MADRID, March 8 (Reuters) - Spain's second-largest oil

company Cepsa closed 2023 with a 233 million euro ($254.74

million) loss after posting another quarterly loss for the last

three months of the year, as it did in the first and second

quarter.

The results reflect a mix of factors, some affecting the

broader market while others linked to the company's strategy and

the regulatory framework in Spain.

Like other oil companies, Cepsa was hit by lower oil and gas

prices, while inflation curbed demand for products of its

chemicals unit.

In 2022, the company posted a 1.1 billion euro profit on the

back of soaring oil and gas prices following Russia's invasion

of Ukraine.

Spain's windfall tax on large energy companies' domestic

sales wiped out its first-quarter profit. Since the company does

most of its business in Spain, the tax has a higher relative

impact on its bottom line compared with companies with large

international operations. Cepsa paid 323 million euros last

year.

The company also paid the price of its green shift, with

earnings from its upstream division falling sharply after the

sale of its upstream assets in Abu Dhabi.

Owned by Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala and the Carlyle Group ( CG )

, Cepsa is investing up to 8 billion euros to shift to low

carbon energy, and the Abu Dhabi sale is part of this plan.

"Our financial results over the year reflect the strategic

repositioning of our global portfolio towards more sustainable

areas ... ," Chief Executive Maarten Wetselaar said.

Wetselaar struck an upbeat tone for the future, including

its ambitious hydrogen plans. The company will continue to work

with the Spanish government "to generate the regulatory clarity

and allocation of subsidies ..."

Cepsa had a fourth-quarter loss of 117 million euros,

compared with a profit of 117 million euros a year earlier.

($1 = 0.9147 euros)