BASFY BASF SE (QX)

   By William Wilkes 
 

FRANKFURT--BASF SE (BAS.XE) reported a fall in third-quarter profit due to smaller contributions from its oil and gas segment and reiterated its full-year outlook.

The German chemical company's net profit was 888 million euros ($968.26 million) in the three months ending Sept. 30, down 27% from EUR1.21 billion a year earlier. BASF had released preliminary results on Oct. 11.

Revenue declined 20% to EUR14.01 billion following the divestiture of BASF's natural gas trading and storage business to Russia's OAO Gazprom. Earnings before interest and taxes, EBIT decreased 22% to EUR1.46 billion.

BASF said the recent fire at its Ludwigshafen factory complex will negatively impact earnings for the business year, but the company reiterated its guidance for the year.

BASF's overall earnings have been weighed down for nearly two years by low global oil prices, which have directly hit its wholly-owned oil and gas division, Wintershall Holding GmbH.

Germany's largest crude oil and natural gas producer, Wintershall contributes about 30% to BASF's total cash flow. The division offers BASF a strategic hedge when oil prices are high, and in the past, it has been able sustain the chemical divisions' need for energy and raw material.

BASF's chemical divisions have also been hurt by low raw material prices. The company cited this volatility in June when it said it would delay a final decision on investing in the construction of a methane-to-propylene complex at a BASF site in Texas, a project that has been under consideration for about two years.

-Write to William Wilkes at william.wilkes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2016 02:11 ET (06:11 GMT)

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