Good morning reader,
Make hay while the rain pours is the message coming from Petrotal, an OB Top 20, this morning.
“we will continue with our plans to return capital to investors via dividends and share buybacks for the foreseeable future.”
With $90m of restricted cash (and $21m restricted) that equates to about just under 20% of its NAV which supports the dividend, special dividend and buy back program which saw $18.4m of dividends in the quarter and buy backs of around $3m.
Continued drilling means production will be above 20,000 barrels/day during the wet season and work continues to make the “hay making” more efficient as the oil needs transporting to market, so bottlenecks have been dealt with through faster discharges in Brazil and better barge capacity now at over 1.6m barrels.
Meanwhile the news that a Plan B route to Ecuador will proceed mid to late 2024, is excellent news. When the rain doesn’t pour the river drops and makes transfers difficult. OCP run pipelines in Peru and these plus Petroecuador (in Ecaudor) will be able to transfer 5,000 barrels a day. Theoretically this should improve average sales by 20%-25%.
Net Profit for 2023 at around $150m and EBITDA of some $200m seem nailed on with today’s update. Progress in 2024 looks exciting here too as PTAL continues to make hay.
This is not advice
Oak