Pertamina?s net profit declines 24%

State-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina reported on Wednesday that net profit in the first semester of this year fell by 24 percent to US$1.4 billion compared to the corresponding period of last year despite higher revenue.

The company cited higher oil price has increased cost of sales in its downstream business, affecting net profit.

Pertamina said in a statement that revenue in the January-June period of this year increased by 19 percent to $20.5 billion from $17.2 billion in the same six-month period of last year.

The revenue growth, however, was still lower than the growth in the Indonesia Crude Price, which increased by 35 percent to $48.9 per barrel in the first-half of this year from the same period of last year.

?On the one side, the higher crude price has provided incentive for the upstream business, but the increasing crude price also affecte the cost of sales in the downstream sector, which affected much on the company?s net profit,? Pertamina President Director Elia Massa Manik said in the statement said.

Pertamina said that in the upstream sector, oil and gas production increased by 8 percent to 692,000 boepd in the first semester of this year.

Oil output increased by 12 percent to 343 mbopd, while gas production increased by 4 percent at 2,022 mmscfd.

The company said that sales of fuel products in the first semester of this year rose by 4 percent to 32.60 million kilo liters.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak