LONDON (Alliance News) - Victoria Oil and Gas PLC Thursday reported a narrower loss in its full-year results as it saw revenue, and its condensate production, more than double.
The company reported a pretax loss of USD4.7 million, narrowed from the USD15.9 million loss reported in 2013. The reduced loss was due to revenue doubling to USD14.7 million from USD6.9 million a year earlier, it said, and also due to a USD6.5 million adjustment resulting from an arbitration decision in December 2013 in its favour against RSM Production Corp.
In July, it announced a seven-day week average of 3.9 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, while a 4.5 million standard cubic feet of gas per day average was established for the five-day working week when most customers are at peak demand, said Victoria.
Condensate production doubled during the year, as higher levels of gas were produced for delivery through the pipeline infrastructure. In total ,14,107 barrels of condensate were produced to be sold to a local refinery, compared to 7,774 barrels in 2013.
"Our principal focus has been to move away from being an exploration and production company, to an integrated energy utility company with products to deliver into a new and growing African market. Gaz Du Cameroun SA is meeting the challenge of becoming a utility company, selling gas that competes against established and much more expensive fuels such as diesel, heavy fuel oil and light fuel oil," said Chairman and Chief Executive Kevin Foo.
Gaz Du Cameroun is the company's wholly-owned subsidiary.
At its Logbaba gas project in Cameroon, in which it has a 40% interest, Victoria is discussing with partners to grow its diesel generator business, and it is hoping to seal a deal to supply the national utility company, ENEO Cameroon with gas, it said in a statement. It is also planning on developing a compressed natural gas business which would increase its potential geographical range of customers, said Victoria in a statement.
"A compressed natural gas project is also being evaluated. Compressed national gas would be transported by road tanker or rail from a compressor station to customers without the capital-intensive requirement of a pipeline. Compressed natural gas enables gas to be sold economically to businesses via a 'virtual pipeline' within a 200 kilometre radius of our operations, therefore increasing our customer reach considerably," it said.
"Victoria is now a very different company compared to the one it was in May 2013. Changes at board and executive level, and more effective sales, engineering, finance and consultancy teams are working together to bring new customers online and to progress our long-term goals. We are focused on effective and safe use of resources as well as on increasing cost efficiency and cash flow," said Foo.
At its annual general meeting in November, Victoria will be seeking shareholder approval for a capital reorganisation, including a 1-for-40 share consolidation.
"The board believes that the capital reorganisation will support the company's corporate profile in terms of delivering shareholder value," Foo said.
Victoria shares were down 6.1% to 1.31 pence per share Thursday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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