Ramping up production at a time of high energy prices is paying off for Latin America-focused Geopark. Oil revenue, mainly from Chile, grew by over half in 2011 to $73.5m (£46m), driven by a 27 per cent increase in production to 2,510 barrels of oil per day (bopd). An ambitious drilling programme and recent acquisitions make this year's target to double average production very achievable.
Output so far this year is a better than expected 12,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up from 7,593 boepd at the year-end. Buying 10 blocks in Colombia recently for $105m has helped. Three of them are pumping out 2,800 bopd and 2P oil reserves are put at 10m barrels. Still, it's the core Fell block in Chile that's the biggest money-spinner, currently responsible for 9,500 boepd.
Encouragingly, three new blocks in Tierra del Fuego, Chile, share similarities with Fell, and two now have final regulatory approval. Given unrisked mean resources of 50m-100m boe it is unsurprising GeoPark will spend at least $101m here over the next three years. That's part of an aggressive investment plan to spend $240m in 2012 alone, some of which is earmarked for an assessment of oil and gas shale potential in Argentina and Chile.
Broker Oriel Securities is reviewing its 2012 adjusted pre-tax profit forecast of $76.8m, implying EPS of 71.9p, given "conservative" production estimates.
GEOPARK (GPK) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 572p | MARKET VALUE: | £243m | |
| TOUCH: | 565-580p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 739p | LOW: 440p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE | 492¢ | NET CASH: | $36.6m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 11.0 | -13.8 | -45.0 | nil |
| 2008 | 38.4 | 3.9 | 11.0 | nil |
| 2009 | 44.8 | -7.5 | -22.0 | nil |
| 2010 | 79.6 | 9.0 | 10.0 | nil |
| 2011 | 111.6 | 12.3 | 0.13 | nil |
| % change | +40 | +36 | - | - |
£1=$1.61 | ||||
