Medco oil production down, gas sales up in Jan-Sept period

Publicly listed oil and gas producer PT Medco Energi International reported Thursday its average daily oil production declined to 70,400 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) in the first nine-month of 2003 from 83,700 BOPD in the same period of last year.

"This decline in production is mostly due to a drop in output from Kaji/Semoga field, Rimau Block, South Sumatra, which contributed about 80 percent of total crude oil produced by Medco," the company said in a press statement.

Medco's gas sales increased to 84.6 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) in the first nine month of 2003 compared with the of 66.2 million from the same period of last year, notably due to new gas contracts with national power company PLN, in addition to increased demand from its methanol plant.

Medco operates several oil and gas concessions through its 99 percent-owned subsidiary, PT Exspan Nusantara.

Meanwhile, despite a decline of rig utilization during the period, Medco reported that its net sales and operating revenues from drilling services increased by 34.7 percent from last year's corresponding period. "This was due to the increase of offshore rig income, as the main revenue generator for the drilling operations," Medco said.

In the statement, Medco said offshore rig utilization was slightly down to 73 percent in the period from 74 percent last year, while onshore rig utilization down to 59 percent from 60 percent, respectively. Medco's drilling services mainly conducts by its 77.5 percent-owned subsidiary PT Apexindo Pratama Duta.

Furthermore, the company's methanol production reached 209,000 metric tons of methanol, compared to 189,000 metric tons in last year's period. "The increased production was primarily due to better plant performance at an average production for the period about 760 metric tons per day," Medco said.

Medco operates a methanol plant in Bunyu Island, East Kalimantan, through its 99.99 percent-owned subsidiary PT Medco Methanol Bunyu. According to Medco, design capacity of the methanol plant is 1000 metric ton per day.

Medco reported earlier that its unaudited net profit in the first nine-month of 2003 reached US$64.0 million ($0.02 per share), a 3.5 percent increase compared to $61.8 million ($0.019 per share) in the same period last year.

Medco is 85.51 percent owned by Mauritius-based investment company New Links Energy Resources Ltd. (robert)