10th Mar 2016 08:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ophir Energy PLC Thursday said it made a substantial loss in 2015 and said it has "reset" its guidance for this year due to the current environment.
The oil and gas company said it made a USD376.0 million pretax loss from its continuing operations in 2015, turning from a USD288.5 million profit in 2014 after experiencing a steep fall in revenue and booking impairments against its assets.
Ophir said revenue in the year amounted to USD161.1 million, which is considerably lower than the USD211.1 million in pro-forma revenue last year.
Impairments against producing and development assets in the year amounted to USD126.7 million. In addition, Ophir said impairment of investments amounted to USD42.1 million. Ophir did not book any impairments in 2014.
The impairments and fall in revenue were partly offset by a fall in exploration expenditure to USD183.1 million from the USD333.8 million spent in 2014.
The company said it reduced its general and administrative costs by USD60.0 million in the year, and has also made reductions to its operating costs that gives the company a current breakeven price of only USD15 per barrel of oil it produces, providing a very healthy margin even at current oil prices.
Ophir said it is targeting another USD15.0 million saving in general costs this year.
Production on a pro-forma basis in 2015 came in at 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, ahead of its guidance, and said production in 2016 will be in the range of 10,500 to 11,500 barrels of oil a day.
"The company has reviewed its plans for the remainder of 2016 and to position itself against the possibility that the current low commodity price environment is protracted and will continue beyond the current year. Accordingly, the company has reset its guidance for 2016," said Ophir.
Revenue in 2016 is guidance to fall to around USD140.0 million to USD160.0 million, whilst capital expenditure guidance has been slashed further to USD150.0 to USD200.0 million.
Ophir shares were down 1.6% to 83.70 pence per share on Thursday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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