Saudi's PetroRabigh Q2 Profit Slides 79.6%

Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. (PetroRabigh) reported a 79.6 percent decrease in net profit in the second quarter on Sunday as petrochemical prices dropped and refinery margins fell.

The firm, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco <IPO-ARMO.SE> and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, made a profit of 103.2 million riyals ($27.5 million) in the three months to June 30, it said in a bourse statement.

This compares with a profit of 504.9 million riyals in the corresponding period last year. PetroRabigh cited price decreases for petrochemical products and lower refinery margins but did not elaborate.

The firm also suffered technical issues at some facilities during the quarter which impacted operations. A 10-day power cut which hit its complex in May had a 124 million riyal effect on second-quarter results. The firm also reported on June 23 that it had shut its ethane cracker because of a turbine generator fault; the financial impact has yet to be disclosed.

The expanded ethane cracker only fully started up earlier this year, with PetroRabigh saying in March that the second phase of the cracker would add around 750 million riyals of revenue in 2016.

Saudi producers have benefited in the past from subsidised energy and feedstock costs, but this is changing; the government hiked those costs late last year as an austerity measure, and PetroRabigh said this would have a negative financial impact of 300 million riyals in 2016.

(Reporting by Tom Arnold; Editing by Andrew Torchia)