KARACHI: In the third quarter ended March 31, 2022, Pakistan Petroleum Limited’s (PPL) net profit climbed by 74% to Rs20.62 billion, owing to the depreciation of the rupee and a rise in petroleum crude oil and gas prices in the nation.
In the same quarter of the previous year, the oil and gas exploration business made a profit of Rs11.88 billion, according to a notice issued to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday.
Its earnings per share increased to Rs7.58 in the current quarter from Rs4.37 in the previous year’s corresponding quarter.
With 1.36 million shares traded on PSX, PPL’s share price increased by Rs0.01 to end at Rs75.10.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2022 (July-March), its earnings increased by 37% to Rs52.33 billion, compared to Rs38.12 billion the previous year. As a result, profits per share climbed to Rs19.23 from Rs14.01 in the previous year’s similar quarter.
In the third quarter, the company’s net sales increased by 39% to Rs50.90 billion, up from Rs36.69 billion the previous year, thanks to an “11 percent year-on-year depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar, a massive surge of 66 percent in oil prices, and a 29% increase in Sui wellhead price,” according to AHL analyst Muhammad Iqbal Jawaid in a post-result commentary.
Meanwhile, he claimed, oil and gas output was down 14% and 4% year over year, respectively.
Net sales increased by 25% to Rs140.43 billion in the first nine months of this year, compared to Rs112.23 billion in the same time last year.
Exploration expenditures increased threefold to Rs1.43 billion in the quarter, compared to Rs470 million in the previous quarter, “owing to increased seismic data collecting throughout the quarter.”
Given that two wells were discovered dry during the period vs one dry well in the same period last year, the exploration expenditure increased 2.7-fold to Rs9.83 billion in nine months.
