Medco Energy reports 14% increase in net profit

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed oil and gas company PT Medco Energi Corp booked a net profit of Rp 34.4 billion (US$6.88 million) in the first nine months of this year, a 14.4 percent increase over the same period last year.

Company finance and administration director Sugiharto said profit was much lower than estimated due to a foreign exchange loss of about Rp 59 billion.

He said the foreign exchange loss resulted from the sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar on the company's balance sheet.

"This was only a booking loss, not a cash loss since all of the company's sales in oil, gas and methanol and rigging revenues were in dollars," he said.

He said the increase in profit was because of the improving performance of its subsidiaries.

The oil output of subsidiaries PT Exspan Sumatra and PT Exspan Kalimantan increased to 19,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first nine months of the year against 17,000 bpd in the same period last year, while gas output increased to 60 million cubic feet (MMCF) per day, from 45 MMCF.

Sugiarto said the company could further increase its oil output next year with the recent discovery of a huge oil reserve in the Kaji and Semoga fields in the Rimau block, South Sumatra.

The oil fields had a proved and probable oil reserve of 114 million barrels, the largest oil find in the country in the past 15 years.

Eleven onshore rigs of subsidiary PT Meta Epsi Antareja were utilized 83 percent of the time in the first nine months of the year against 58 percent in the same period last year, with contract fees rising to $16,000 per day from $12,500 per day.

The three offshore rigs of subsidiary PT Apexindo Pratama Duta were 100 percent utilized in the first nine months of the year with the contract fee rising 60 percent.

Another subsidiary, PT Medco Methanol Bunyu, which has a 20- year contract to operate state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina's methanol plant on Bunyu Island, East Kalimantan, has managed to raise production to 90 percent of its 330,000 million tons per year capacity. (jsk)