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PHILIPPINE National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC)
said its profit jumped by half in the first quarter of the year
because of higher gas and coal sales.
PNOC-EC, the upstream oil and gas
arm of state-owned PNOC, said its net income increased by 55 percent
to P621.4 million from a year ago.
Aside from its petroleum
exploration and development projects, the company also has interests
in coal operations and logistics.
The increase in PNOC-EC’s
profits was due to its higher revenue shares in the Malampaya, the
country’s largest natural gas field, wherein the company has a
10-percent stake. Shell and Chevron each hold a 45-percent stake in
the project, which fires three power plants in the country.
PNOC-EC said that sales from the
field accounted for 61 percent of its reported net income for the
year.
The company raked in gross sales
of P1.3 billion from the Malampaya, P598.9 million from its coal
operations, P79.9 from its logistics hub Energy Supply Base and
P13.5 million from the San Antonio natural gas field.
The company’s revenues
increased by 27 percent to P1.9 billion for the three-month period.
Earlier, PNOC-EC said it is
planning to acquire coal mines in Indonesia as part of its efforts
to improve revenues from its coal trading business.
It has completed the preliminary
evaluation of several Indonesian coal mine concessions including
those of PT Berkat Banau Inti, PT Senajaya Energimas Mulia, PT
Antang Gunung Meratus, PT Bangun Banau Persada and PT Satui Bara
Tama.
PNOC-EC serves the coal needs of
cement manufacturing and power production industries from its local
mines and other sources.
The company said that it also
began to serve the requirements of the emerging small-scale market
users, such as companies in the paper, textile and food processing
industries, all of which have converted from oil firing to coal in
light of the soaring price of crude in the world market.
--Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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