The PNOC-Exploration Corp. will soon release its stockholders dividends amounting to P20 million, the government-owned company said in a press release yesterday.

Its shares of stock are 99.78 percent owned by the Philippine government through its mother company, Philippine National Oil Corp., while the remaining 0.22 percent is held by public stockholders. PNOC-Exploration Corp. had earlier posted a sharp 450 percent increase in its audited net income for 2005 amounting to P 2.8 billion. However, its unrestricted retained earnings, taking into account the deficits in the previous year, only amounted to about P 40 million, of which 50 percent will be released as dividends, the press release said.

The company last released dividends in 1999, then amounting only P2 Million. Its profit surge in 2005 is attributed mainly to its earnings in the Malampaya Deepwater Gas to Power Project brought about by the high oil and gas prices and increased production volume.

PNOC-Exploration Corp. holds a 10 percent stake in the Malampaya Project while Shell and Chevron have 45 percent stake each, the press release added.*

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