South Korea’s state-run utility company Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) has kept up a profit streak into the second quarter, benefiting from subdued oil prices and demand amid coronavirus outbreak.

KEPCO said in its regulatory filing on Thursday its consolidated operating profit reached 389.8 billion won ($328.2 million) in the April-June period, down 9.5 percent from a quarter ago but swinging from a loss of 298.7 billion won a year earlier.

Net profit jumped nearly four-fold to 202.9 billion won on quarter and successfully reversed from a loss of 412.2 billion won on year. Sales fell 13.4 percent from three months ago and almost unchanged against the previous year to total 13.07 trillion won.

KEPCO shares rose 1.86 percent to finish at 21,950 on Friday.

For the first six months, KEPCO swung to an operating profit of 820.4 billion won from a loss of 928.5 billion won. Its net balance significantly improved, reversing to a profit of 256.5 billion won from a loss of 1.17 trillion won. Sales inched down 0.5 percent to 28.17 trillion won.

The state utility firm was able to save 2.56 trillion won in fuel costs and purchase power cost in the first half due to reduced demand and cheaper oil prices.

Its profit from energy sales however shriveled 222.1 billion won to 26.6 trillion won due to lower use of power on virus-led factory shutdowns. Necessary costs for stable power supply and environmental improvement rose 661.1 billion won.

KEPCO’s nuclear power utilization rate fell 1.7 percentage points to 77.6 percent in the first six months to suggest the income hinged largely on oil prices rather than nuclear reactor operational rate, a company official said.

KEPCO expected equally better earnings in the second half as low oil prices will likely last.

By Baek Sang-kyung and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]