PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) made a profit of more than 7,158 million baht in the second quarter of 2007. Although it represents a drop of 2% from the same quarter of last year due to the appreciation of the baht, it did not affect PTTEP’s progress, and the second quarter saw the company adding projects in New Zealand in its portfolio, making it the 11th country that the company has invested in. Meanwhile, M9 project in the Gulf of Martaban reported that its appraisal wells had encountered high flow rates which implied good potential for commercially viable production. The project will drill more exploration wells this year to affirm the results. Arthit Project is also progressing well with 90% of the construction work completed and it is expected to meet its production start-up schedule in February next year.
Second Quarter Results
Mr. Maroot Mrigadat, President of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) revealed that PTTEP and its subsidiaries’ net profit for the second quarter of 2007 was baht 7,158 million, a decrease of baht 119 million or 2% from baht 7,277 million posted during the same period of last year; the earnings per share was baht 2.18.
In this quarter, PTTEP and its subsidiaries had total revenue of baht 22,961 million, a decrease of baht 727 million or 3% from baht 23,688 million registered during the same period of last year. This was mainly due to the appreciation of the baht which was baht 34.82 to a dollar compared with baht 38.37 to the dollar during the same period of 2006. The result was the decrease in sales value despite the higher product price at US$ 38.17 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) compared with US$37.61 BOE during the same quarter of last year.
The sales volume was 179,180 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED) which was higher than the sales volume of 171,662 BOED in the same quarter of last year.
Mr. Maroot Mrigadat said that while the strong Thai baht had some impact on the financial statement, it has not actually affected the company much as most of the transactions are USD based.
As of June 30, 2007, PTTEP and its subsidiaries had total assets of baht 173,604 million, up baht 15,791 million or 10 % from the end of 2006. This increase was mainly due to the higher cash and cash equivalents as well as the rise in oil and gas properties, resulting from the investment in Arthit, MTJDA and Myanmar M7&M9 projects.
Appraisal wells at M9 showed good results
The company has completed the drilling of appraisal wells which started in May 2007 at M9, in the Gulf of Martaban, the Union of Myanmar. Natural gas was discovered in all 5 wells: Zawtika-3, Zawtika-4, Kakonna-2, Zawtika-5 and Zawtika-6. The project plans to drill 4 exploration and appraisal wells this year at another exploration area to affirm the natural gas potential at M9. This is expected to be completed by April 2008. Work is progressing on estimating the preliminary reserves in the existing structure where exploration has been completed. At the same time, development plan of M9 gas field is in progress with the aim to start-up gas production in 2011 or 2012 for domestic use and for securing the energy demand in Thailand.
Expansion to New Zealand
On July 11, 2007 PTTEP and its partners won the 6 exploration blocks in the Great South Basin offshore New Zealand, namely Blocks 5, 6, 11, 12, 13 and 14.
The partnership comprises OMV New Zealand Limited, the national oil and gas company of Austria who is the operator with 36% interest, PTTEP Offshore Investment Company Limited, a subsidiary of PTTEP with 36% interest, and Mitsui E&P Australia, an oil and gas company from Japan with 28% interest.
In the first three years, PTTEP and its partners planned to conduct seismic survey and to study the potential of these blocks.
With the addition of New Zealand, PTTEP now has 36 exploration and production projects in 11 countries. There are 15 projects in Thailand and 21 projects in Malaysia, Union of Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sultanate of Oman, Iran, Algeria, Egypt and New Zealand.
90% Progress of Arthit Project
Arthit Project Phase 1 Development Plan is progressing well both in the construction of platforms and drilling of development wells. The installation of six wellhead platforms have been completed, along with 5 gas pipelines, one condensate pipeline, the jackets for the central processing platform, the living quarter platform, and the flare tripod. Construction of the central processing platform is 90% complete. At 16,800 tons, the platform will be the heaviest and biggest in Southeast Asia. PTTEP plans to install it late this year.
Seventy eight development wells have been drilled. Arthit Project Phase 1 Development will be ready for the production start-up in 2008 as planned.
