PTTEP pays Bt1.5dividend as half-year profit hits
PTT Exploration and Production Plc (PTTEP) has declared a Bt1.50 dividend after its first-half net profit more than doubled to US$569 million (Bt19.82 billion) from $232 million in the same half of last year.
PTTEP has also set up a joint venture (JV) with PTT called PTT Global LNG to expand its LNG business in line with growing domestic energy demand. Their first project is an LNG plant in Malaysia.
Somporn Vongvuthipornchai, president and chief executive officer, said first-half sales of $2.12 billion were slightly lower than the same half of last year.
Its average selling price of $38.04 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) increased 6 per cent on rising global oil prices.
Sales volume fell 10 per cent from 325,257 BOE per day to 292,709 BOED, due to declining sales volume of PTTEP Australasia, unexpected suspension of the S1 project due to agricultural land reform and the impact from lower nominated quantity of natural gas in the Gulf of Thailand affected by the current low global LNG prices.
First-half net profit comprised recurring net income of $378 million and a non-recurring gain of $191 million. PTTEP still managed to sustain low unit cost at $28.29 per BOE.
“PTTEP closely monitors the oil market situation and the world economy.
“We put our best efforts into increasing production volumes of crude oil and condensate to compensate for decreased gas sales volume of projects in the Gulf of Thailand.
“In addition, we’re accelerating exploration and development activities in the Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Area 1, Algeria Hassi Bir Rekaiz and Ubon field in the Contract 4 projects.
“The company’s also preparing for the bidding of expiring concessions both the Bongkot and the Erawan projects and is under negotiation with the existing partners.
“All of these efforts will support the company in adding production volumes and petroleum reserves in the short and long terms.
“We are also focusing on cost management to remain competitive with other oil companies,” he said.
PTT Global LNG is part of the company’s strategy to look for business opportunities in the LNG value chain.
Its first step is the acquisition of a 10-per-cent stake in Petronas’ MLNG Train 9 Project, a LNG liquefaction plant in Malaysia with current capacity of 3.6 million tonnes per year.
The cooperation with Petronas also allows PTTEP to gain a foothold in Malaysia, supporting further expansion and investment in petroleum fields in the country.
