Sep 2016 Financial News

Mora Oil signs agreement with Repsol

Sep 05, 2016

Local oil producer Mora Oil Ventures says it has signed a new purchase agreement with Spanish energy giant Repsol that will pave the way for the resumption of production from the Mora A platform. 

In a statement dated August 30 but published on the T&T Stock Exchange (TTSE) website yesterday, Mora Ven chairman George Nicholas said the oil company had been engaged in negotiations with Repsol since December 2015, when production on the platform was stopped, “more than once believing that a restart in production was foreseeable—only to have new obstacles arise.”

According to Nicholas: “We are presently installing the infrastructure which would enable our production to be metered according to API standards placing new meters on the Repsol platform where our pipeline connects,” according to the statement by Nicholas. 

It said that within a month the company intends to restart production and that “the cost structure of the Mora Ven Group is in the process of being further flattened to remain profitable at the new price paradigm.”

Mora Oil Ventures is a subsidiary of Mora Ven Holdings, which is listed on the TTSE.

A check on the TTSE website yesterday indicated that Mora Ven Holdings latest financial results were published on July 3 and pertain to the nine-month period ending September 30, 2015.

In those unaudited results, Mora Ven reported a 20 per cent decrease in revenue for the first nine months of 2015 as a result of a 70 per cent decline in the price of crude.

Mora Ven said that it was seeking a partner to drill a well from the platform, as earlier seismic tests indicated a large find within reach of the platform.

“The snubbing unit we purchased last year was purchased for the drilling to connect these prospects. We have four slots available on the Platform to engage this prospect,” Mora Ven stated.

The company also reported on its solar energy subsidiary, Solaris, which it said “has been steady, though the lower price of energy, which started in late 2014, has impacted the economic rational for changing from non-renewable to renewable sources.”

The reduction in the oil price “has severely impacted the overall business in Trinidad and Tobago and the region,” but a 20 per cent drop in cost of inputs, and an increase in electricity utility prices, had resulted in much more business opportunities to the end of the year.

Source:
Trinidad Guardian
Saturday September 3, 2016

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2016-09-03/mora-oil-signs-agreement-repsol