Eni reported a fourth-quarter loss, missing analysts’ expectations as the slide in oil prices deepened.
Italy’s largest oil producer made an adjusted net loss of 379 million euros ($419 million) from an adjusted profit of 250 million euros a year earlier. That compares with average expectations for a 225 million-euro adjusted profit in a Bloomberg survey of eight analysts.
The worst crude-market collapse in a generation has slashed earnings for producers from Exxon Mobil Corp. to BP Plc and the industry is struggling to strike a balance between maintaining strong finances and making shareholder payouts.
Eni was the first major oil company to cut its dividend last yearand was followed by Repsol SA Thursday. This year Eni said it will maintain the payout.
Eni is working to make itself “even better organized to compete in a low energy price environment,” chief executive officer Claudio Descalzi said in the statement. “We are continuing Eni’s transformation process with the goal of making the group even stronger and better able to operate in difficult external conditions.”
Total hydrocarbon production for the quarter rose 14 percent to 1.88 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, above the average of 1.77 million estimated by five analysts. Eni discovered a “super giant” natural gas field off Egypt in August in what it said was the largest find in the Mediterranean sea.
Eni’s ratings were placed on CreditWatch negative earlier this month by Standard & Poor’s. The decline in oil prices “could result in us lowering the A- rating by one notch,” the ratings company warned on Feb. 1. Eni said Friday its net debt fell to 16.9 billion euros from 18.4 billion euros in September.
Shares in Eni have dropped 10 percent this year in Milan compared with a loss of 5.6 percent for the Stoxx Europe 600 Oil & Gas index.
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