PARIS, March 31 - France's Maurel & Prom announced a fresh oil discovery in Gabon as it posted surging 2008 profits and reaffirmed plans to acquire assets made cheaper by a sharp drop in oil prices.
The independent oil company, which recently agreed to sell production assets in Colombia to state oil firm Ecopetrol for $748 million, would seize any acquisition opportunity that may arise, it said on Tuesday.
"We are looking at farm ins," or partnerships in another company's oil field, Chairman Jean-Francois Henin, who owns 23.8 percent of Maurel, told a conference call. "The current circumstances have made conditions much more advantageous."
"We are also looking at what can be done with distressed companies. To this day, we have not found anything interesting but we do not doubt opportunities will arise there," he said.
Maurel could spend up to 200 million euros ($264.9 million) and "maybe a little more" on acquisitions, Henin added.
Shares in the company rose as much as 1.7 percent to 10 euros on Tuesday, giving it a market value of about 1.2 billion euros. The stock has added about one-fifth so far this year.
Maurel & Prom was founded in 1813 to ship goods between Bordeaux and the then French colonies in West Africa before turning briefly to food processing and subsequently focusing on the oil industry in the last 10 years.
It has specialised in finding new oil reserves that it then sells to larger production companies. It sold its M'Boundi field, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Eni for $1.4 billion in 2007.
On Tuesday, it announced a new discovery in Gabon, where it had a successful first with its OMOC-1 exploration well within the so-called OMOUEYI field. Maurel said it would announce the results of further tests in one week.
"With the start-up of production from Onal in Gabon and the prospects for developing the neighbouring fields, Maurel & Prom's production by the end of 2009 should reach a level closely equivalent to the level at the end of 2008 and up by one-third compared to the 2007 entitled production," Maurel said.
Maurel & Prom said 2008 operating profit quadrupled to 95.5 million euros on sales up one-third to 385.5 million, helped by a sharply higher oil price in the first three quarters of the year. Net income came in at 62.5 million euros, against 766.1 million in 2007 including the proceeds from the M'Boundi sale.
Maurel & Prom had a net cash position of 189 million euros at the end of 2008.
Henin said receipts from the sale of its Colombian assets would help the company cover the payment of bonds maturing in 2010 and pay a dividend to shareholders for 2008.
In February, Maurel had said it would pay a dividend of between 0.25 and 0.40 euros per share, down from 1.20 in 2007.
The independent oil company, which recently agreed to sell production assets in Colombia to state oil firm Ecopetrol for $748 million, would seize any acquisition opportunity that may arise, it said on Tuesday.
"We are looking at farm ins," or partnerships in another company's oil field, Chairman Jean-Francois Henin, who owns 23.8 percent of Maurel, told a conference call. "The current circumstances have made conditions much more advantageous."
"We are also looking at what can be done with distressed companies. To this day, we have not found anything interesting but we do not doubt opportunities will arise there," he said.
Maurel could spend up to 200 million euros ($264.9 million) and "maybe a little more" on acquisitions, Henin added.
Shares in the company rose as much as 1.7 percent to 10 euros on Tuesday, giving it a market value of about 1.2 billion euros. The stock has added about one-fifth so far this year.
Maurel & Prom was founded in 1813 to ship goods between Bordeaux and the then French colonies in West Africa before turning briefly to food processing and subsequently focusing on the oil industry in the last 10 years.
It has specialised in finding new oil reserves that it then sells to larger production companies. It sold its M'Boundi field, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Eni for $1.4 billion in 2007.
On Tuesday, it announced a new discovery in Gabon, where it had a successful first with its OMOC-1 exploration well within the so-called OMOUEYI field. Maurel said it would announce the results of further tests in one week.
"With the start-up of production from Onal in Gabon and the prospects for developing the neighbouring fields, Maurel & Prom's production by the end of 2009 should reach a level closely equivalent to the level at the end of 2008 and up by one-third compared to the 2007 entitled production," Maurel said.
Maurel & Prom said 2008 operating profit quadrupled to 95.5 million euros on sales up one-third to 385.5 million, helped by a sharply higher oil price in the first three quarters of the year. Net income came in at 62.5 million euros, against 766.1 million in 2007 including the proceeds from the M'Boundi sale.
Maurel & Prom had a net cash position of 189 million euros at the end of 2008.
Henin said receipts from the sale of its Colombian assets would help the company cover the payment of bonds maturing in 2010 and pay a dividend to shareholders for 2008.
In February, Maurel had said it would pay a dividend of between 0.25 and 0.40 euros per share, down from 1.20 in 2007.
