Oil Search profits soar
Published by Callum O'Reilly,
Senior Editor
LNG Industry,
Oil Search has announced a 49% increase in net profit after tax to US$227.5 million in the first half of 2015 compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The company’s total revenue increased 69% to US$863.8 million. The increase was driven by higher LNG and gas revenue, which increased more than five-fold to US$598.6 million due to a full period of production from the PNG LNG Project, partly offset by lower realised LNG and gas prices
Peter Botten, Oil Search Managing Director, said: “Oil Search achieved a strong operational and financial start to 2015, reporting a near three-fold increase in production, a 69% increase in sales revenue and a 49% increase in net profit after tax, which was achieved despite significantly lower global oil and LNG prices in the first half of 2015. The company is well placed to manage the current low oil price cycle, with close to US$1.6 billion of liquidity, a cash operating margin of 75%, very competitive production costs and a focused optimisation process underway, designed to drive costs down further and deliver greater efficiencies across our business.”
PNG LNG
Commenting on the excellent performance of the PNG LNG project, Mr Botten continued: “The PNG LNG Project performed ahead of expectations during the first half, producing LNG at an annualised rate of approximately 7.1 million tpy, above the nameplate capacity of 6.9 million tpy. As well as high levels of uptime at the LNG plant, this result was supported by strong upstream deliverability, with an excellent performance from the Hides wells, the Associated Gas fields and the Hides Gas Conditioning Plant.
“To date, 119 cargoes of LNG have been loaded since the project commenced production in the first half of 2014. All four of our contract customers are taking their full contractual volumes, as well as more than 85% of available spot cargoes,highlighting the strong acceptance that has been achieved by the Project in the marketplace.
“A key focus by the operator is to continue to optimise production activities and review potential debottlenecking opportunities. Recent performance indicates that LNG production could increase further, which would be highly value –accretive for Oil Searchand our co-venturers.”
Edited from press release by Callum O'Reilly
Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquefaction/25082015/oil-search-profits-soar-1189/
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