The company posted a record $126.6 million in operating revenue for the quarter ended September 30 on the back of oil and gas production which reached 2.466 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe), up two per cent on the previous quarter and 26.1% higher than for the same time last year.

"So far, 2003 has been a momentous year for Oil Search with the company taking operating control of our core business for the first time," managing director Peter Botten said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

Oil Search said the purchase earlier this year of Chevron Niugini's interests in oil and gas production in Papua New Guinea's South Highlands Province for $96.6 million, would add around 20% to the company's 2004 production base as well as 18.45 million barrels of proven and probable developed producing reserves.

Oil Search has also taken the operatorship of the Kutubu, Moran, Gobe Main and SE Gobe oil fields and a number of exploration licenses from ChevronTexaco as of Friday the 17th.

"Over the past decade, Oil Search has grown rapidly. In the early 1990s, our average interest in PNG's oil fields was 7%. Now Oil Search owns over 70% of the country's discovered oil reserves and over 50% of the country's gas resources," said Botten.