Spanish energy giant Repsol failed to turn a profit in the third quarter because of lower oil prices and its decline in North America.
The company recorded a net loss of €221 million in the July to September months. At the same time last year it had a profit of €319 million.
Repsol said it had been hit by "significantly lower crude oil prices" as well as one-off charges related to the declining value of its North American gas-and-power division that were offset only partly by extraordinary gains from asset sales.
It noted that crude oil prices dropped 50% on an average so far this year.
Nevertheless, the company posted a net profit of €1.4 billion for the year to September and this was significantly more than the first nine months of 2014.
Repsol, like many other oil producers, has cut back investment in exploration and in production. Its $8.3 billion takeover of Canadian rival Talisman allowed it to increase production but also forced it to borrow more which might jeopardise its credit rating.
The company plans to sell €6.2 billion of non-strategic assets over five years to meet its debts.
Repsol, in a consortium with Partex, intended to start deep-sea oil/gas-drilling in Algarve in early 2014 but recently delayed activity until 'early next year (2016). The the first exploratory well was due to be drilled off the Algarve coastline amid a suspicious lack of information from all parties involved.
Repsol has four concessions in the Algarve, holding these with other companies. In the Lagosta and Lagostim blocs, Repsol is seeking partners for the exploratory drilling phase. In the Sapateira and Caranguejo areas the company is looking for new partners to share the costs and the risks.
