BW Energy: FIRST QUARTER 2023 RESULTS
FIRST QUARTER 2023 RESULTS
HIGHLIGHTS
- Q1 EBITDA of USD 18.5 million and net loss of USD 5.0 million
- Q1 gross production of 665,500 barrels with 485,000 million net to BW Energy
- Completed one lifting of 750,000 barrels (net BWE) at a price of USD ~77 per barrel
- Maintained strong balance sheet with cash position of USD 166.4 million
- USD 100 million accordion committed by three additional banks, bringing the total Dussafu RBL facility up to USD 300 million
- First oil from Hibiscus / Ruche development in early April
- Agreement to defer takeover of FPSO Polvo following revision to planned first oil from Maromba
EBITDA for the first quarter of 2023 was USD 18.5 million, down from USD 21.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, mainly due to lower oil production. One lifting to BW Energy is scheduled in the second quarter of 2023. In early April, the Company safely achieved first oil from the Hibiscus / Ruche Phase 1 development. Production performance from the first well remains in line with expectations. Drilling and completion work is currently underway on the second production well.
“Production from Hibiscus / Ruche commenced on schedule, with excellent HSE performance. Well performance has since been in line with expectations and our focus is now on completing the second well and the rest of the drilling program. We are also nearing start-up of the new gas lift compressor to improve production from the existing six Tortue wells. This will further contribute to our successive production growth in Gabon through 2023 and into 2024,” said Carl Krogh Arnet, the CEO of BW Energy.
BW Energy completed one lifting in the first quarter and realised a price of USD 77 per barrel. BW Energy’s share of gross production was approximately 485,000 barrels of oil. The net sold volume, which is the basis for revenue recognition in the financial statement, was 880,000 barrels including 130,000 barrels of quarterly Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) deliveries with an over-lift position of 247,000 barrels at the end of the period.
Gross production from the Tortue field averaged approximately 7,300 barrels of oil per day in the first quarter of 2023, amounting to a total gross production of approximately 660,500 barrels of oil for the period. Production was impacted by planned annual maintenance of the BW Adolo in February as well as the field development activities in association with Hibiscus/Ruche first oil. Fourth quarter production cost (excluding royalties) was approximately USD 58 per barrel due to the lower production.
BW Energy had a cash balance of USD 166 million on 31 March 2023, compared to USD 210.8 million at 31 December 2022. The decrease is due to continued investments in the Hibiscus / Ruche development project. The Company had a total drawn balance of USD 200 million at the end of March. The additional USD 100 million accordion has been committed by three additional banks, bringing the total RBL facility for Dussafu up to USD 300 million.
DEVELOPMENT PLANS
The ongoing Hibiscus / Ruche Phase 1 drilling campaign targets four Hibiscus Gamba and two Ruche Gamba wells which are expected to add approximately 30,000 barrels per day of total oil production when all wells are completed in early 2024. To date, the development project has been executed with strong HSE performance.
In Brazil, work progressed on optimising the Maromba development plan. As part of the previously announced project rescheduling, BW Energy and BW Offshore have agreed to defer payments for the FPSO Polvo. The Company will pay an instalment of USD 30 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the remaining USD 20 million of the agreed price in second quarter of 2024. BW Energy will compensate BW Offshore with interest during the period.
In Namibia, the 3D seismic survey, which also captured gravity and magnetic datasets over the license, was completed. The Company is currently awaiting this new data set which will further enhance the depositional model, de-risk additional upside targets, and provide better data to support FEED programs in addition to potential future farm-in discussions.
Further in Brazil, BW Energy continued to prepare for the acquisition of a 100% operated working interest (WI) in the Golfinho and Camarupim Clusters and 65% WI in the BM-ES-23 block from Petrobras, as well as taking over the FPSO Cidade de Vitoria from Saipem. This includes progressing relevant approvals from the Brazilian authorities, operational preparedness, field development planning and build-up of the local BW Energy organization. Closing the field transaction and FPSO takeover is subject to fulfilment or waiver of conditions precedent and the restart of the FPSO after upgrades required by ANP. The transactions are expected to add approximately 9,000 barrels of oil per day net to BW Energy as well as several proven low risk in- field development opportunities with short lead times and substantial potential long-term upside.
OUTLOOK
BW Energy expects oil and gas to remain an important part of the global energy mix in decades to come and remains focused on realising long-term value creation via its phased development strategy and investments in high-return assets. The flexible investment strategy has proven robust for a range of market scenarios and positions BW Energy to address both short- and long-term opportunities to drive cash flows and earnings.
BW Energy expects to create significant value for its stakeholders going forward. Short-term, the focus is on the further developments of Hibiscus / Ruche and to close the asset transactions in Brazil. Both are milestones which are expected to provide a substantial increase in oil production in 2023 and onwards. This should further support significant positive cash flow at current oil price levels. BW Energy has a solid capital base with the RBL facility that will initially fund accretive investments in the Dussafu license offshore Gabon.
REPORTS AND PRESENTATION
Please see the attached first quarter presentation. The earnings tables are available at:
www.bwenergy.no/investors/reports-and-presentations
CONFERENCE CALL/WEBCAST
BW Energy will today hold a conference call followed by a Q&A hosted by CEO Carl K. Arnet, CFO Knut R. Sæthre and COO Lin G. Espey at 14:00 CEST.
Conference call information:
To dial in to the conference call where the first quarter results and Q&A will be hosted, please dial in to one of the following numbers:
DK: +45 7876 8490
NO: +47 2195 6342
UK: +44 203 769 6819
US: +1 646-787-0157
France: +33-1-81221259
Singapore: +65-3-1591097
Pin code for all countries: 980877
You can also follow the presentation via webcast with supporting slides, available on:
https://events.webcast.no/viewer-registration/bdDbgM1v/register
Please note, that if you follow the webcast via the above URL, you will experience a 30 second delay compared to the main conference call. The web page works best in an updated browser – Chrome is recommended.
For further information, please contact:
Knut R. Sæthre, CFO BW Energy, +47 91 11 78 76
About BW Energy:
BW Energy is a growth E&P company with a differentiated strategy targeting proven offshore oil and gas reservoirs through low risk phased developments. The Company has access to existing production facilities to reduce time to first oil and cashflow with lower investments than traditional offshore developments. The main assets are 73.5% of the producing Dussafu Marine Permit offshore Gabon, a 95% interest in the Maromba field in Brazil and a 95% interest in the Kudu field in Namibia, all operated by BW Energy. Total net 2P+2C reserves and resources were 428 million barrels at the start of 2023.
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act
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