Repsol SA said Thursday its first-quarter net profit fell by almost half as falling energy prices hit Spain’s largest oil company. Repsol said net profit in the first quarter was €434 million ($498.7 million), down 43% from a year earlier. The oil producer said net adjusted profit, which excludes gains or losses in the value of inventories and one-off items, fell 38% to €572 million in the three months to March from €928 million a year earlier. Net profit in the first quarter of 2015, Repsol said, had been boosted when the company received compensation from Argentina’s government for its nationalization of Repsol unit YPF SA. Despite the drop, the company’s net adjusted profit was higher than analysts had been anticipating, helping to push Repsol’s shares up around 5% in morning trading in Madrid. […]