11th Sep 2024 10:39
(Alliance News) - Energean PLC on Wednesday cut the top end of 2024 production guidance after reporting strong double-digit growth in the first half of the year.
The Mediterranean and UK North Sea-focused natural gas exploration & production company said pretax profit multiplied to USD161.8 million in the first half that ended June 30 from a restated USD47.1 million the previous year.
Revenue jumped 71% to USD642.4 million from USD375.9 million, while cost of sales increased by just 48% to USD326.6 million from USD220.7 million.
Production in the half-year increased 38% to 146,000 from 106,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Energean added that production in June alone reached a record figure averaging 177,000 boepd.
Energean maintained a 30 US cents per share dividend for the second quarter.
Chief Executive Officer Mathios Rigas said: "We have also made significant progress on our key strategic areas, from advancing our gas-focused growth projects through the Katlan [final investment decision] and the start-up of Cassiopea and Location B, to progressing our decarbonisation business via the Prinos carbon storage project, where we anticipate receiving the storage permit for phase 1 (1 million tons of CO2 per year) in the coming months."
The sale of the company's Egypt, Italy, and Croatia portfolio to Carlyle International Energy Partners for an enterprise value of up to USD945 million, as announced in June, is due to complete by the end of 2024 with all regulatory and antitrust approvals having been submitted to the relevant authorities.
Expectations for 2024 have been revised with production guidance narrowed to 155,000 to 165,000 boepd from 155,000 to 175,000 boepd compared with production of 123,000 boepd in 2023.
The lowering of the top end of guidance is to reflect year-to-date performance in Israel and the actual start date and ramp up to full production of the Cassiopea project in Italy, Energean said.
Forecasts for the cost of production have reduced to USD550 million to USD600 million from USD570 million to USD630 million. Meanwhile, development and capital expenditure has increased to USD600 million to USD700 million from USD500 million to USD600 million.
Energean shares were up 0.4% at 889.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Elijah Dale, Alliance News reporter
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