Medco's profit up 44%

Medco's profit up 44%

JAKARTA: PT Medco Energi International, Indonesia's largest publicly traded oil company, said profit in the first nine months of the year rose 44 percent because of higher crude oil prices.

Net income rose to US$68.4 million, or 2.2 cents a share, in the period ended Sept. 30, from $47.8 million, or 1.54 cents, a year earlier, the Jakarta-based company said in an e-mail on Tuesday. Sales rose to $442.2 million from $392.6 million.

The company's sales from selling oil and gas jumped 17 percent to $306.4 million during the nine months, helped by an increase in oil prices. Medco received $6.6 million in sales of electricity in the nine months through September, as it started selling power in December last year.

Medco joins oil producers including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc in benefiting from higher oil prices, which surged to a record $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30. Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday were 19 percent higher than a year ago and traded at $59.78 at 12:11 p.m. Singapore time in after-hours electronic trading. -- Bloomberg