VENTURES AFRICA – American
multinational energy corporation, ConocoPhillips has reported a 8
percent increase in its 3rd quarter profit, boosted by the company’s
$1.5 billion sale of its Nigerian assets to local Energy giant Oando PLC
in July.
The company, which has been divesting from its
lower margin assets over the past few years, recorded a profit of $2.7
billion, or $2.17 per share, 8 percent higher than the $2.5 billion, or
$2.00 per share, of Q3 2013. Profit figures would have however been
smaller had the largest U.S. independent oil company not sold its
Nigerian assets from which it gained $1.4 billion. According to Reuters,
excluding items such as the proceeds from the sale of its Nigerian
business in July and a tax benefit, Conoco had a profit of $1.29 per
share, although analysts, on average, expected $1.20.
Despite falling crude prices, Conoco’s CEO Ryan Lance expressed
optimism of stronger growth next year.The company has been directing
more capital to projects like shale drilling in the United States that
offer higher returns and higher production growth. “We expect strong
growth in 2015 driven by ongoing success in the North American
unconventionals and startup of several major projects, including Surmont
2 and APLNG,” Lance said in statement.
Surmont is an oil sands project in Canada and APLNG is a liquefied
natural gas project in Australia. Unconventional drilling refers to
shale drilling.Like ConocoPhillips, Oando PLC, the buyer of their Nigerian assets, has also been enjoying great times with half year pre-tax profit rising 103 percent to N12.53 billion ($76.47 million) from N6.15 billion ($37.53 million) in the corresponding period of 2013. However, the company’s revenue dropped 69.4 percent to N194.55 billion ($1.18 billion) compared with N280.32 billion ($I.71 billion).
No comments:
Post a Comment