19th Apr 2016 09:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Serica Energy PLC on Tuesday reported a swing to a pretax profit for 2015, mostly as a result of its acquisition of an 18% stake in the Erskine field in the UK North Sea last June.
Serica Energy is an exploration and production company with activities in the UK, Norway, Ireland, Namibia and Morocco.
Serica Energy achieved pretax profit of USD4.3 million, swung from a pretax loss of USD35.6 million in 2014 that was mostly caused by USD30.0 million in impairment and asset write-offs. It also reported revenue of USD24.0 million for 2015, compared to no revenue in 2014.
The revenue came from the company's acquisition of the stake in Erskine, which exceeded expectations in the second half of 2015, producing over 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for Serica compared to projections of 2,100 barrels.
Serica Energy said work continues to resolve issues caused by a blockage from the Lomond platform through which Erskine liquids are exported. Last month the company warned that production for the first quarter of 2016 would be lower than planned as a result of the pipeline blockage.
Although it had targeted a mid-April restart, Serica Energy said Tuesday this has been pushed back due to wax deposits in the area of the blockage. Progress is now being made, Serica Energy said, but full line clearance may take several more weeks, and the production restart is now expected to deferred until after a planned two-month mid-year maintenance shut down is completed at Lomond.
"Serica is considerably stronger than it was a year ago, notwithstanding the headwinds of the past 18 months which have had a dramatic effect throughout the industry. We must now maintain momentum into 2016 and believe the current climate combined with the fact that we have cash resources and no debt or material commitments, places Serica in a strong position to create further value," said Chairman Tony Walker in a statement.
Shares in Serica Energy were down 6.5% at 10.40 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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