Spain’s Repsol loses 1.2 bn euros in 2015 due to oil price plunge --AFP

File:Repsol headquarters (Madrid) --commons.wikimedia.org

Spain’s oil giant Repsol said Thursday it had lost 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) last year after putting aside nearly three billion euros in special provisions for a plunge in crude prices.

The past few months have been trying for companies and countries which produce oil and other commodities, the prices of which have slumped as demand has slowed in China — the motor of global growth in recent years — casting a cloud over the global economic recovery.

Repsol, which acquired Canada’s energy firm Talisman last year, added that without the provision, the group would have made a net profit of 1.86 billion euros last year — a nine-percent rise from 2014.

“This result specifically measures the performance of the business units and demonstrates the company’s strength and resilience in the face of adverse situations such as the current low oil and gas prices,” it said in a statement.

Shares in the oil giant — which had already warned the markets of its 2015 loss last month — rose 3.15 percent to 8.85 euros mid-morning Thursday.

Separately, the group announced it had agreed to sell its offshore wind power business in Britain to China’s SDIC Power for 238 million euros.