TIRANA, Aug. 17 – In an unusual situation since a decade of operations in Albania, Canada-based Bankers Petroleum, which operates the Patos-Marinza heavy oilfield, reported losses of about $9.6 million in the first half of this year, compared to record profits of $52 million during the same period last year when international oil prices were at a historic high.
Facing a sharp cut in international oil prices, Bankers Petroleum slightly cut oil production and sales to about 20,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) as oil prices dropped by 50 percent to $43.78/barrel in the first half of this year.
The situation also affected royalties to the Albanian government which dropped to $22 million in the first half of this year compared to $47 million (15 percent of revenue) for the same period in 2014.
The 2015 third quarter-to-date average production is 19,500 bopd from the Patos-Marinza and Kuà§ova oilfields in Albania, slightly lower than the second quarter average of 20,050 bopd. Twelve horizontal production wells are scheduled for drilling in the third quarter in the main area of the Patos-Marinza oilfield, said the company in a statement.
Earlier this year, Bankers Petroleum came under fire after an incident involving the explosion of two oil wells forcing the evacuation of some sixty local households. The authorities also questioned if the country’s largest foreign investor and exporter has paid all its taxes.
Eleven years after launching its operations in the Patos-Marinze heavy oilfield under a 25-year concession deal with the Albanian government, Bankers Petroleum has not paid profit tax yet, which under Albanian law companies operating in the oil industry pay at a 50 percent rate only after meeting their investment costs.
An audit carried out by the National Agency for Natural Resources has recently found that Bankers has already recovered its investments costs and should have started paying profit tax since 2011.
However, the company claims in its 2014 financial report that it has to recover another $175 million before starting paying the 50 percent profit tax.
Canada-based Bankers Petroleum, which has recently made it to the top 100 SEE biggest companies, posted record high profits of around $129 million in 2014, more than double compared to 2013, on higher oil production despite a significant cut in international oil prices in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, royalties to the Albanian government and related entities were $86 million (15 percent of revenue) during 2014 compared to $94 million (17 percent of revenue) for 2013.
In early February 2015, Bankers announced it had reduced its 2015 capital program to US$ 153 million, down from a previously announced 2015 capital program of $218 million in early December 2014 on a sharp cut in international oil prices.
Since 2004, Bankers operates and has the full rights to develop the Patos-Marinza and Kuà§ova heavy oilfields under a 25-year concession contract with the Albanian government. The Patos-Marinza oilfield is the largest onshore oilfield in continental Europe, holding approximately 5.4 billion barrels of original oil in place. The Kuà§ova field has 297 million barrels of original-oil-in-place.
