Bangkok--23 Jul--PTTEP
Unreviewed consolidated net profit of USD 299 million in the first half of 2015
Average sales volume of the first 6 months at 326,335 barrels of oil equivalent per day
Strong financial status with high liquidity and USD 3,000 million of cash on hand
Tevin Vongvanich, President and Chief Executive Officer, PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), said that PTTEP’s Board of Directors approved the payment of an interim dividend from consolidated operating results of the company and its subsidiaries in the first half of 2015 (January 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015), which posted net profit of USD 299 million, to the shareholders at 1 Baht per share. The payment approval was based on the company’s performance in the first half coupled with strong financial status with cash on hand of over USD 3,000 million. The closing date of the company’s share registration for the right to receive the dividend is scheduled on August 7, 2015, followed by a dividend payment on August 21, 2015.
In the first six months of this year, PTTEP and its subsidiaries recorded unreviewed consolidated net profit of USD 299 million (equivalent to THB 9,928 million), plunging by USD 641 million from USD 940 million (equivalent to THB 30,621 million) in the same period of 2014. The major cause was attributed to a slump in sales revenue resulting from decreased average sales prices of USD 48.61 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) in comparison with USD 66.35 per BOE in the same period of last year, albeit the higher average sales volume of 326,335 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED) compared with 307,263 BOED posted in the first half of last year.
Meanwhile, the company’s performance in the second quarter was affected by continuing volatility in global crude prices and the depreciation in Thai Baht against U.S. dollar. Consequently, PTTEP and its subsidiaries recorded consolidated net profit of USD 35 million (equivalent to THB 1,312 million) in the second quarter, down USD 229 million or an 87% drop from USD 264 million (equivalent to THB 8,616 million) in the previous quarter. This decrease in profit was primarily stemmed from non-recurring items comprising losses from foreign exchange, in a major part in form of deferred tax on functional currency, and losses from oil price hedging. The deferred tax on functional currency, which was recorded at USD 73 million as a result of depreciation in Thai Baht seen in the second quarter, is caused by differing currencies the company uses as the functional currency (USD) and in tax filing (Thai Baht) and is non-cash yielding no effect to the company’s cash flow. The company also recorded losses from oil price hedging in an amount of USD 56 million, comprising USD 19 million realized loss from hedging contracts settled in the second quarter and USD 37 million unrealized losses from mark-to-market valuation of outstanding hedging contracts booked in accordance with the accounting standard. Realized value of the outstanding contracts will be dependent on oil prices during the relevant settlement period in the third and fourth quarter of this year.
The group’s consolidated revenue in the second quarter was at USD 1,486 million (equivalent to THB 49,446 million), slightly decreasing from USD 1,497 million (equivalent to THB 48,870 million) in the first quarter of this year resulted from stable average sales volume and a marginal decline in average sales price. Total expenses in the quarter surged from the first quarter mainly due to higher operating expenses, exploratory well write-off costs of approximately USD 27 million and aforementioned losses from non-recurring items.
“Although our operating results in the first half of this year decreased following the plunging global crude prices, we remain confident in our performance of the second half with an expectation of roughly 3% growth of average sales volume. Considering our strong financial status and cash on hand, we believe that the company can maintain the dividend payment policy to our shareholders. We’ve continued with our prudent management amid the current circumstance so that we can ensure reliable supply of petroleum for the domestic consumption and maintain healthy growth in the long term,” added Mr. Tevin.