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Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. has posted a US$10.1 million, or 71.6 percent, year-on-year decrease in net income for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.

The company recorded a net income for the three-month period of $4.0 million, or $0.09 basic and diluted earnings per share, compared to a net income of $14.1 million, or $0.30 basic and diluted earnings per share, during the first three months of 2010.

Total revenues for the first quarter rose by 91.1 percent to $1,611.9 million compared to $843.4 million for the same period in 2010. Sales of marine petroleum products increased by 91.2 percent to $1,605.4 million compared to $839.8 million for the year-earlier period. Net revenue, which equals total revenue less cost of goods sold and cargo transportation expenses, climbed 23.3 percent to $68.2 million compared to $55.3 million in the first quarter of 2010.

The volume of marine fuel sold increased by 58.5 percent to 2,726,237 metric tonnes compared to 1,720,513 metric tonnes in the year-earlier period, primarily as a result of the sales volumes in Aegean's new markets in the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam region and Las Palmas - entered in April 2010 and July 2010 - respectively.

Operating income for the period decreased by $7.6 million, or 43.7 percent, to $9.8 million compared to $17.4 million for the same period in 2010.

Operating expenses, excluding the cost of fuel and cargo transportation costs, increased by $18.6 million, or 47 percent, to $58.4 million compared to $39.8 million last year. This increase was said to be principally due to an expanded logistics infrastructure during the first quarter of 2011 compared to the corresponding period in 2010.

Commenting on the results, E. Nikolas Tavlarios, President, commented: "During the first quarter, Aegean increased sales volumes by 58.5 percent compared to the year-earlier period and posted net income of $4.0 million as market conditions improved. We remain focused on implementing management's strategy to enhance future performance and have achieved notable progress to date. During the quarter, we commenced operations in Cape Verde, located off the coast of Western Africa. This new start-up market provides an opportunity to increase our company's fleet utilization and expand its earnings potential without incrementally increasing capital expenditures.

"To further strengthen our geographic presence in strategic locations, we announced plans to launch physical supply operations at both ends of the Panama Canal by the end of the current quarter. We expect to realize benefits from the Panama Canal's projected expansion, which is expected to dramatically increase the amount of ship traffic. In addition, we were awarded a long-term concession to operate two onshore storage facilities in Panama on an exclusive basis. Including Panama, we have expanded our global network to 18 markets covering over 50 ports, compared to five service centers at the time of our IPO. While overall market conditions across the global marine fuel supply industry remain challenging, we believe our growing integrated marine fuel logistics chain combined with our balance sheet strength positions Aegean well for the remainder of 2011, and beyond," said Tavlarios.