Press Release for 1Q 2015 Financial Results
From a level of 55 dollars per barrel at the beginning of the year, crude oil prices dipped as low as 45 dollars, and then as drilling activity decreased in the USA reached as high as 62 dollars a barrel. Following progress on talks about the Iranian sanctions, the price fell to 54 dollars by the end of the quarter.
During the 1st quarter, low crude oil prices, refinery maintenance, and improved demand particularly in developed countries, led to big increases in the price ratios of refined products in the Mediterranean. Along with a small improvement in Urals crude differentials, the Med complex margin improved to 5.98 dollars per barrel, versus just 0.44 dollars per barrel in the same quarter last year.
Despite the fact that the 1st quarter is the low season and the period of most planned maintenance, a very strong margins environment enabled Tupras to increase its capacity utilization by 17.9 percentage points to reach 85.9%. Improvements in unit costs thanks to increased volumes, and the better environment, meant that net refining margins reached 4.69 dollars per barrel, versus 2.28 dollars per barrel in the same period last year.
In line with improving domestic demand, domestic sales increased by 9.4% (338,000 tons). With high margins enabling a higher volume of production, exports rose by 599,000 tons (53%). Total sales were 19.9% higher (936,000) reaching 5.6 million tons.
Despite rising sales volumes and a weakening Turkish Lira, a fall of 52% in the oil price meant that revenues fell 25%. EBITDA saw a 10% increase, boosted by better margins.
Operational and Financial Data
| 1st Quarter 2014 | 1st Quarter 2015 | Difference | |
| Total Volume Processed (ton*000) | 4,777 | 6,032 | 1,255 |
| Domestic Sales (ton*000) | 3,580 | 3,918 | 338 |
| Total Sales (ton*000) | 4,708 | 5,644 | 936 |
| Revenues (Million TL) | 9,276 | 6,948 | -% |
| EBITDA (Million TL) | 333 | 368 | |
| Profit/Loss Before Tax (Million TL) | 232 | -29 | -261 |
| Net Profit (Million TL) | 511 | 275 | -236 |
The impact of FX losses means that profit before tax, which was 232 million last year, was a loss of 29 million in the first quarter of 2015. The impact of 309 million TL tax incentive for the RUP investment, brought net profit to 275 Million TL.
The working of The RUP full capacity utilization is going on, and test production had been successfully completed for vacuum resid, diesel, and jet fuel. Including RUP, the investment for the 1st quarter was 102 million USD.
Whilst striving to ensure the guarantee of supply of the highest quality products to the Turkish market, by sustainably realizing operational and financial targets, we continue to generate greater value for our shareholders, other stakeholders, and society in the future.
For the information of the public.
The Corporate Communications Department