OMV posts highest quarterly operating profit since 2022 as fuel prices soar

By Danny Callaghan and Tristan Veyet

Oct 29 (Reuters) - Austria's OMV reported its highest quarterly operating profit since the end of 2022 on Thursday, driven by soaring refining indicator margins and higher oil and gas prices in the wake of the Iran war.

The strong performance echoes results from other European oil and gas companies, with French TotalEnergies and London-listed Shell also reporting rising earnings on the back of high oil prices.

The severe disruption of the Strait of Hormuz since US-Israeli strikes on Iran started the war in February has pushed energy prices to multi-year highs, allowing trading desks to profit from the volatility.

The Vienna-based company's adjusted operating profit grew around 70% to €2.12 billion ($2.42 billion) in the third quarter, roughly in line with market expectations. The fuels division recorded a 170% jump from last year, propelled by significantly higher refining indicator margins in Europe and the Middle East.

"In total a mixed set of figures with a stronger than expected bottom line, but definitively disappointing Chemicals results," analyst Christoph Schultes from Erste Group Research wrote.

OMV shares, which hit an all-time high earlier in October, were up 0.7% in early trading.

OMV nudged up its outlook for organic capital spending by €100 million, to €3.5 billion, as it ramps up investments at the Neptun Deep project in Romania.

Neptun Deep, Romania's biggest energy project in almost two decades, is a joint venture between OMV Petrom, majority-controlled by OMV, and state-owned Romgaz. It is estimated to hold around 100 billion cubic metres of recoverable gas.

The company also raised its full-year expectations for oil and gas prices, now seeing the Brent crude price surpassing $95 a barrel and the average realized gas price landing at around €45 per megawatt-hour.

Brent crude futures stood at $115.32 a barrel as of Wednesday.

($1 = 0.8959 euros)

(Reporting by Danny Callaghan and Tristan Veyet in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)