Oil prices drive up Maurel & Prom profit, Venezuela exports seen normalising

By Zakarya Meliani and Jerome Terroy

Aug 6 (Reuters) - French oil producer Maurel & Prom reported a 78% jump in its half-year net income to $191 million on Thursday, boosted by higher crude prices, and said crude exports from Venezuela were expected to normalise in the second half of 2026.

French brokerage Portzamparc said profitability was well above its expectations, helped by higher oil prices and contained operating costs.

The company resumed crude oil sales from Venezuela in June, after receiving a license from the U.S. to operate there in February, though uncertainty remains over the country's contribution to the business and how the situation will unfold, an analyst told Reuters.

Group working-interest production averaged 37,890 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first half of 2026, up 1% from a year ago and 3% from the second half of 2025.

Free cash flow rose 21% year-on-year to $77 million. The company also raised its ordinary dividend paid out in August by 15% to €0.38 per share, or around $90 million in total.

Separately, Canadian oil and gas producer Gran Tierra Energy said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell its oil operations in Colombia and Ecuador to Maurel & Prom for $1.33 billion, including debt, which would mark the French company's entry into Ecuador and expand its oil portfolio in Colombia.

Shares of Maurel & Prom were up 2.3% at 0800 GMT.

(Reporting by Zakarya Meliani and Jerome Terroy in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)