Philex Petroleum incurs P46-million loss in 1st qtr

MANILA, Philippines - Philex Petroleum Corp., the oil exploration unit of top gold producer Philex Mining Corp., plunged in the red in the first quarter due to lower petroleum output.

In a statement, the firm said it incurred a P46-million net loss in the first three months of the year, reversing the P452-million profit in the same period last year.

Consolidated revenues slumped to P8.9 million from P137.4 million a year ago.

“The lower revenue during the current period was due to the temporary closing of production in the Galoc oil field from late 2011 up to the end of the first quarter this year,” Philex Petroleum said.

Revenues were derived from petroleum and coal sales. Petroleum sales declined to P8.8 million from P136.1 million while coal operations netted P84,000 in sales from P1.3 million a year ago.

Petroleum revenues came from subsidiary Forum Energy Plc., which has stakes in the Galoc, Nido, Matinloc and Libertad oil fields, all in Palawan.

The company’s income from coal came from subsidiary Brixton Energy & Mining Corp. that operates in Northern Mindanao.

Brixton Energy has a deal to supply 50,000 metric tons of coal to Republic Cement Corp.

“Brixton Energy, however, recorded only minimal revenues in the first quarter of 2012 compared to P1.3 million in 2011 because of the coal produced that needed to be re-processed to reduce ash content,” the company said.

“Total costs and expenses amounted to P52.2 million and P86.2 million, respectively, with the current period comparably lower due to the higher production of petroleum in the prior period last year,” Philex Petroleum said.

Last week, Philex Petroleum chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the company is open to partnering with anyone that can help exploit the potential resources of the Recto Bank, which lies near the disputed Spratly Islands.

Forum, through its 100-percent interest in Forum Philippine Holdings Ltd. and Forum Ltd., holds a 70-percent equity in the Service Contract (SC) 72 licence that covers an area of 8,800 square kilometers.

Last month, Forum Energy revealed that the latest seismic survey on its offshore prospects in the Recto Bank showed the prospective resources could reach as high as 16.612 trillion cubic feet for natural gas and 416 million barrels for oil. The area is now believed to have 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas and potentially 440 million barrels of oil – said to be bigger than the existing Malampaya gas field off Palawan.

China maintains that the waters around the island have been a traditional Chinese fishery.

The Philippines, on the other hand, insists that the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal is within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone based on the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea.