The day after Vår Energi presented its figures, Aker BP is ready with its own.
Kjell Inge Røkke’s oil company had revenues of 3.08 billion dollars and brought in 2.19 billion dollars from operations. Profit after tax ended up at 531 million dollars.
In advance, revenues of 3.04 billion dollars were expected, while the operating result and the result after tax were expected to be 2.10 billion and 470 million dollars, respectively, according to the consensus obtained by the company itself.
– Aker BP delivered strong operational and financial results in the first quarter. Oil and gas production increased, while we kept costs and emissions in check. We are pleased to report another quarter with robust cash flow and a strong financial position that supports ongoing projects and attractive dividends to shareholders, says CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik in a stock exchange announcement.
The dividend is 60 cents per share. share for the quarter, as previously reported.
Regarding Aker BP’s development projects, it is stated that everything is going as planned. The Hanz project is finished and production started up a couple of days ago, while Tyrving is moving towards a faster start-up in the fourth quarter.
| (Million USD) | 1st quarter/24 | 1st quarter/23 |
| Operating income | 3,078 | 3,310 |
| Operating profit | 2,194 | 1,961 |
| Result before taxes | 2,090 | 1,824 |
| Result after tax | 531 | 187 |
Questions about Johan Sverdrup
In connection with the fourth quarter report, Aker BP presented its plans for oil and gas production this year, and it is expected to be between 410,000 and 440,000 barrels. As usual, the figure for the first quarter has already been presented and it ended up at 448,000 barrels.
A large proportion of the production comes from the large and highly profitable Johan Sverdrup oil field on the Utsira hill in the North Sea. Aker BP’s share of production was 236,900 barrels in the first quarter.
In February, the field went through a planned shutdown of two weeks, while drilling activity to maintain production has continued in the quarter. Up to four new production wells are to be drilled during the first half of the year, with a further five planned for the second part of the year.
The field operator Equinor has announced that production will begin a gradual decline towards the end of this year, or at the beginning of next. Therefore, the big question is not whether production will fall in the future, but at what pace.
Figures from the Norwegian Subsea Directorate show that Johan Sverdrup had 13 per cent water in production in February, up from 11 per cent in January. A seemingly small change, but it means that the field is producing less oil than before.
“If this is repeated in the figures for March, then it is serious”, was the reaction from analyst Teodor Sveen-Nilsen in SpareBank 1 Markets.
Aker BP still expects that production from Johan Sverdrup will gradually fall from the peak, what is known as plateau production, at the end of the current year or at the beginning of next year.
– We of course have a production profile at Johan Sverdrup which is reflected in our production guidance. The quarter has been roughly “spot on” our forecasts and the field is developing as we expected, says Hersvik during a press briefing on Wednesday morning.
