LONDON — The Italian oil giant Eni reported on Friday a loss of 8.5 billion euros, or about $9.4 billion, in the fourth quarter of 2015, becoming the latest energy company to be hit by sharply lower crude prices that have slashed revenue and led to asset write-downs.
For the year, it lost €8.8 billion, compared with a €1.3 billion profit the previous year, Eni said.
Oil prices, which have fallen by around 70 percent since the summer of 2014, are sharply reducing the profitability of all oil companies. The expectation that prices will remain low is forcing them to take major write-downs on the value of their assets, with big impacts on their earnings.
Eni is no exception, and the company said on Friday that it now expected that crude oil prices would “continue to be weak due to structural imbalances in the marketplace.”
The company revised its view of prices for 2016-19 to $65 a barrel, from its previous forecast of $90 a barrel. That lower figure, however, is still substantially above the current price of about $35 a barrel for Brent crude, an international benchmark.
Because lower prices would translate into reduced cash flows, Eni said it had taken €4.7 billion in write-downs in the fourth quarter, with the largest impairments coming in countries including Algeria, Republic of Congo and Turkmenistan. The company also said it had taken write-downs in Angola, Britain, Norway and the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/business/energy-environment/eni-earnings-oil.html?ref=energy-environment
