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Higher gas prices, increased output boost ENRG's sales
Oil and gas firm PT Energi Mega Persada, which trades on the local bourse as ENRG, booked a 23 percent increase in sales in 2013 to US$807
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il and gas firm PT Energi Mega Persada, which trades on the local bourse as ENRG, booked a 23 percent increase in sales in 2013 to US$807.2 million at the end of the year thanks to an increase in the company's gas production supported by higher gas prices.
Gas production by the Bakrie Group-affiliated company jumped by almost 63 percent throughout last year to 220 million cubic feet (mcf) per day and gas prices rose 11.5 percent to $5.8 per mcf, ENRG announced in a press statement released on Thursday.
'The production increase from the Kangean PSC [East Java], ONWJ PSC [West Java], Bentu PSC [Riau, Sumatra] and Tonga PSC [North Sumatra] blocks' had boosted the company's overall output, ENRG director Amir Balfas said in the statement.
ENRG's oil production, however, remained flat at 12,465 barrels per day (bpd) last year versus 12,383 bpd in the previous year, with oil prices dropping by 11.1 percent throughout the year.
The company, which produced 50,000 barrels equivalent per day of oil and gas last year, saw its net profits jump by more than 10 times to $170.3 million in 2013 from $15.3 million in 2012 on a one-off sale of its subsidiary's 10 percent stake in the Masela PSC block, in a Rp 3.1 trillion ($272.8 million) deal with Japan's INPEX Masela Ltd. and the UK's Shell Upstream Overseas Services (I) Ltd.
'Toward the end of 2013, we managed to repay and refinance some of our outstanding loans to improve our capital structure and reduce our cost of funds,' Amir said, adding that ENRG had managed to replace a previous outstanding loan, with a 20 percent interest rate, with a new facility which carried a more efficient rate of Libor plus 6 percent.
ENRG's bank loans topped $731.4 million by the end of last year, down 13.3 percent from the previous year, the company's financial results showed.
'Our focus now is on increasing output from our producing assets and to further develop our newly
acquired Buzi EPCC gas asset in Mozambique, Africa,' Amir added.
ENRG announced last October that it would spend $175 million to acquire a 75 percent participating interest in the Buzi Block in partnership with the Mozambique government which owns the remaining 25 percent through Empressa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH).
The gas block, which has caught the attention of many international oil and gas companies due to a recent discovery of 283 billion cubic feet of gas, is expected to start production in 2017.
Shares in ENRG, which has a Rp 4.6 trillion market capitalization, rose 5.05 percent on Thursday's trading, closing at Rp 104. The stocks have gained 48.5 percent so far this year.
