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Cepsa sells upstream assets in Colombia as very first quarter loss narrows

Spain's secondlargest oil business Cepsa progressed with its tactical shift towards low carbon businesses by selling its upstream assets in Colombia while narrowing its firstquarter loss thanks to a strong refining business.

The purchaser is Cedco, an affiliate of Colombian oil producer SierraCol, a Cepsa representative said on Friday in an emailed statement, declining to more talk about the offer.

The divestment remains in line with the company's strategic shift. Owned by Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala and the Carlyle Group, Cepsa is investing up to 8 billion euros ($ 8.58 billion) in its shift towards green hydrogen and biofuels.

In 2015, it sold its upstream assets in Abu Dhabi.

As a result of this overhaul, revenues from its upstream organization decreased 77% in the first quarter. However, incomes at its energy department more than doubled on the back of the strong performance of its refining operations.

The quarterly loss narrowed to 8 million euros. In the exact same duration in 2015, it booked a loss of 297 million euros, dragged by a windfall tax Madrid slapped on Spain's largest energy firms.

As the tax uses only to Spanish operations, it has a. bigger influence on locally-focused Cepsa than other Spanish energy. giants with larger global operations.

In the very first quarter of this year, it paid 122 million euros. for the very first instalment of the tax.

Cepsa provided even more key milestones of its. improvement journey, underpinned by a strong monetary. efficiency when reserving the ongoing impact of Spain's. badly developed amazing tax on energy business, stated. Chief Executive Maarten Wetselaar, who has been a vocal critic. of the levy.

The assets sale in Colombia goes through regulative. approvals.