Pertamina?s Q1 profit reaches $28 million

State owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina announced on Wednesday a net profit of US$28 million amid the lingering oil market downturn.

Sales reached $10.67 billion while EBITDA stood at $1.25 billion in the quarter.

The firm did not provide a comparative figures from last year.

?The current oil price drop is posing a challenge and we have to work hard to meet the challenge. Thanks God, a result of strong determination to do the best, we managed to book a positif performance with continually improving trend,? Pertamina?s President Director Dwi Soetjipto said.

The firm?s Production in the first quarter reached 248,400 bopd and 1.63 bsfd. The production is expected to increase going foward thanks oil production from the Cepu block, where the firm?s subsidiary PT Pertamina EP has a 45 percent interest.

The firm?s gas business is also showing an improved performance. The volume of gas transported by the firm reached 1.414 mmscfd, while the volume of gas sold by the firm reached 114.5 mmscfd in the quarter. This particularly came as a result of the operation of the Arun regassification facility and the Arun-Belawan transmission pipeline.

The firm?s downstream business has also booked positive results, thanks to the growth of non-subsidized oil fuel and lubricant sales. The completion of Residual Fuel Catalytic Cracker in Cilacap and the upgrading of lubricant production facilities in the third quarter of this year is expected to further the firm?s downstream business performance.

Dwi said during the period, the firm also managed to save $95.95 million in costs through efficiency program. The saved $95.95 million costs include $27 million resulting from renegotiation of crude provision contract, $22 million in crude import costs, $0.154 million resulting from optimization of supporting assets, and $46.89 million resulting from marketing operation excellence program.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon