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Johannesburg - PetroSA has made a small profit for the 2008/09 financial year, the state-owned oil and gas group said on Tuesday.
Net profit after tax increased three percent year-on-year to R1.96bn, up from R1.9bn in the previous year, it said in a statement.
It had posted a record R12.1bn in revenue for the 2008/09 financial year, compared to R10.3bn in the previous period.
The 18% rise in revenue was mainly due to the higher average oil price of $84 per barrel (compared to $82 in 2008), as well as a 24% weakening of the rand against the dollar in the reporting period.
It announced a total dividend of R725m to the shareholder, the Central Energy Fund.
PetroSA's spend on historically-disadvantaged companies had risen to 41% of BEE-qualifying procurement expenditure. For the period ended March 31, net BEE procurement spend, including third party payments, totalled R1.09bn.
Chief financial officer Nkosemntu Nika said the company had set itself a target of 50% procurement expenditure towards BEE entities.
Due to the current economic climate, PetroSA had embarked on a rigorous cost-saving exercise in the year under review. President and CEO Sipho Mkhize was confident the economic terrain would improve in the medium to long-term.
"Oil prices should recover to the $60-80/barrel range by 2010, which will improve the company's cashflows."
A fire in the Naphtha Hydrotreater unit, a reduction in the volume of landed gas due to reserves depletion and an air compressor failure were among problems at the Mossel Bay GTL refinery. For the first time in 14 years a worker was killed at the refinery.
The company was confident the liquefied natural gas import project would extend the refinery's life from 2011 to 2016.
Finalisation of the feasibility studies for the 400 000 barrels-per-day, $10bn crude oil refinery at Coega was on course. This should pave the way for the initiation of an environmental impact assessment study.
"The corporate balance sheet remains strong but faces the challenge of diversifying from a single source asset base to a broad portfolio of revenue-generating assets," Nika said.
- Sapa
