Japex lifts FY22/23 profit forecast on higher natural gas prices
(Reuters) - Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (Japex) has lifted its full-year net profit forecast by 13% on higher selling prices of natural gas and electricity to domestic customers, and also raised its annual dividend estimate.
The company now expects net profit to reach a record 60 billion yen ($458 MM) for the year to March 31, against its November estimate of 53 billion yen.
The annual dividend is now forecast at 330 yen ($2.51) per share, up 30 yen ($0.23) from the previous guidance.
"Higher prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) were the biggest booster to our profit," Michiro Yamashita, senior managing executive officer, told a news conference.
Japan's LNG import prices have risen in the current financial year in a reflection of soaring global spot LNG prices, but Japex was able to avoid a surge in its procurement costs as it buys the fuel mostly under term contracts, he said.
Meanwhile, the company's selling prices of natural gas and electricity to Japanese customers climbed to reflect the country's LNG import prices, boosting Japex's profit.
For the nine months ended Dec. 31, net profit came to 43.3 billion yen ($327 MM), against a loss of 85.1 billion yen ($647 MM) a year earlier.
The rosy outlook came despite a smaller contribution from the company's stake in Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development (SODECO), the Japanese consortium that owns a 30% stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia.
The company expects a 4.2 billion ($31 MM) yen profit from the stake in the January-October period, before SODECO joined with the new Russian operator of the project, Yamashita said.
Japex booked a 12.4 billion yen ($94 MM) profit from the stake in the formerly Exxon Mobil Corp-led project last financial year.
SODECO has been in talks with the new operator and the Russian government about the future operation of the project since November, Yamashita said.
($1 = 130.9600 yen) (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi Editing by Mark Potter)
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