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(Alliance News) - PetroTal Corp on Tuesday said it swung to a profit in 2019 as average daily production was more than four times higher than the year before.
Shares in PetroTal were down 5.4% at 10.50 pence in London in afternoon trading.
The Texas-headquartered Peru-focused exploration & production firm posted a pretax profit of USD10.2 million in 2019, swinging from a USD4.6 million loss in 2018.
Revenue multiplied to USD73.6 million from USD10.0 million as average production more than quadrupled to 4,131 barrels of oil per day from 958 barrels. The number of barrels sold skyrocketed to 1.5 million from 177,465 and the average brent price per barrel increased to USD64.31 from USD63.84.
In the fourth quarter alone, average production hit 7,767 bopd from 1,158 bopd in the final quarter of 2018 and barrels sold ballooned to 874,802 from 110,287 year-on-year.
No dividend was paid in the prior year but, in December 2019, PetroTal declared an interim dividend of CAD0.0017 per share. This was paid in January 2020 and is equivalent to about USD0.0013.
President & Chief Executive Manuel Pablo Zuniga-Pflucker said: "As a company, we achieved a great deal in 2019. We set ourselves a number of ambitious targets at the beginning of the year and were able to meet or exceed all of them. We were also able to generate significant value for our shareholders by increasing our production by 431% year-on-year. Our ability to deliver an exit rate of 13,300 bopd for 2019 is a testament to the expertise and hard work of PetroTal's workforce during the period.
"Whilst we are currently focusing on balance sheet strength and liquidity, in light of the difficult trading environment, we remain well placed to deliver value for all our stakeholders. In closing, I would like to thank PetroTal's shareholders, directors, employees and contractors for their continued support. We look forward to announcing further developments as the year progresses."
On Friday last week, PetroTal announced it had entered into an arrangement with Peruvian state-owned petroleum firm Petroperu SA, which will result in the company's liability to Petroperu in relation to recent oil price movement being payable over a three-year period.
This is instead of the liability being paid at the point of sale of the oil.
The new arrangement was structured to reduce the impact of the recent oil price declines on PetroTal's cash flows and forward plans. The liability will be paid over an annual interest rate of 6.5%
In addition, PetroTal announced an extension to the oil sales contract between it and Petroperu signed in December from one year to three years on enhanced terms.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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