12th Mar 2019 09:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - Increased production helped boost Ophir Energy PLC's revenue, the company said Tuesday, though its loss has widened significantly.
Ophir, currently the target of an agreed takeover bid, posted a pretax loss of USD720.0 million in 2018, multiplying more than ten times from a loss of USD64.4 million the year before.
This is despite revenue surging 58% to USD298.2 million, as production climbed to 29,700 barrels of oil equivalent from 11,800 barrels.
Profit was hit by a USD614 million impairment on the Block R licence in Equatorial Guinea, after the government decided not to grant an extension.
Production was ahead of expectations in 2018, Ophir said, due to outperformance in Indonesia.
In 2019, Ophir has guided for 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, due to natural field decline, while outperformance in 2018 resulting from gas demand spikes is not certain to repeat, it said.
Production was helped by the purchase of assets in south-east Asia from Australia's Santos Ltd for USD205 million. Production before that was mainly from the Bualang field offshore Thailand.
Looking ahead, Ophir expects exploration and evaluation spend to fall to USD35 million in 2019 from USD65 million, though development spending will more than double to USD105 million.
Ophir is currently reviewing how it can return cash to shareholders, and will update following "this significant piece of work".
Ophir in January agreed to a GBP390.6 million offer from Indonesia's PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk, at 55 pence a share. The stock was 0.4% higher on Tuesday at 54.70p.
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