Bolsters Operations amidst Recovery of Crude Oil Price;
Strategic Three-Year Development Plan in Place to Unleash Full Inventory Potential
HONG KONG — Persta Resources Inc. (“Persta Resources” or the “Company”, stock code: 3395), a Calgary-based energy company principally engaged in natural gas and crude oil exploration and production in Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (“WCSB”), with a focus on natural gas, announced its first annual results for the year ended 31 December 2016 (“FY2016”) since its listing on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 10 March 2017.
Financial and Operating Highlights
– Full-year revenue grew by 47.4% year-on-year to C$23.7 million; Q4 2016 revenue reached C$8.6 million
– Full-year adjusted EBITDA1 surged by 42.7% year-on-year to C$12.9 million; Q4 2016 adjusted EBITDA1 reached C$5.3 million
– Excluding one-off listing-related transaction costs, the Company would have recorded net profit of C$0.7 million in FY2016
– Full-year daily production volume surged by 91.6% YoY to 3,579 boe/d
For the year ended 31 December 2016, the Company recorded revenue of C$23.7 million from crude oil and natural gas sales, representing an increase of 47.4% compared to C$16.1 million in the same period in 2015. Adjusted EBITDA for FY2016 was C$12.9 million, up 42.7% from C$9.0 million in FY2015. The Company recorded loss and total comprehensive loss of C$2.3 million for FY2016 (FY2015: loss of C$2.5 million). Excluding the impact of one-off listing-related transaction costs of C$3.0 million (FY2015: C$0.5 million), the Company would have recorded net profit of C$0.7 million. On the operational front, in wake of the recovery of the international crude oil price and consequently, the increase in the Company’s production volume of oil and gas in 2016, the daily production volume of the Company surged by 91.6% in 3,579 boe/d in FY2016 from 1,868 boe/d in FY2015.
In view of the recovery of the market price of crude oil since the second half of 2016, the Company strategically boosted its production volume according to the market conditions. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the average production volume reached 4,223 boe/d. As a result, the Company recorded revenue of C$8.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, which amounts to 36.1% of the full-year revenue of 2016. Consequently, adjusted EBITDA1 and net profit for the quarter reached C$5.3 million and C$1.4 million respectively. The growth in net profit and production volume in the fourth quarter of 2016 was a reflection of the Company’s strengthened operational performance and improved market conditions.
Mr. Le BO, Chairman and Executive Director of the Company, said, “We strive to maintain our competitiveness and raise shareholder value through enhancing the value of our natural gas and oil assets through increased operational efficiency, effective well placement and field development, upgrading our reserves by drilling and developing our undeveloped land position, improving our drilling and completion techniques, pursuing potential acquisition opportunities with significant value appreciation and exploration drilling for new pool discoveries.
“Since the acquisition of 6,400 net acres of land in Alberta Foothills, WCSB, Alberta, Canada in January 2007 and the commercial production of liquids-rich natural gas from our first deep well in the area in December 2008, our natural gas and oil production rate has grown organically and reached an average production of 3,579 boe/d for the year ended 31 December 2016. As at 31 December 2016, we held 114,528 net acres of land in the WCSB. In the next three years, we will focus on drilling a total of 13 well locations in Basing in the Alberta Foothills, which represent 100% of our proved, plus probable reserves and best estimate contingent resources, out of the total of 77 drilling location we hold throughout the WCSB. In addition, we also plan to construct facilities to support future increases in production, in order to lower production cost in the long run. I am highly confident about the prospects of Persta Resources. With our three-year development plan in place, we will be well positioned to capture full market potential upon the recovery of global oil and gas market”, Mr. BO concluded.