Hungary MOL unveils 2010 plans, gets upgrade by Netixis

http://www.portfolio.hu/en/cikkek.tdp?k=1&i=18958

November 19, 2009, 4:58 pm

The Board of Directors of Hungary’s oil and gas group MOL is to hold a meeting in mid-December where it will seek to approve a plan of HUF 357 billion Capex budget for 2010, a presentation on the company’s website showed on Thursday. The analysts of Natixis have raised their rating on MOL to 'Accumulate’ from 'Reduce’ today.

Total budget is HUF 357 bn, subject to Board of Directors approval scheduled for mid-December

MOL expects the price of Brent crude to rise to USD 70/bbl in 2010 from USD 57.2 in 2009 and projects EUR/HUF at 270 vs. 283.80 this year.

FY 2009 CAPEX is expected at HUF 242 bn excluding INA and acquisitions, versus HUF 220 bn target. The HUF 22 bn higher spending is due to capitalization of financing costs, roll over from the previous year, and activating various IS projects, MOL said.

Total budget for 2010 is HUF 357 bn, subject to Board of Directors approval scheduled for mid-December. "Capex budget remains under stringent control due to the recession," MOL added.

In upstream, MOL expects daily production around 130,000-135,000 boepd in 2010 and a moderate decline on mature Hungarian and Croatian on-shore fields.

Meanwhile it projects an increase from Croatian off-shore production, as well as growint Russian production, as ZMB’s decline is offset by growing production of BaiTex and Matjushkinskaja fields. In Pakistan, it also forecasts rising gas production.

MOL said there will be shutdowns also in 2010, but none in Q1, and these are expected to have negligible impact on the gasoline and diesel production versus 2009 production volumes.

MOL expects 5-7%increase in retail fuel volume excluding INA in 2010, with INA seen contributing additional 50% to retail volume.