TAQA aluminum move pays off for Q3

The National reported that Abu Dhabi National Energy Company move into aluminum has helped boost revenues for the Q3.

The company said that its share of income from the 40% acquisition of Oman's Sohar aluminum plant in June and damages it received because of delays to the Fujairah 2 water and power plant contributed to profits for the quarter. Higher oil prices and increased output also pushed TAQA's Q3 profit to more than double.

TAQA which is majority owned by the Abu Dhabi Government earned AED 218 million in net profit for the quarter up from AED 90 million for the same period last year. The company received damages totalling AED 311 million after a delay in the completion of the Fujairah 2 plant.

Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority transferred 90% of its interest in Fujairah 2 to TAQA in the Q3 giving the company 54% interest. But the delays ate into revenues. Fujairah 2 is now expected to be complete by the end of the year.

The US Federal Reserve's decision to pump USD 600 billion into the US economy has pushed up the price of dollar denominated commodities such as oil, providing more revenues for TAQA. The price of oil hit USD 88 per barrel yesterday after reaching 2 year high last week.

TAQA's oil and gas revenues contributed AED 1.63 billion to total revenues while revenue from power and water was stable at AED 1.6 billion. Power generation in the quarter increased by 2% compared with the same quarter last year.

Mr Carl Sheldon GM of TAQA said that the company is on track to achieve its targeted production of 138,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of the year. Output stood at 136,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day at the end of the Q3. Over the course of the last three months, in response to the more positive commodity pricing environment and as a result of our asset optimization work and acquisitions, we have increased production in our upstream assets.

Mr Sheldon said that alongside its stake in Sohar Aluminium, TAQA won 3 new licenses in the North Sea and the Netherlands. These licenses are for areas that have never been looked at before. They are untouched so we are hoping we will find something there.

（Sourced from the National）