It’s not the main show, but it helps…

Not earthshocking, but we have to stress that a refinery managing to eek out a profit in a difficult quarter for refiners generally while functioning at just over half capacity is nothing less than a small miracle..

See here for the PR, some highlights:

• Earnings of 18 cents per share, above expectations of 2 cents a share.
• First nine monts created a positive cash inflow from operations of $51.2 million (even though the past quarter generated a net outflow of $27.5M). One has to realize that quarter-on-quarter variation is large due to the timing and pricing of crude buys and sales of refinery products. The main reason was improved margins, both for the refinery and downstream.
• Both the refinery and the distribution business generated a net profit, reinforcing the profitability trend.
• Cash and debt positions improved significantly over a year ago, although not in the last quarter.

One could say InterOil was never really about the refinery, at least so far. As long as it keeps adding, rather than detracting resources we’re already very happy, so we won’t go into the figures in great detail. We have to remind people though, that this refinery will come very handy when they can produce the liquids and/or oil. In that case, it will turn into a money spinner rather quickly.

We await next morning’s conference call to find out more about the well progress, which should ultimately determine the prospects for both.