OMV Petrom proposed that the gross dividend for 2020 stays at the same level as the one paid from the 2019 profit, namely 0.64 eurocents per share, despite its 64 % net profit drop in 2020 compared to the previous year. Thus, the shareholders could get total dividends worth some 360 million euros, more than the company’s net profit in 2020. It is for the first time since the company’s privatization in 2004 that this situation occurs.
The low oil prices negatively impacted the group’s financial results in 2020, but the company expects an improvement in 2021. Fuel sales are also expected to recover, after they were hit by the pandemic-related restrictions in 2020.
In 2021, OMV Petrom expects the average oil prices to increase by 19-30 % compared to 2020 and refining margins to also go up by about 38 %. Demand for oil products and electricity is expected to be above 2020, while demand for gas is expected to be broadly similar to 2020.
OMV also expects the Romanian state to amend the hydrocarbon offshore law, which would allow it to move forward with the Neptun Deep gas project in the Black Sea.