(EnergyAsia, April 26 2012, Thursday) — High crude oil prices helped Thai state upstream company PTT Exploration and Production Pcl (PTTEP) report a 66% gain in its first quarter net profit to 18.288 billion baht. (US$1=31 baht). It earned 10.979 billion baht for the same quarter last year.

PTTEP, a subsidiary of state energy firm PTT Pcl, said it earned 5.51 baht per share for the January to March period.

Anon Sirisaengtaksin, PTTEP’s President and CEO, said the company and its subsidiaries reported a 24% gain in revenue to 50.448 billion baht on the back of an increase in its average sales price of US$64.79 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) compared with US$49.36 per BOE in the same quarter last year.

The company said its Q1 sales volume was down to 253,411 boe/day compared with 271,292 BOED in the same period last year. It attributed the decline to last November’s production contract termination and the sales volume of natural gas and condensate of the Arthit North project.

PTTEP said it has started processing between 50,000 and 70,000 million standard cubic feet/day (MMSCFD) of natural gas and up to 4,000 b/d of condensate at its Bongkot South field.