The net profit of Turkey's refinery giant, TUPRAS surged by 235 percent in the third quarter of 2017 compared with the same period last year, the refinery announced on Thursday.
TUPRAS also increased its sales revenue to 39.3 billion Turkish Liras ($10.1 billion) and its net profit to 3.3 billion Turkish liras ($860 million) in the January-September period, it said in a statement.
'As a result of the increases of 13.6 percent in the average crude oil price, 18.6 percent in the average USD/TRY exchange rate and 10 percent in sales volume over the same period in 2016, 2017's third quarter net sales increased by 52 percent to 14.3 billion Turkish Liras ($3.7 billion),' the press release read.
The crude oil price increased from $49 per barrel at the beginning of the third quarter to $57.20 per barrel at the end of the quarter due to OPEC and non-OPEC producers’ compliance to the production-cut agreement, political instability in the Northern Iraq and decrease in global stocks.
The refinery also announced it increased its operating profit to 1.356 billion Turkish Liras ($351.2 million) over this period.
- Strong demand increases product margins
In the third quarter of 2017, refinery fires and strikes in Europe over July and August, as well as the hurricane season in the United States with a significant kick-off in the last week of August disrupted the supply of petroleum products. During this time, strong demand increased product margins.
TUPRAS proclaimed that, as a result of the improving product margins in the third quarter of 2017, the average Mediterranean margin increased to $6.50 per barrel.
During the same period, TUPRAS' net margin reached $8.95 per barrel given its higher complexity, the company announced.
- 7.7 million ton production
During this period, the refinery produced 7.7 million tons for domestic sales and 1.2 million tons for international sales, totaling 8.9 million tons, the press release said.
'TUPRAS continued its investments in line with its targets and made $124.3 million in refinery related investments and $73.5 million in marine investments during the first nine months of 2017. Our operational processes benefit from our investments exceeding $6 billion over the last decade,' according to the press release.
TUPRAS is one of the biggest refining competitors in the Mediterranean region, and is Turkey's sole refiner.
By Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr