* Romania's Petrom underlying earnings down 13 percent
* Czech Unipetrol posts Q4 net loss of 257 mln crowns
* Poland's PKN says margins down 70 pct year-on-year
* Austria's OMV underlying net profit down 61 pct
* Repsol profits down 48 pct due weak margins
By Tom Bergin
LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Several European oil refiners
reported losses or big drops in profits in the fourth quarter on
Thursday, underlining the challenges for the sector just days
after Total <TOTF.PA> said overcapacity would force it to shut a
plant.
Romania's top refiner Petrom <SNPP.BX> said on Thursday its
underlying earnings fell 13 percent, Czech rival Unipetrol
<> posted a loss, and the refining units of larger
rivals OMV AG <OMVV.VI> and Repsol <REP.MC> took big hits from a
collapse in refining margins.
OMV's refining and marketing chief Gerhard Roiss told a news
conference there was a 25 percent refining overcapacity in
Europe.
Poland's PKN <PKNA.WA>, which owns 63 percent of Unipetrol,
said refining margins dropped 70 percent year-on-year while
Spain's Repsol said its margins were zero in the quarter,
compared to $8.60 per barrel a year earlier.
Rising crude prices have eaten into margins as weak fuel
demand due to the economic crisis make it hard to pass on price
increases.
A Reuters poll on Thursday showed expectations of future
crude prices continue to rise, suggesting pressure on refining
margins could continue. []
Analysts have said new refineries starting up in Asia and
the Middle East, and predictions of a long-term decline in
European fuel use, due to energy efficiency and measure to fight
global warming meant a meaningful recovery in margins was
unlikely anytime soon.
"The downstream environment ... remained particularly
challenging with no clear signs of recovery yet," OMV Chief
Executive Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said in a statement.
Petrom, majority owned by Austria's OMV, said it had cut
runs at its Arpechim refinery in response to the "challenging"
market conditions.
On Monday, Total said it would shut its Dunkirk refinery in
response to the environment and analysts expect more closures.
[].
Analysts said the companies would struggle to return to
strong profits growth without dealing with their downstream
problems.
"Repsol's fundamentals will continue to be eclipsed by weak
refining over the first quarter," an analyst at a Spanish bank
said.
Unipetrol had a fourth-quarter net loss of 257 million
crowns ($13.5 million), a touch wider than expected and its
fifth straight quarterly loss but rising crude prices, which
boost inventory values, meant the loss was less than the 1.2
billion crowns reported in the last quarter of 2008.
Portuguese oil refiner Galp Energia <GALP.LS> said
underlying net profit, which excludes unrealized gains related
to change in the value of inventories, fell 73 percent to 34
million euros ($46 million), and missed analysts' forecasts.
Greek refiner Hellenic Petroleum <HEPr.AT> is due to report
later on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague, Radu Marinas
in Bucharest, Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Jonathan Gleave in
Madrid and Patryk Wasilewski in Warsaw; editing by Karen Foster)
