ISLAMABAD: Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) has announced excellent financial and operational results for the fiscal year 2022-23.
Year-on-year, the company’s net sales and net profit recorded an impressive growth of 53 percent and 70 percent and stood at the historically highest levels of Rs145.7 billion and Rs56.1 billion respectively.
The net profit would have been Rs64.7 billion without the provision of 10 percent super tax. Growth in net profit was reflected in EPS, which also reached the historically highest level of Rs420.75 per share from Rs247.8 per share of the previous year.
MPCL Board of Directors has recommended a final cash dividend of Rs58 per share (580 percent) for approval of the shareholders in the upcoming AGM. With this, the total dividend for FY 2022-23 will come to Rs147 per share (1,470 percent), also the highest in the company’s history.
The company contributed Rs74 billion to the government exchequer in the form of royalty, taxes, levies and duties. Indigenous production of natural gas, crude oil and LPG by MPCL helped curtail the country’s fuel import bill by over USD 3 billion during FY 2022-23.
Faheem Haider, managing director/CEO MPCL expressed his gratitude towards the law enforcement agencies, Petroleum Division, JV and business partners for their continued support that was crucial in accomplishing different milestones.
He highlighted that the company is working closely with the government and its customers to manage the circular debt issue faced by the energy sector to mitigate its impact on the company’s operations. Further, the company is strategising all operational activities in collaboration with the relevant law.
The company made significant contributions of Rs1.5 billion on account of flood relief efforts and impactful CSR initiatives in the priority areas of health, education, sports, and infrastructure development. Apart from robust financial performance, the year saw MPCL achieving several milestones on the exploration and development sides.
The company commissioned Sachal Gas Processing Complex (SGPC) and connected it with the SNGPL network via MPCL’s own cross-country pipeline, thereby achieving monetization of Goru-B discovery, which was not developed to its full potential since 1997. In addition, Swing Volumes Project has created flexibility to divert undrawn HRL volumes of fertilizer and power sector customers to SNGPL, thus maximizing production and sales.
The majority of the sold volumes from these projects were entitled for incentive price under Petroleum Policy 2012 and have greatly contributed towards higher sales revenue. Despite erratic customers’ offtake, these projects compensated most of the shortfall, consequently, the company’s hydrocarbon sales stood at 36.4 MBOE.
A landmark gas discovery was made at Ghazij-1 exploratory well drilled in the Mari D&PL, which added a new reservoir horizon in the existing Mari Field after a gap of 18 years and opened a new play concept in mature basins across the country.
The company also achieved a technological milestone by successfully drilling its first-ever horizontal well (Mari-122H) in HRL Reservoir. A second horizontal well (Mari 123H) was also drilled and put on production, subsequent to the year end.
Five (05) new exploration blocks were added to the company’s portfolio and its exploration acreage now consists of 34 exploration licenses, out of which 16 have been added in the last three years. As a result of intensive and focused exploration and development activities, the company’s reserves and resources have increased by 20 per cent over the last three years.
The management successfully implemented the cost optimization measures and achieved an impressive low operating cost of around USD 2 per barrel of oil equivalent. The company also demonstrated an enviable safety performance with all HSE indicators well within the maximum targets. MPCL is the first company in local energy landscape to have an ESG Policy.
The Board has also constituted a dedicated ESG Committee to steer the sustainability-related initiatives. These are important steps towards MPCL becoming a national ESG leader, which is one of the strategic objectives of the Company.
Several critical projects are currently underway that will boost the Company’s production and revenues. These include the installation of Early Production Facilities at Shewa-1 discovery in North Waziristan, which will be ready for production by end of 2023, subject to the timely completion of the SNGPL pipeline.
The company is also drilling Shewa-2 appraisal well and in case of success, it will be connected to the Shewa-1 EPF facilities. Further, drilling of an exploratory well Maiwand X-1 in Block-28 in Balochistan is also ongoing smoothly. This is a high-profile well and in case of success it could open doors for further exploration opportunities in this area
Waqar Ahmed Malik, chairman MPCL Board of Directors, congratulated the management team and all employees for their relentless focus on operational excellence, innovation, and safety that drove the performance in this challenging environment. He reiterated that the MPCL is proud to play a key role in ensuring our nation's energy and food security.
Despite the rising oil and gas prices, international geopolitics and our country's macroeconomic challenges, the MPCL continues to deliver reliable and affordable energy solutions.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
Comments
Comments are closed.