BG Group plc today announced its First Quarter results
for 2001, marking a strong start to the year.
Total operating profit* rose by 30 per cent to £232
million. Underlying performance has continued to improve
and, excluding the impact of changes in gas and oil prices
in the upstream business, the Group's total operating
profit* rose by 21 per cent.
Earnings* increased by 12 per cent to £136 million
and earnings per share* rose by 11 per cent to 3.9 pence
in the First Quarter.
BG Group Chairman Richard Giordano said: "BG Group
made a good start to the year and continued to deliver
strong profit and earnings growth in the first quarter."
Chief Executive Frank Chapman said: "These are
excellent results which demonstrate the achievement of
a series of important milestones and good progress being
made towards our published targets."
Highlights of the First Quarter results include the
Elgin field in the UK North Sea achieving first production
in March and the Rosetta field in Egypt, coming onstream
in January.
The major agreement signed in April with the Egyptian
General Petroleum Corporation put in place the commercial
framework for the development of an integrated liquefied
natural gas export project in Egypt. BG has the largest
uncontracted gas reserves in the country.
In April, BG was granted firm access to transport gas
through the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline and secured a gas
sales agreement allowing 3.1 million cubic metres of
gas a day of its Bolivian equity gas to be sold to BG's
Brazilian gas distribution company, Comgas.
The results of the testing of the Kashagan West -1 well
in the Caspian were announced on May 3. The well, spudded
in October last year, flowed at a rate of up to 3,400
barrels of oil per day and 7.6 million standard cubic
feet of gas per day. Kashagan West-1 is the second successful
well drilled by the North Caspian Sea Consortium, of
which BG is a member.
In April, the House of Lords ruled in favour of the
owners of the Central Area Transmission System (CATS)
pipeline in their dispute with Teesside Gas Transportation
Limited. BG's share of the award was approximately £51
million, including interest.
The partial sell-down of BG's Northern Ireland distribution
company, Phoenix Natural Gas for approximately £50
million was completed successfully in March, and Storage's
auction of annual capacity for the Rough and Hornsea
facilities achieved prices around 40 per cent higher
than last year. Bidding for Rough capacity was nearly
six times that on offer.
(*Continuing operations excluding exceptional items)
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