Page 15 - AsianOil Week 42

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Ampol posts third-quarter profit

PERFORMANCE AUSTRALIAN refiner and fuel retailer Ampol
posted a AUD129mn ($91.8mn) profit for the
third quarter of 2020, despite losses at its refining
division continuing to mount.
The company said its net profit, under
the replacement cost of sales operating profit
(RCOP) system, amounted to AUD24mn
($17.1mn), which was further boosted by an
AUD106mn ($75.4mn) inventory gain. RCOP
excludes the impact of fluctuating crude and oil
product prices in a bid to provide a clearer pic-
ture of the company’s underlying performance.
The third-quarter results were a signifi-
cant improvement over the April-June period,
when the company recorded a AUD597mn
($424.8mn) loss driven by a AUD326mn
($232mn) inventory write-down.
Ampol’s fuels and infrastructure division,
excluding the Lytton refinery, struggled in the
face of lower fuel demand, posting AUD63mn the 109,000 bpd Queensland refinery after the
($44.8mn) in earnings compared with the pre- facility’s losses in the first nine months blew out
vious quarter’s AUD100mn ($71.2mn). to AUD141mn ($100.3mn). Options for the
The refiner said its fuel sales continued to be plant, it said, included permanent closure and
hampered by foreign and domestic government conversion into a fuel import terminal.
restrictions over the coronavirus (COVID-19) One bright spot in the company’s earnings
pandemic. The company said Victoria’s stage was its convenience retail division, which saw
4 travel restrictions had led to a 10% quar- earnings rising to AUD87mn ($61.9mn) in the
ter-on-quarter drop in the volume of its Aus- quarter from AUD23mn ($16.4mn) in the April-
tralian diesel sales, while gasoline volumes had June period.
shrunk 14%. Jet fuel volumes declined by 64% Ampol said: “The strong convenience retail
during the quarter. result was reflective of favourable industry retail
The company’s Lytton refinery contin- fuel margins, strong shop performance and solid
ued to run in the red, posting an AUD82mn management of controllable costs, which more
($58.35mn) loss for the quarter. Ampol flagged than offset the impact of COVID-19 restrictions
up earlier this month that it might have to shutter in Victoria and residual volume weakness.”™

Oil Search’s revenue nearly halved in Q3

PERFORMANCE AUSTRALIA and Papua New Guinea (PNG) an annualised LNG rate of 8.9mn tonnes
listed Oil Search saw its third-quarter revenue per year (tpy), up from 6.17mn boe a year
fall by nearly half on the back of lower oil and earlier. The company’s oil production in
gas prices. PNG also climbed in the third quarter to
Revenue shrank 47.6% year on year to 681,000 boe from 302,000 boe in the same
$189mn, the company said on October 20, period of 2019.
down from $361.1mn in the year-earlier period. Oil Search said its average realised crude and
Weaker international oil and gas prices out- condensate prices amounted to $36.52 per barrel
weighed gains in both production and sales, Oil in July-September, compared with $59.54 in the
Search revealed. same period of 2019. Average realised liquefied
Output climbed by 7.2% y/y to 7.31mn natural gas (LNG) and gas prices, meanwhile,
barrels of oil equivalent, while sales slid to $4.23 per mmBtu ($117 per 1,000 cubic
expanded by 16.7% on the year to 7.55mn metres) from $9.44 per mmBtu ($261.11 per
boe. Production climbed on the back of 1,000 cubic metres) a year earlier.
the ExxonMobil-operated PNG LNG pro- Oil Search kept its 2020 production guidance
ject continuing to perform ahead of expec- unchanged at 27.5-29.5mn boe, while trimming
tations, Oil Search managing director its full-year investment expenditure guidance to
Keiran Wulff said. The facility produced $390-460mn. It attributed the reduced budget
6.55mn boe in the period, equivalent to to the re-phasing of front-end engineering and

Week 42 22•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15