BioProspect incurs $5-M loss in six mos

MANILA, Philippines - BioProspect Ltd., whose subsidiary holds an onshore oil exploration contract in Cagayan Valley, incurred around $5 million in net loss in the first six months of its fiscal year.

The company recorded a net loss of $5.14 million in the six months ending December 2011, almost thrice the $1.81-million loss a year earlier as it continues to spend on oil exploration projects.

In a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange, BioProspect said part of the losses was caused by an impairment loss of $2.75 million for its investments in Frontier Gasfields Pty. Ltd.

Revenues of BioProspect, which were derived from sales of Agripro animal health products and Regen therapeutic products, fell 41 percent to $110.854 million. Expenses more than doubled to $5.5 million from $2.04 million.

Frontier Gasfields Pty. Ltd. holds a 30-percent stake in the Nassiping-2 project or Service Contract (SC) 52 that is undergoing a drilling program. Frontier Gasfield shouldered a quarter of the $4.4-million drilling works.

The SC 52 consortium is composed of Australia’s Frontier Gasfields (30 percent), local firm Frontier Oil Corp. (50 percent) and E.F. Durkee & Associates (20 percent).

Frontier Gasfields and local firm Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. earlier signed a farm-in option agreement for SC 52 wherein Trans-Asia has the option to acquire 10 percent of the block upon payment of an agreed amount.

BioProspect said its unit Frontier Gasfields successfully drilled the onshore oil well early this year.

The company said more exploration will depend on thorough analysis of new and original well log data, pressure readings and previous flow test results.

SC 52 covers 96,000 hectares in Piat-San Jose in northern Cagayan Valley. The Nassiping-2 is an existing well containing a previously discovered but untested gas discovery.

It was drilled in 1984 and penetrated a substantial, gas-bearing limestone section but was not flow-tested.

BioProspect said it still holds the option to five-percent stake in SC 55, an offshore exploration project in Palawan that reportedly contains an estimated 1.8 trillion cubic feet of gas and 567 million barrels of oil.