Italy's Eni Swings to 2Q Profit

Milan--Eni SpA said Friday it swung to a small profit in the second quarter as the price of crude increased and the Italian company boosted its production of oil and gas even as a domestic production site remained closed for several months due to a legal dispute.

Net income for the three months to the end of June rose to 18 million euros ($21 million) compared with a loss of EUR446 million in the same period last year. Revenue advanced 15% to EUR15.78 billion compared with EUR13.71 billion.

Eni confirmed its yearend production target of 1.84 million barrels of oil equivalent per day--5% more than last year--despite the three-month shutdown of its Val D'Agri field in southern Italian. The lost production is expected to be made up with earlier-than-planned startups of projects in Angola, Indonesia and Ghana.

Oil and gas production in the second quarter climbed 3% while Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, averaged $49.83 compared with $45.57 in the same three months of 2016.

Eni confirmed it will pay an interim dividend of 40 European cents per share.

Write to Eric Sylvers at eric.sylvers@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 28, 2017 02:49 ET (06:49 GMT)