Italian energy group Eni posted its best yearly result since 2012 after profits in the fourth quarter surged to beat expectations, boosted by higher oil and gas prices.
Adjusted net profit in the three months to December came in at 2.11 billion euros ($2.4 billion ) from 50 million euros a year ago to beat a 1.94 billion euro consensus.
The group said its production in the period rose 1% to 1.737 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
"During 2021, we delivered excellent results and accelerated the pace of our transformation strategy," Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi said.
The results reflect the industry's bounce back last year after a troubled 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic triggered a collapse in energy demand and prices.
For the full year Eni posted adjusted profits of 4.74 billion euros from a loss of 758 million euros in 2020.
This month larger peers like BP BP.L and Shell SHEL.L reported bumper profits thanks to higher energy prices, pledging to return more cash to shareholders.
"Our upstream segment has kept generating the financial resources needed to fund our decarbonization strategy," Descalzi said.
The company is spinning off assets like its Norwegian Vår Energi venture to help fund various green units while hanging onto cash-generative fossil fuels.
Cash flow from operations in the final quarter jumped 192% to 4.6 billion euros to allow it to cover 1.8 billion euros of investments and confirm its dividend policy.
($1 = 0.8796 euros)
(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes; editing by Agnieszka Flak and Keith Weir)
