-sanctioning the grade and even announced plans to completely stop importing Russian oil. In the first quarter of 2022 and on a year-on-year basis, the ruble depreciated versus the US dollar by 9% and against the euro by 1%.
OMV Petrom indicator refining margin reached $18.31 per barrel, a record high as a result of higher product spreads, mainly for diesel and gasoline, as well as unprecedentedly high Urals differential to Brent. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, refining margin more than doubled. CEGH prices continued to increase in the first quarter to EUR 101/MWh, 6% higher compared to the previous quarter and more than five times higher year-on-year. Europe's natural gas supply has been a topic of concern since mid-2021 as storage inventory levels have remained well below normalized level. The close to 25% year-on-year drop in Russian pipeline flows during the 2021/2022 heating season further exacerbated market uncertainty.
European short prices have reached all-time record highs since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, as Europe became supply constrained and attracted massive LNG flows to partly compensate for the decline in Russian pipeline deliveries. Gas prices on the Romanian centralized market also increased in line with European prices, with day-ahead prices more than five times higher year-on-year to 98 EUR per megawatt hour. Base load electricity prices in Romania quadrupled year-on-year and increased by 3% quarter-on-quarter, marking a new record high in the 15 years of OPCOM tracking. Despite this, gas market spark spreads were barely positive in the first quarter of 2022, as record high electricity prices were offset by historically high gas and CO2 prices. The CO2 price more than doubled year-on-year in the context of a reduction in the number of CO2 allowances.
In addition to the human tragedy caused by the war in Ukraine, a major energy supply security crisis has been triggered, sending commodity prices to new highs with wider implications for the global economy. While there are no legal restrictions on importing Russian natural gas and crude oil to the European Union at this point, the war has pushed EU governments to seek to reduce their dependency on Russian fossil fuel imports as quickly as possible. An easier task when it comes to oil and oil products, but more difficult for gas. Unlike other countries in the region, Romania has a relatively low degree of dependency on energy imports. In 2021, the country ensured domestically approximately 80% of its natural gas, 35% of the crude oil, 60% of fuel products, and more than 95% of its electricity needs.
Romania's trade links with Russia and Ukraine are very limited, with exports accounting for slightly above 2% of the total in 2021. OMV Petrom operates in two countries directly neighboring Ukraine, Romania and Moldova. We do not have operations nor employees in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the conflict, OMV Petrom has sought to support, through various NGOs, the humanitarian aid at the borders with Ukraine. Our most important goal remains to provide energy for Romania, for the industry and population, and to ensure the security of supply. We have not experienced any disruptions in our business, and we are prepared to take all decisions and necessary measures in case further developments occur. We fully comply with sanctions and going forward, self-sanctions to no crude imports from Russia. Approximately 30% of the crude we process in Petrobrazi is imported.
In the past, most of it being supplied from Russia or through Russian harbors. For future supply, we are identifying and clearing alternative crude sources. These are expected to be done with a premium price to the Russian crude. For 2022, our equity gas production covers the majority of the current needs of our customers. Most of the acquisitions are from domestic sources, with limited imported imports being around 6% of the total sales. Overall, so far, the sanctions have had a relatively limited impact on our business performance. In March, in the context of exceptionally high gas and power prices on the European and Romanian markets, the government issued Ordinance 27, providing for temporary measures applicable on the gas and power markets between April 2022 and March 2023.
These measures include maximum fuel, maximum final prices for households, small and medium enterprises, and other small users. These translate into cap prices for gas producers applicable to the quantities delivered to households as well as to the heat producers for households. On the other hand, the quantities delivered at cap prices are no longer subject to gas supplemental overtaxation, and the corresponding royalties are capped, are calculated at the capped prices instead of SEG. Also, the gas release program is to be suspended by the end of 2022. The ordinance reintroduces the gas storage obligation. It also provides for a regulated supply component for both gas and power. Regarding power windfall tax, this is extended to the fossil fuels electricity producers, allow for the deduction from the taxable revenues of certain expenses such as power purchases or CO2 costs, but not of the production costs.
We estimate the impact on OMV Petrom of Ordinance 27 to be in the mid-double-digit million EUR range for the period to which it applies. We recognize the need for the government to support consumers in these very unusual times. However, this particular intervention brings a risk of disturbing the functioning of the market. Therefore, it should be temporary in nature. Also, on the regulatory side, in April, a draft amending the offshore law was published for public consultation and is expected to go through a fast approval process in parliament. It is critical for the final draft to have a strong stability clause, ensure a free market, and provide for a supportive fiscal and regulatory framework. In the current geopolitical context, developing a nation's resources is more fundamental than ever to ensure security of supply and economic growth.
Depending on the final content and the timing of the revised offshore law, Neptun Deep FID is expected in the first half of 2023. Moving to the macroeconomic environment, Romanian GDP in 2021 strongly increased by 5.6% year-on-year, above the European average of 5.3%. In its April 2022 economic update, the IMF estimated Romanian GDP growth for 2022 to be at 2.2% year-on-year, cutting its October 2021 forecast of a 4.8% GDP growth due to the risk related to the evolution of the new COVID-19 variant and to the severity of the war in Ukraine. For the European Union, IMF reduced its growth forecast from 4.4% in October 2021 to 2.9% in April 2022.
The inflation index in the month of March 2022 versus March 2021 was 10.2% on a steep upper trend. Wage pressure and increase in energy prices are the main drivers, with impact expected to be felt throughout 2022. In April, Moody's, S&P, and Fitch reconfirmed their investment grade rating for Romania. Looking at the energy sector in the first quarter of 2022, the Romanian demand evolution for our products was mixed. Demand for retail fuels increased by around 7% year-on-year. Jet demand more than doubled year-on-year from a very low base due to partial recovery in flights, but remained 27% below the first quarter of 2019. Gas demand, as per internal estimation, decreased by 11% in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2021, mainly due to lower industrial and gas-to-power consumption.
Power demand was lower by 4% year-on-year, while domestic power production decreased by 7% year-on-year. Romania remaining a net importer of power in the first quarter. Power production from hydro had a decrease in contribution to the generation mix due to a dry winter, but also gas and coal generation decreased year-on-year. This was partially compensated by an increase in renewables and nuclear production. On slide 5, we present the key highlights of the quarter. At group level, Clean CCS Operating Result of RON 2.2 billion was the highest quarterly result ever recorded and more than tripled year-on-year in an unprecedented favorable market context with high but volatile commodity prices and good operational performance.
Our operating cash flow increased by 129% year-on-year to RON 2.6 billion, while Clean CCS Return on Average Capital Employed reached 17.8 percentage points. We are living in challenging times, and we are confident that our company is prepared to cope with them. Our integrated business model with the Petrobrazi refinery on the oil value chain and the Brazi power plant on the gas value chain is expected to support our financial results. We have a relatively low exposure to Russia, and we have proven resilience in a highly volatile market, supported by continued business optimization and strong cost discipline. We continued our strategic focus on preparing OMV Petrom for capturing the energy transition opportunities announced in our strategy 2030. Regarding our Neptun Deep strategic project, as mentioned before, we welcome the publication of the draft amending the offshore law.
Romgaz shareholders just approved the transaction with ExxonMobil, and closing is expected by the end of June. Once finalized, OMV Petrom will become the operator of the Neptun Deep Block, as agreed in April last year. In March, we completed the first photovoltaic park that supplies green energy for our own E&P operation. This park includes nearly 1,000 photovoltaic panels installed on an area of 5,500 square meters. In retail, the integration of MyAuchan proximity shopping stores into the modernized Petrom-branded filling stations continued. To 120 stores operational at the end of 2021, we added 33 in the first quarter of this year, and we are now targeting 270 stores operational by the end of 2022, and to finalize the rollout in 2023, one year earlier than initially planned.
In the first quarter, we extended the fast payment system in our retail stations to almost 60 Petrom and OMV filling stations, with terminals for paying at the pump by card and by phone. Our target is to reach 100 filling stations with fast payment terminals by year-end. Our company received a total recordable injury rate for the twelve-month rolling period, April 2021 to March 2022, was 0.50. The GHG intensity was broadly flat year-on-year at group level, with lower index levels in E&P and at the Brazi Power Plant, reflecting our ongoing initiatives to reduce carbon emissions. On slide 6, I would like to present the operational performance, and I will start with exploration and production.
Hydrocarbon production decreased by 12.7% due to the divestment of production assets from Kazakhstan in the second quarter of 2021, and the transfer of the 40 marginal fields to Dacian Petroleum in the fourth quarter of 2021, and the high natural decline in the main fields in Romania. Excluding portfolio optimization, production in Romania decreased by 7.9%. Compared to the previous quarter, the production was almost flat. Production cost per barrel of oil equivalent increased by 13% year-on-year to a level of $14.20. This was driven mainly by lower production available for sale and inflationary pressures in the form of increased expenses, especially higher for electricity and service costs, partially offset by favorable Forex effect. We continue to focus on containing costs and counteract the pressure coming from suppliers by intensifying our procurement activities.
In refining and marketing, we had an excellent refining utilization rate of 98%, supported by increased demand and integration with our sales channel, allowing us to place equity products in our operating region. Total refined products sales volumes recorded a 5% year-on-year increase. The 9% increase in our retail sales volumes is reflecting robust fuel demand. Non-retail sales also increased by 1% year-on-year, reflecting the partial recovery of the aviation business and the additional sales on our local markets, offset by lower export volumes. In gas and power, total gas volumes decreased by 11% year-on-year, mainly as a result of lower equity gas production. Brazi net electrical output was 16% lower year-on-year in the context of a planned outage for the entire capacity in March 2022.
In the first quarter of the year, the Brazi Power production represented 7% of Romania's generation mix. Moving now to slide 7. Total organic CAPEX amounted to RON 0.6 billion in the first quarter of 2022, 10% higher year-on-year. The majority being RON 0.5 billion was directed to exploration production, where we finalized the drilling of 10 new wells and sidetracks and performed 150 workover jobs. In refining and marketing, most of the investments were routed to the ongoing major projects at the Petrobrazi Refinery, as well as for recognition of assets under IFRS 16 leases for a long-term contract for securing railway access to Cluj storage. In gas and power, the majority of investments were directed to the Brazi Power Plant, plant maintenance shutdown. For 2022, we plan investments excluding acquisitions of around RON 4 billion, approximately 40% higher year-on-year.
Regarding our E&A activities in offshore Bulgaria, we plan to spud one exploration well in 2023 and continue the prospectivity and evaluation. In Georgia, block 2, we envisage to perform a seismic acquisition campaign in the second half of this year. Please let me now hand over to Alina Popa, who will go into the financials and the outlook in detail.
Thank you, Christina, and good afternoon also from my side. I will continue the presentation with slide nine, starting with some highlights of the income statement, with focus on the developments of the first quarter of 2022 versus the similar period of 2021. Sales increased by 145% year-on-year, reflecting higher commodity prices and higher sales volumes of petroleum products and electricity. E&P clean operating results increased to RON 1.1 billion from RON 0.3 billion in the first quarter of last year, in the context of higher commodity prices and favorable exchange rate. This effect was offset to a large extent by the increased taxation in the context of royalties and offshore supplementary tax being linked to TEK prices.
Refining and marketing clean CCS operating results doubled year-on-year, reaching RON 626 million, following significantly higher refining margins, increased fuel demand, and higher utilization of the refinery, partly offset by the higher utilities cost and lower retail and commercial margins. Gas and power clean operating results quadrupled year-on-year to RON 727 million, generated mainly by the gas line of business. The clean consolidation line of RON -195 million in the first quarter of 2022 reflects mainly the realized profits elimination as a result of higher margin of petroleum products due to higher quotations. Consequently, the group clean CCS operating results increased year-on-year by 243% to RON 2.2 billion.
For the first quarter of 2022, we recorded inventory holding gains of RON 107 million due to the increase of crude prices over the quarter. In the first quarter of the last year, inventory holding gains amounted to RON 114 million. Net special charges of -162 million RON were recorded in the first quarter of 2022 compared to -61 million RON in the first quarter of the last year. In both periods, they mainly refer to the net temporary losses from power forward contracts. The clean CCS net income attributable to stockholders more than tripled year-on-year to almost RON 1.8 billion. The reported net income attributable to stockholders was RON 1.7 billion from RON 573 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Let me go on to slide 10, which shows the major building blocks for the development of the clean CCS operating results. I will start with exploration and production, where clean operating results significantly improved to RON 1.1 billion. The positive market effect deviation of almost RON 1 billion was triggered by the steep increase in oil and gas prices and favorable evolution of the U.S. dollar versus RON. Nevertheless, gas market price increase was offset to a large extent by the specific EMP gas tax, driven by high supplementary taxation and further increased by the current methodology of the gas taxation being partly based on FEZ, which was significantly higher than the realized price. The negative volume deviation of minus RON 213 million is due to the 11% lower hydrocarbon sales.
Clean exploration expenses increased by RON 18 million and other deviations include lower depreciation and higher production costs, driven by lower production volumes and cost inflation. Looking at the lower chart, refining and marketing clean CCS operating results more than doubled compared to the first quarter of 2021. The positive market effect reflects the record high refining margins as a result of higher product spreads, as well as unprecedentedly high Urals differential to Brent. Operational effects in R&M were overall negative and reflect the lower retail and commercial margins, partly balanced by the higher year-on-year volumes for refined products. In gas and power, the clean operating results quadrupled year-on-year as the gas business recorded a very strong result driven by the positive effect from the increasing prices on storage margin and third-party transactions, as well as a very good performance from short-term optimization and balancing.
The power business also had a good contribution to the first quarter of 2022 results, even in the context of Brazi power plant outage in March. On slide 11, I would like to continue with the highlights of our cash flow statement. In the first quarter of 2022, we achieved an operating cash flow of RON 2.6 billion, more than double year-on-year, reflecting the positive trend of the operating result and the negative net working capital changes. Regarding the evolution of the net working capital, in the first quarter of 2022, we recorded a cash outflow of RON 616 million compared to a cash outflow of RON 428 million in the first quarter of 2021.
The outflow in the first quarter of 2022 was due to the increase in inventories driven by higher unit costs following the increase in quotations, partly compensated by lower quantities of gas in stock. Receivables also increased due to higher sales of gas, power, and oil products. This was partly counterbalanced by the increase in liabilities, mainly due to higher gas royalties and overtax. Our net payment for investments amounted to RON 0.73 billion in the first quarter of 2022, flat year-on-year. The net cash position, including leases, increased to RON 11.3 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2022 versus RON 6.9 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2021.
Our record high dividend for the financial year 2021 amounting to RON 1.9 billion will be paid starting June 6, 2022. Let me conclude our presentation with the outlook on slide 12. We expect Brent oil price in 2022 to be around $95 per barrel, which is significantly higher than our previous assumption of $75 per barrel and above the range of $65-$70 per barrel assumed in our strategy. Urals average discount to Brent is expected to remain high and volatile, reflecting the challenging geopolitical context. Regarding production, in 2022, we aim to contain the year-on-year hydrocarbon production decline, excluding portfolio optimization at around 7%, and we expect a lower decline for oil than for gas.
Starting the second quarter of 2021, we witnessed an upward trend in the cost of electricity, fuels, and certain materials, leading to higher costs. Therefore, we currently see production costs above $14 per barrel of oil equivalent for the rest of the year 2022. In refining and marketing, given the extreme market volatility for both crude and product prices, it is difficult to estimate the full year level for the refining indicator margin at this point. We currently expect the 2022 refining margins to be significantly above the previous year level, reflecting the exceptionally high margins in the first half of the year. The refinery utilization rate is estimated to be above 95% in 2022. Cristina mentioned earlier, CAPEX is expected to be around RON 4 billion in 2022, of which RON 2.6 billion in E&P.
In 2022, we expect a positive free cash flow after dividends. In terms of demand, oil products are expected to be on an upward trend. Power is expected to be broadly similar to 2021, while gas to be lower than in 2021. Our total refined product sales are forecasted to be similar with 2021, growing with the market in our operating area while decreasing exports. Total gas sales volumes and net electrical output are estimated to be lower. We currently do not expect new full lockdowns, but if this is the case, we have a good track record in managing our operations. The outlook figures are based on the assumptions of no significant lockdowns and no significant supply disruptions. 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 on your telephone keypad. We will pause for a moment to assemble the queue. We will now take the first question from Oleg Galbur from Raiffeisen Centrobank. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon. I hope you can hear me well.
Yes, we can hear you.
Yes. I have two questions. The first one is on offshore law. Now that the law is in the public consultation phase, could you maybe share with us your thoughts on the proposed fiscal and legal environment? Specifically based on the current draft, would you say that the proposed taxation is fair one, or you would still require additional changes in order to be able to go ahead with the FID on Neptun Deep? Also, I noticed that the law is talking about the deep offshore development, and this is this something that would have a material impact on Petrom's current gas production operations? My second question relates to the recently introduced caps on the energy prices, including natural gas.
Could you please help us understand what impact will these measures have on Petrom's production or gas trading earnings? Thank you.
Thank you, Oleg. Nice to hear from you. I will take the first question, and then Alina will take the second question. I mean, I think if we actually maybe just stand back and say when we last spoke to you, which was in sort of early February, I think it's fair to say we've seen progress on two key aspects when it comes to Neptun Deep. One was with regards to ExxonMobil Romgaz deal, which we saw the reapproval of the transaction with ExxonMobil yesterday at the general shareholders meeting. I think they said they're estimating finalization of deal by the end of June at which point in time OMV Petrom will become the operator. This is one very important step.
The second one, as you rightly mentioned, is the publishing of the draft law, which they have said that they will put into their fast approval process of that. I think they're expecting it to be finalized by the end of June. It is really fundamental that the final draft brings strong stability, as well as free market and supportive fiscal and regulatory environment. In the event that exists in that law that is passed at the end of June, then our timeline is to be able to FID Neptun in the first half of 2023.
While I totally understand that you want our view on the current draft, given that it's still in the parliamentary process and subject to change, we are planning to express our view once it is final, but we'll be providing our opinion through the industry association. You're absolutely right. In this offshore law, they have made some comments with regards to deep onshore of that. We're assessing at this point in time, just understanding what does the actual depth mean, et cetera, with regards to that. We will be able to quantify when the law is passed.
Thank you.
Elena.
Hello, Oleg, from my side as well. To continue with the Ordinance 27, indeed, quite complex applicability and complex legislation. We are really working hard to implement it as such. As you know, this has a temporary impact. I would like to highlight this. This, it is applicable from first of April, 2022 to thirty-first of March, 2023. Based on our estimation, the impact on our company is in the range of mid-double-digit million EUR, and this you will see in gas and power. In upstream, the lower revenues are compensated by lower taxation because in this, with this new law, we have two changes which impact taxation. One is the fact that for the capped prices, the over tax does not apply.
The second is that for these capped prices, this reference price is not set by the capped price. These two things decrease the taxation, therefore in exploration and production, we do not see an impact. When it comes to gas and power, we see in the range of mid-double-digit million EUR impact. Thank you. Thank you, Alina Popa. Thank you.
Next question comes from Tamas Pletser from Erste Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon. I got one question or one area of questions, let's say that, I'm very much interested in how would you decouple from Russian crude oil? What is the timeline for that? What kind of operational challenges do we have with this kind of a decoupling, and what is the financial impact in your view? I mean, I saw that your refining margin was really high in the past, in the recent past, so I suppose this should come off if you don't have access to the Russian crude. I'm just very interested in, you know, what is the contribution of Russian input to your very high margins. Thank you.
Tamas, thank you for your question. Just maybe as a clarifier, we import 30% of our utilization into Petrobrazi. Relative to many other refineries in Eastern Europe, we have a low dependency on imported crude. Up until the situation that we are in, we had been importing from Russia or via Russian harbors and Russian ports of that. What have we been doing? We have been looking to secure crude that is non-Russian crude to be able to make sure that we are, to some degree, preparing ourselves in the event there is a full sanction. We are, to some degree, self-sanctioning already to do that.
We are therefore able to see if we can access crude from other sources apart from Russia. That does come with a cost increase. We've estimated this at sort of a higher cost of up to about $16 a barrel with a sort of single-digit million EUR impact per month to do that. Just to give you an estimation, we actually probably take a cargo every sort of 45 days in normal operations. We'll be taking a cargo every 45 days. I think hopefully that helps to quantify sort of how we're going about it and what we're doing.
Just to clarify, please, that currently you don't have any restrictions to buy Russian crude. So is it only the self-restrictions or self-embargo which can affect your business outside of the, you know, kind of a mutual embargo in the EU, in the European Union? Or do you plan yourself to restrict, you know, buying Russian crude?
At this point in time, it is to some degree a preparation to make sure that we're ready in the event it does. In the end, we are making sure that we're sourcing crude from outside of Russia. It's one cargo every 45 days.
Okay. You want to change that. You want to cut off the Russian supply. That's what you mean?
Sorry, I didn't quite hear you. Sorry.
No. You want to do this step. You prepare for doing this. You are going to do that in the future.
Yes.
That's what you're saying.
Yes, we are.
When does it start, or I mean, when do you expect your next cargo or which, I mean, the first non-Russian cargo to arrive?
It's in the April-May timeframe, because we had a short shutdown for a while at Petrobrazi, so it's the April-May timeframe.
Mm-hmm. Okay. That's clear then. Thank you very much.
Let me remind you that if you want to ask a question, you need to press star one on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Irina Răilean from Banca Transilvania. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Do you hear me well?
Yes. Yes, Irina. Very well.
Okay. Thanks. My questions are more of a follow-up question. So, regarding this Ordinance 27, in your view, what's more profitable to sell at regulated prices for households or to sell at market prices and pay the taxation. And if you could disclose how much volumes are you required to put on this regulated market, maybe in terawatts or in percentage points out of the delivered volumes. That will be very useful. And regarding this new storage obligation, how it impacts you? And can we speak of any additional costs that the company will incur and will not be able to pass to clients? Or how does it work for producers like Petrom?
Maybe I'll just add a couple of philosophical points and then hand over to Alina, who has been deep in the details of this regulation. Fundamentally, I think we absolutely understand the need that governments actually across Europe are doing interventions. But to come to your point of which one do we prefer, with regards to a cap price but no tax, to me, the fundamental principle we believe in is a free market, yeah, and a liberalized market. And then we want competitive fiscal terms that go with that as a fundamental philosophy, Alina. With that, I'll hand over to Alina for the details.
Yes. I'll try to clarify a bit. When it comes to the gas market, we have different categories of sales. Would be sales to suppliers of households and district heating companies, where prices are regulated at RON 150, respectively RON 250 per megawatt. This represents approximately 10% of our total sales in the period April to December. We go to the sales to end users, where with consumption below 50,000 megawatts per year. These are capped at a maximum RON 370, including tariffs and taxes. This is quite small, so approximately 5% of our total sales in April to December. We have sales to end users with annual consumption above 50,000, where we have the cost plus concept.
Is the acquisition cost, transfer price, plus tariffs, plus taxes, plus regulated margin, which is 12 RON per megawatt. Here we talk about approximately 20% of our sales. This is when it comes to the rest of our sales are really on the wholesale, which are on the free market, and the GRP, which was done previous, yeah. As you know, GRP is not applicable anymore, but we still have quantities coming from the GRP obligation, you know, in the past. When it comes to the storage obligation, basically this is roughly 30% of the end user portfolio consumption estimated for the period from November 2022 to March 2023. We will comply with it. Yes, we will have additional costs coming from storage.
We will comply, like always, with the regulation, any regulation when it comes to implementation. I think I covered your question, Alina.
Okay. Yeah. Thanks. This additional cost, it depends on what kind of contract do you have. I mean, should you pass it to a client or should you
This depends very much. I mean, it's very hard to predict right now. We will see how the market will be, so much volatility, and we will see. Depends on the supply-demand situation at the time.
Could this anyhow impact the FID regarding Neptun Deep? I mean, should it be delayed or. Well, it's kind of, it's a provision that free market and free competition was one of your requirements, and this is kind of not likely complying right now.
This is applicable just only until 31st of March 2023. It has a limited period of time of applicability. In the current context and in the current crisis, we do not see at all this for a longer term.
Okay, thanks for your insights.
Thank you.
Let me remind you that if you want to ask a question, you need to press star one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for a moment to see if there are further questions. If there are no more questions, I want to thank you again for taking part in our conference call. Sorry for interrupting. It seems that we do have one question from Lam Khang Swat from C-SAM. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you. Congratulations for the excellent result. I have two questions. My first question is that, given that you are almost self-sufficient in your crude input, can you advise how you managed to achieve that spectacular refining margin compared to other industry players that were using Russian crude? That's my first question. My second question would be, would you be able to provide some color on the realized gas price in the first quarter? Is it in the region of closer to 300 RON per megawatt hour, or would you be able to give some ballpark on that? Thank you.
Alina Popa, would you like to take that?
Yes. Yes. Hello from my side. Thank you for the question. To come to the first question with regard to the refining margin, as Cristina explained, we have 70% domestic crude and 30% imported crude in our refinery. The domestic crude basically has a transfer price which is linked to Urals, yeah. Historically, this is the case for many years. That's why you see an impact in the refining margin coming from this Urals-Brent differential which became very high. Yeah. Of course, I mean, in the end, this is just an internal transfer price. What is important overall for the company is the difference between the selling price to the market and the costs overall in upstream and on the value chain.
Now that it creates this situation due to this transfer pricing to Urals. Moving to the second question on the realized gas price. As you might know, we do not disclose the exact realized gas price, but I can give a bit of information around the market. We have seen in Q1 very high CEGH day-ahead prices at around 100 EUR per megawatt hour. When we look in our BRM, which is Romanian gas market, this is also quite high on the day-ahead. But if we look on the BRM monthly delivery, it's around 75 EUR per megawatt hour.
Our prices are definitely reflecting always not only contracts on the spot but also contracts previously concluded. That's why we should always consider this when we do any estimation around the gas price.
Thank you.
Sure. That was very helpful. Thank you very much.
Thank you. As there are no more questions, I want to thank you again for taking part in our conference call. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact our investor relations team. Until our next call, we wish you all the best. Thank you, and stay safe.
That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect.