Energy Groups of Czech Billionaire Book $7.8 Billion Core Earnings in 2023    

Energy firms held by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky have reported core earnings of $7.8 billion (7.3 billion euros) for 2023, Reuters reported on Thursday.  

The energy assets of Kretinsky’s EP Corporate Group include the flagship energy holding EPH, which reported today core earnings – or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) – of $3.85 billion (3.6 billion euros). This was down by 17% compared to the record EBITDA from 2022, when oil and gas prices surged following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  

EPH’s consolidated sales dropped to $26 billion (24.2 billion euros) in 2023 from $39.8 billion (37.1 billion euros) in the record year 2022. 

In March 2024, the Group ceased operations of three coal units as part of?its?commitment to a?sustainable future without coal, EPH said.

Last year, EPH, which has coal operations in Germany, said it would transfer its lignite operations in Germany into a new sister company, EP Energy Transition, as part of a decarbonization plan.

The new company “will have a clearly defined transition strategy and plans to invest around €10 billion into the development of renewable energy sources, batteries and highly-efficient hydrogen-ready power plants,” EPH said at the time.

“As a result, EPH will be almost free from all of its current coal assets by 2025 and will completely abandon coal as a power generation source by 2030,” the firm said.

EPH aims to play a leading role in the transition to a hydrogen future, it noted.

Energy firms in Germany are spinning off their coal operations to appease ESG pressures from banks and investors, with several operators already separating the dirty coal business from renewable power generation.

Germany energy giant RWE, the biggest coal asset operator in the country, pledged in the autumn of 2022 to phase out coal by 2030, bringing forward the lignite phase-out by eight years under an agreement with the government. At the same time, RWE is heavily investing billions of euros to accelerate the energy transition.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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