Philex Petroleum posts P80.5M net loss

Philex Petroleum Corp. posted a consolidated net loss of P80.49 million in the first half, a reversal of the P523.09 million in net profit it recorded during the same period last year.

For the second quarter alone, the consolidated net loss reached P34.25 million as against a net income of P70.84 million that the company posted in the same quarter last year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Wednesday, Philex Petroleum explained that the loss for the first half was due to lower income from the Galoc oil field in offshore Palawan, in which the company held a total direct and indirect interest of 60.49 percent through its majority stake in Forum Energy Plc.

Operator Galoc Production Co. WLL shut down its operations at the Palawan oil field late last year to make way for equipment upgrades and was able to resume production only in the first week of April. The refurbishing was deemed a “crucial component of infrastructure to enable the Galoc joint venture to move ahead with a potential Phase II development of the Galoc field,” which is covered by Service Contract 14C.

Meanwhile, revenue from Forum Energy’s petroleum sales in the first half reached P57.77 million while revenue from coal sales by Brixton Energy and Mining Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Philex Petroleum, amounted to P15.72 million. For the second quarter, revenues amounted to P48.96 million from petroleum sales by Forum Energy and P15.64 million from coal sales by Brixton.

“While it was not a profitable first half, we look forward to an improvement in the second half with the enhanced reliability expected from the Galoc operations following the upgrade, and increased sales from the Brixton coal project,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman and CEO of Philex Petroleum.

Pangilinan’s group, through its majority stake in Forum Energy, is also pushing through with a $75-millon exploration work program at the highly controversial Recto Bank, which is included in the territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea.

Forum Energy has a 70-percent stake in Service Contract 72, which covers a portion of the Recto Bank, including the famed Sampaguita gas find. This discovery alone has been estimated to have “unrisked” reserves of as much as 16 trillion cubic feet, up from previous estimates of 3.4 trillion cubic feet. The reserves, if proven, could provide gas supply to the country for 100 years, Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras earlier said.