Bloomberg reported that Abu Dhabi National Energy Company’s Q3 profit dropped 88% as income from oil and gas sales fell.
The state controlled energy producer said that net income declined to AED 90 million or 2 fils per share from AED 723 million or 13 fils per year earlier. Sales dropped to AED 3.9 billion from AED 4.5 billion.
New York oil futures averaged USD 68.24 per barrel in the Q3 compared with USD 118.22 per year earlier as the global recession eroded energy demand. Crude prices fell after reaching a record USD 147.27 in July 2008.
According to the statement, Q3 income from oil and gas dropped 32% to AED 1.4 billion while revenue from water and electricity generation rose 11% to AED 1.62 billion as TAGA expanded power production capacity.
Mr Scott Darling an equities analyst at Nomura International Plc said that “TAQA’s profit, lower because of weak oil and gas prices is partly offset by its power business because of new capacity expansions.”
The company plans to build a 700 MW coal fired power plant at an energy complex it operates in Morocco and is adding a steam generator at a power station in Ghana. TAQA’s other assets range from oil fields in the North Sea and Canada to power and water plants in the United Arab Emirates.
TAQA, 51% owned by the Abu Dhabi government continued to buy assets in 2009 while other companies cut back to weather the recession. It sold USD 1.5 billion of bonds in September.
(Sourced from Bloomberg)
