PetroKazakhstan stock hits high as profit jumps - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

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Reuters
UPDATE - PetroKazakhstan stock hits high as profit jumps
Thursday July 29, 4:50 pm ET
By Jeffrey Jones


(Updates with closing stock price. In U.S. dollars unless noted)
CALGARY, Alberta, July 29 (Reuters) - PetroKazakhstan Inc. (Toronto:PKZ.TO - News) pumped out a 78 percent jump in quarterly profit on Thursday due to rising oil output in the central Asian country and high crude prices, prompting investors to push to stock to a new high.

PetroKazakhstan, based in Canada but with its operations solely in Kazakhstan, also reported sharply higher income from petroleum product sales produced at its Shymkent refinery.

Executives said the company`s balance sheet remained miserly after a major stock buyback, and that it was scouting for acquisitions, even outside the former Soviet republic.

In the second quarter, PetroKazakhstan earned $122 million, or $1.51 a share, up from year-earlier $68.4 million, or 84 cents a share.

Cash flow, a glimpse into an oil company`s ability to fund development and repay debt, surged 56 percent to $142 million or $1.75 a share, from $91 million or $1.12 a share.

Revenues rose to $400 million from $255 million.

PetroKazakhstan shares jumped C$3.30, or 8 percent, to C$43.10 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock is up nearly 150 percent in the past year, putting it among the best performing issues in Canada`s oil and gas group.

Peters & Co. Ltd. analyst Wilf Gobert said the profit beat his estimate due to lower transport costs for crude oil, as the company opened up more options for its land-locked output, and sharply higher income from the petroleum products division.

"Refining and marketing has just been extraordinary, at least compared to historical precedent," Gobert said.

Production rose 4.2 percent to 151,104 barrels a day from 145,066 in the second quarter of 2003.

However, oil exports fell 11 percent from the first quarter because of operational problems that hit the Atasu pipeline and terminal and lower quotas set by Kazakhstan`s energy ministry.

The mechanical issues were resolved in May, it said.

The company has been working to diversify its exports, adding sales to China and Iran.

Last week, PetroKazakhstan closed a special buyback of 4 million shares in a Dutch auction, garnering C$160 million ($120 million). It has also been cutting debt as it generates more cash than it can spend on operations.

Chief executive Bernard Isautier said PetroKazakhstan is still trying to buy the 50 percent stake in the Kazgermunai joint venture it doesn`t already own, a deal announced in May.

The venture operates the Akshabulak, Nurali and Askai oil fields in Kazakhstan.

However, he said his company has yet to win government approval for the acquisition from its partners, which include RWE-DEA (XETRAEAG.DE - News) and EEG Erdgas Erdol of Germany and International Finance Corp., which is part of the World Bank.

Meanwhile, PetroKazakhstan is searching for other acquisitions, including some that may take it into a neighboring country for the first time, Isautier said.

"It`s still early and I don`t have a specific project close enough to mention at this stage," he told analysts.

"But we are certainly focused on finding new opportunities to which we would apply our know-how ... to apply Western technology, Western management techniques, our ability to deal with the special difficulties of emerging countries."

($1=$1.33 Canadian)

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