OREANDA-NEWS. Refiner and marketing firm Caltex Australia's replacement cost operating profit (RCOP) rose by 45pc to A\\$251mn (\\$187mn) in January-June from A\\$173mn a year earlier.

The latest figures are the first to reflect the closure of Caltex's 135,000 b/d Kurnell refinery in Sydney in October. Kurnell has been converted into a product import terminal and Caltex has set up a trading arm in Singapore to buy products for Australia.

More of the company's earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) now come from its marketing operations, which contributed A\\$263mn in January-June. Ebit from the firm's only remaining refinery, the 109,000 b/d Lytton refinery in Brisbane, rose almost fourfold to A\\$154mn in January-June from A\\$40mn a year earlier. The refinery underwent a maintenance programme in May and June that is undertaken once every five years.

The marketing results include a A\\$16mn loss on US dollar-denominated payables and a price-timing loss of about A\\$14mn, reflecting volatility in the Australian dollar and crude prices. Ebit rose to A\\$294mn from A\\$276mn after excluding the one-off items.

Caltex sold 271,000 b/d of transport fuels in the latest six-month period. Sales from Lytton were 83,400 b/d, about 77pc of capacity.

Caltex made a profit of A\\$174mn in January-March, up from A\\$121mn a year earlier. After-tax inventory gain fell to A\\$12mn from A\\$25mn over the period. Transport fuel sales were 270,000 b/d in the quarter, down slightly from a year earlier, implying April-June transport sales were at about the same level.