Ampol Exploration Profitability

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31587, 26 January 1968, Page 21

Ampol Exploration Profitability

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) MELBOURNE, Jan. 25. Ampol Exploration, Ltd, may pay a dividend from profits which could more than treble in the current financial year. The company has a 14 per cent interest in West Australian Petroleum Pty, Ltd, which is producing oil on Barrow Island on the central coast of Western Australia. Western Australia Barrow Island production is currently running at more than three times the 1966/67 level, and a slightly higher selling price has operated since November 1. The chairman of Ampol Exploration (Mr L. J. Thompson) told yesterday’s annual meeting that average daily production from Barrow Island was 24,100 barrels in the December quarter. “We expect this to rise during the remaining nine months of the 1968 financial year,” he said. As a comparison, Mr

Thompson pointed out that if production for the period from March to September last year was taken over the entire 1967 financial year, the average daily production would be 7120 barrels. “Comparison of these two figures will give you a measure of our potential profitability in 1968,” he told shareholders. “You are reminded also that the price of Barrow crude has increased since November 1 by 3c a barrel and that the operating costs per barrel are lower on the larger production,” he said.