Bangkchak notches up 109% profit rise

In the first six months, Bangchak's net profit also rose sharply to Bt2.7 billion from Bt838.7 million over the same period last year, according to its filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday.

The oil company attributed the huge net profit to the skyrocketing oil prices, which boosted refineries' prof¬its from its inventories. The average for crude oil in the second quarter stood at US$116.59 (Bt3,900) per barrel, 79.9 per cent higher than the same period last year and 28 per cent higher than the first quarter.

Its refining margin, excluding gains from inventory, stood at $7.97 per barrel or Bt1.63 million.

Bangchak said that its revenues from sales and services for the second quarter were Bt39.58 million, higher than the Bt15.50 billion, or 64.9 per cent, over the same period last year. The increase in revenue came from a 14.4percent increase in sales vol¬umes. The average selling price in dol¬lar terms rose 56.8 per cent even though the baht appreciated against the greenback by 6.8 per cent.

Bangchak said the company has successfully increased its crude run production level to reach 83,600 bar¬rels per day because of increasing sales volume of diesel and fuel oil.

The increase in diesel sales came from its retail petrolstation business where sales volume rose to 230 mil¬lion litres per month, up from 179 million in the same period last year.

The increase in sales volume was also a result of oil becoming more expensive, which encouraged con¬sumers to turn to biofuels, gasohol 91 and biodiesel B5, which are cheaper. This was in line with the company strategy to expand facilities and petrol stations to support sales of biofuels.

Bangchak's retail petrolstation market share during April to May this year moved up to second, or 14.7 per cent, compared to fourth, with a share of 12.7 per cent, during the same peri¬od of last year.

The company noted that the demand for fuel oil very low sulphur (FOVS) has also increased, mostly from China and Japan as the compa¬ny's FOVS quality matched the import requirement.

Bangchak has also exceeded its expectations in achieving a higher level of crude run capacity. Currently, most of the fuel oil produced was exported.

Last Friday, Thailand's biggest refiner Thai Oil announced growth in secondquarter net profit of 59 per cent to Bt10.55 billion from Bt3.9 billion in the same period last year. It was the highest profit recorded by the compa¬ny in a quarter since the listing of the stock in 2004.

Its soaring profit is due mainly to higher oil prices and greater produc¬tion capacity. In the second quarter, Thai Oil saw an increase in refining capacity of 50,000 barrels per day to 288,000 barrels.

Viroj Mavichak, Thai Oil's manag¬ing director, attributed the high mar¬gin to the demand for jet fuel, kerosene and diesel against limited refining capacity, plus demand for heating oil as well as diesel ahead of the Olympic Games in China.