IRPC: In Hopes of Oil Demand Recovery

With the affordable price, IRPC Public Company Limited (IRPC) was ranked as one of popular stocks among its peers. However, this year wasn’t a good year for IRPC, the share price normally above 3 baht per share, but since the beginning of 2020 the price has dropped below 3 baht-level for the first time. 

 

The drop was mainly because of the global recession and the Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war, reflecting oil price to collapse by 24% to $30 a barrel, worsening as Covid-19 has spreaded across the world. The outbreak raised concerns over oil demand, pushing the price to hit a 17-year low, affecting IRPC’s share to stand at 2 baht per share. 

 

Moreover, IRPC reported a loss of 410 million baht in 2Q20, flipped from a profit of 506 million baht a year ago, driving the Company to record a loss of 9,315 million baht for the first half of this year.  

 

The share price has continued to move sideways since then until early November that gradually showed an improvement and in December, price returned to 3 baht-level. As of December 8, IRPC’s price closed at ฿3.40/share, jumping ฿0.24/share or 7.59% with a trading value of 2,697 million baht. 

 

Another good news has come as OPEC+ agrees to expand oil production by 500,000 bpd, which means the group would move to output curbs by 7.2 million bpd early next year, starting in Jan 2021 onwards, compared with current cuts of 7.7 million bpd. 

 

The return of share price comes with hopes for oil price to remain strong and will boost IRPC’s operating performance in 4Q20.