By BRIAN GOMEZ in Sydney
OIL Search shares soared to an all-time high of A$5.10 before closing at a record A$5.01 yesterday following news that West Texas Intermediate crude oil had once again hit the US$100 a barrel mark.
The news was enough to push Oil Search up by A$0.16 yesterday, a rise of 3.3%, on turnover of 6.3 million shares.
Oil Search has risen from a low of around A$3.20 a share a year ago and from about A$0.65 five years ago, making it one of the strongest performers on the Australian Stock Exchange.
While this news would be welcome to Oil Search shareholders and other stakeholders it also signals further increases in petrol, diesel and kerosene prices for consumers throughout PNG.
Lihir also made gains after gold prices cracked the US$850 (K2,496.33) record years ago, rising by A$0.21, or an even stronger 5.8%, to A$3.82.
However, Lihir is nowhere near its recent peak of A$4.45 in late October because shareholder sentiment had been dampened by the mid-December announcement that it would only produce a record 700,000 ounces of gold this year. This contrasted with earlier projections of between 800,000 and 830,000 ounces.
Uncertainty also continues to surround the company’s Ballarat gold mine in Victoria, which remains closed following a rock fall last Nov 19 in an access tunnel at the underground mine.
The company said it envisaged a return to normal operations at Ballarat in mid to late this month, subject to an approval by regulatory authorities.
Other Papua New Guinea stocks listed on the ASX also made gains yesterday with the sole exception of Highlands Pacific, which fell by A$0.05 to A$0.14.
Following the sale of its troubled Kainantu gold mine to Barrick Gold, Highlands had no exposure to gold.
and any improvement in its fortunes was linked with the start-up late next year of the US$1 billion Ramu nickel-cobalt mine.
Allied Gold, which is likely to have its first gold pour at Simberi this month, rose A$0.035 to A$0.785; Frontier Resources rose A$0.01 to A$0.135 and Emperor rose A$0.03 to A$0.75.
Marengo Mining, which is presently carrying out a feasibility study on its Yandera copper-molybdenum project, was steady at A$0.35.