PNOC-EC posts record profit of P680M in first quarter

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) has reported a record net income of P680 million in the first three months of 2011, up 259 percent from P186.4 million a year earlier.

“The income is driven mainly by the company’s 10-percent equity share in the Malampaya gas project together with the disciplined trading of coal and the intensified operations at the company’s Batangas port,” it said in a report.

Likewise, PNOC-EC chairman and chief executive officer Gemiliano Lopez Jr. said the company also declared a cash dividend amounting to a combined P3.5 billion, which will be remitted to the National Government.

The total amount stemmed from the P3-billion cash dividend covering the period January to March 2011, and the P559-million dividend declared in November 2010.

The oil exploration company said that it had remitted previous annual dividends between P20 million to P1.5 billion.

It controls a minimum share in the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project, which is its major earnings source.

Last year, PNOC-EC exercised fiscal responsibility and committed to remit to the National Government every peso in excess of present capital requirements.

 “As a result, the company has remitted a total of P3.5 billion in just five months,” Lopez said in the report.

The PNOC-EC chief executive added that it expects remittance to the National Government to be higher in the second quarter of 2011 “once the audit of the company’s financial records for 2010 is completed.”

In 2010, gross revenues reached a record P4.8 billion, while net income ballooned to P1.7 billion.

The company said it was allocating roughly P43 billion ($100 million) in the next three years for the cash call of Phase II of the Malampaya project - a venture intending to extract additional volume of gas that could fuel up to 300 megawatts (MW) of power capacity.