OPMC declares cash dividend, eyes RE investments
Oriental Petroleum and Minerals Corporation (OPMC) declared a ₱60 million cash dividend or ₱0.0005 per common share as it celebrated its 50th anniversary as a pioneering oil exploration company.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said the amount will be paid to stockholders on August 18.
The company’s full-year net income in 2019 amounted to $2.33 million, representing a 175.5 percent increase over the same 12-month period in 2018. Significantly, OPMC is practically debt-free.
As the company starts a new chapter following its golden anniversary milestone, OPMC bared plans to participate in upstream and downstream natural gas projects, as well as venture into all kinds of renewable energy sources like biomass, solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and ocean energy.
OPMC Chairman President Robert Coyiuto Jr. noted this is a fitting way to bolster the company’s status as a pioneer in oil and gas exploration in the Philippines.
OPMC is engaged in the exploration, development and production of petroleum and mineral resources in the country, particularly in offshore locations northwest of Palawan where petroleum in commercial quantities are present.
The company is a service contractor to the Philippine government through the Department of Energy.
OPMC is led by James L. Go, who serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Coyiuto, who is president and chief operating officer. Go is also Chairman of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. while Coyiuto is Chairman of Prudential Guarantee and Assurance, Inc., PGA Sompo Insurance Corporation, PGA Cars, Inc. and PGA Automobile, Inc.; and vice chairman of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and First Life Financial Co., Inc.
He also serves as the Presidential Adviser on Capital Market Development.
OPMC traces its beginnings to 1969 when Robert Coyiuto — father of Robert Coyiuto, Jr. — ventured into oil exploration. OPMC was founded by Coyiuto with Jose Ma. Barcelon, as well as other fellow visionaries including Antonio Caguiat, Felipe F. Cruz, Alfredo Ramos, Yao Shiong Shio, Fr. Emeterio Barcelon, SJ., Carlos Dyhongpo, Rafael Gonzales and Alejandro Lichauco.
OPMC pioneered oil exploration among Filipino companies, and thus wrote Philippine history when it first struck oil in 1976.