OMV Petrom posted a net profit increase of 53% after the first half of this year (H1), the net result being of 1.975 billion lei, compared to 1.288 billion lei in the same period of last year, according to the financial results sent Wednesday to the Stock Exchange Bucharest.

In the second quarter, the company reported net profit falling to 823 million lei, from 1.151 billion lei in the first three months of the year. In Q2 2018 OMV Petrom reported a net profit of 434 million lei.

The net profit per share, after the first half of the year, is of 0.0349 lei, compared to 0.0227 in S1 2018, according to Agerpres.

The value of the consolidated sales, of 11.320 billion lei, obtained in the first semester, increased by 15% compared to the similar period of last year, as a result of the positive evolution of prices and volumes for oil and electricity products, partially offset by the smaller volumes of sales of natural gas.

Investments worth 1.713 billion lei decreased by 19% compared to the 2.102 billion lei made in the first six months of last year. For the whole year, OMV Petrom estimates investments of 4 billion lei, 75% of the amount to be directed in Upstream (exploration and production).

After the first six months of 2019, OMV Petrom has 12,767 employees, down from 13,421 in the same period last year.