Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., Colombia’s largest independent oil producer, swung to a third-quarter profit from the same period a year earlier, fueled by an increase in output and higher crude prices.
Pacific Rubiales, which operates the largest oil field in Colombia, booked a third-quarter profit of $32.9 million after posting a $63.1 million loss in the same period last year. For the first nine months of the year, the company’s net income stood at $112.9 million after reporting a $129 million loss in the year ago period, the company said in a statement released late Tuesday.
Revenue for the first nine months of 2010 totaled $1.15 billion, more than double that of the same period in 2009.
The company, led by former executives of Venezuelan oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela SA, has been successful in turning the once neglected Rubiales field into Colombia’s largest. Rubiales, which the company acquired in 2007, is expected to produce 170,000 barrels a day by the end of the year.
The company’s oil output before royalties in the third quarter averaged 114,115 barrels of oil equivalent per day, an 81% increase from a year earlier.
Pacific Rubiales said earlier this week that it is planning to branch out into refining and additional pipeline and storage assets, as well as the production of coal and asphaltite.
The company is also considering a 33% stake in a key oil pipeline project it plans to finance with cash flow. The pipeline, being built by state oil firm Ecopetrol SA, has an estimated cost of $4.2 billion.