By K. Deligiannis
[email protected]
The management for Hellenic Petroleum (Hel.pe) is pointing to a banner year for the Greek petrochemicals group in 2017, with the forecast for EBITDA easily surpassing the 800-million-euro figure, with the price of oil possibly bumping the figure even above 850 million euros.
Such a forecast hovers at the all-time record posted by the partially state-owned Hel.pe group, as EBITDA in 2016 reached 836 million euros, the best result ever.
The bright profits forecast come even as Hel.pe's Elefsina refinery rolled back production in July 2017 after a mechanical malfunction at the plant's hydrogen unit led to an extensive maintenance overhaul that lasted until mid September 2017. Nevertheless, higher production at the Aspropyrgos and Thessaloniki plants picked up the slack.
In a related development, top Hel.pe executives this week also commented on an extension of a deadline for interested parties to submit binding offers for a 66-percent stake in DES.FA, Greece's natural gas network operator. Hel.pe group owns 35 percent of DES.FA.
Without going on the record, officially, Hel.pe's top management nevertheless said previous assessments holding that the "ceiling" for purchasing a majority stake of DES.FA, and acquiring its management, has now been revised upwards, above 400 million euros.
Roughly 400 million euros was the highest bid submitted by Azerbaijan's Socar for 66 percent of DES.FA in an international tender, a deal that ultimately collapsed.
Top Hel.pe executives said market conditions have made DEF.SA more lucrative, although no details were given.
Other sources at Greece's biggest refinery group claimed that the extension of the deadline was due to an effort by one of the candidates, Spain's Regasificadora del Noroeste, to gain more time in a bid to attract other investors in a consortium that will vie for DES.FA.
