TIRANA, May 5 – Canada-based Bankers Petroleum posted record high losses of about $12 million in the first quarter of this year when international oil prices hit a 12-year low of below $30 a barrel. The country’s largest oil producer, which has recently signed a preliminary deal with China’s Geo-Jade Petroleum Corporation to sell its major Albania assets for a reported C$575 million (€392 mln), reported lower oil production and sales in the year’s first quarter as the company’s average oil price dropped to $21.07 per barrel, representing 62 percent of the Brent oil price of $33.89 per barrel. The company also delayed drilling activity, saying new drilling will resume as soon as pricing improves.
The low commodity prices also affected government revenue with Bankers paying only $4 million in royalties in the first quarter of this year, down from $10 million in the first quarter of 2015.
“The first quarter was challenging for the company. We navigated the volatile and competitive heavy oil commodity markets and maintained firm footing as a business,” said David French, the company’s CEO.
Commenting on the deal with the Chinese company, French said “Bankers has been working alongside Geo-Jade to complete the necessary steps to ensure a timely close of the proposed transaction. Our management team and board of directors remain in full support of the transaction, and believe it to be in the best interest of shareholders.”
Last March’s surprise Bankers Petroleum sale deal came as the country’s biggest oil producer has recently been facing tough times after more than a decade of operations in Albania due to a sharp cut in international oil prices and tax and environmental disputes with the Albanian government.
Bankers Petroleum suffered losses of $3.6 million in 2015 when oil prices almost halved following record high profits of about $129 million in 2014.
