Madrid (AFP) – Spanish energy giant Repsol said Thursday its net profit in the first half of the year more than tripled, boosted by a surge in oil and gas prices due to the Middle East conflict. Net profit for the January-June period rose 265 percent from a year earlier to 2.2 billion euros ($2.58 billion), compared with 603 million euros in the same period of 2025, the company said in a statement.
Second-quarter net profit rose to 1.27 billion euros from 929 million euros in the first quarter, despite the company having no assets in the Middle East, where hostilities have fueled higher crude prices. In recent months, Repsol has expanded its operations in Venezuela, where it owns a 50-percent stake in the offshore Perla gas field, one of Latin America’s largest, and participates in several oil projects with state-owned company PDVSA.
In June, the company signed an agreement to explore a field in Lake Maracaibo, the birthplace of Venezuela’s oil industry. Earlier in the second quarter, Repsol said it had reached an agreement with Venezuela’s interim government allowing it to regain operational control of its Petroquiriquire joint venture, in which it holds a 40-percent stake while PDVSA owns the remaining 60 percent.
The company has said it aims to increase its gross oil production in Venezuela by 50 percent over the next 12 months. Repsol began production in May at the Pikka oil field in Alaska alongside majority partner Santos. Output from the project is expected to reach 80,000 gross barrels per day in the third quarter, the company said. Repsol, which employs around 25,000 people worldwide, produced an average of 548,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025.
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