MANILA, Philippines - Upstream oil firm Petroenergy Resources Corp. recorded a double-digit drop in its third quarter earnings on the back of lower oil sales.
In a disclosure, Petroenergy said its July-September profit slid nearly 12 percent to $585,084 from $663,604 a year ago as oil revenues fell 4.19 percent to $3.1 million.
“The decrease is due to the decline in production barrels from 1.976 million to 1.746 million for the third quarter,” the company said.
Cost of sales, composed of oil production operating expenses and depletion, inched up 0.75 percent to $1.789 million from $1.776 million.
“Oil production operating expenses change is due to the increase in floating production storage and offloading expenditures, boat hire, aircraft expenses, etc.,” Petroenergy said.
The main revenue source for Petroenergy is its share in the oil production in the Etame field in Gabon, West Africa.
Petroenergy also holds Service Contract (SC) 14-C2 in West Linapacan, Northwest Palawan and SC 51 in East Visayas.
The latest figures allowed Petroenergy to slightly grow its net income in the nine months ending September to $2.268 million from $2.13 million last year.
In the nine-month period, oil revenues fell 6.32 percent to $9.3 million from $9.927 million as output decreased to 5.497 million barrels from 6.08 million barrels a year ago, Petroenergy said.
However, the company benefited from a 90-percent surge in other income, which includes foreign exchange gains and interest income, almost doubling to $676,258 from $355,674.
Aside from the oil business, Petroenergy is also into power production through Maibarara Geothermal Inc., the proponent of the 20-megawatt Maibarara geothermal project in Laguna and Batangas.
In September, Petroenergy signed a P2.4-billion long-term loan facility from Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and Bank of the Philippine Islands to finance the geothermal project.
Maibarara Geothermal is a joint venture between PetroGreen Energy Corp., Tran-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and state-run PNOC Renewables Corp.
Late last year, Petroenergy Resources decided to abandon its wind energy project in Sual, Pangasinan after tests showed the area is not commercially feasible for wind power.