Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) said on Wednesday its fiscal first quarter net profit fell 80 per cent to Dh106 million while revenues declined 6 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier to Dh5.42 billion.
“The decline was principally driven by the shut-down of Cormorant Alpha, the discount on crude oil in Canada as well as the absence of the gains on disposals that were made in the first quarter of 2012,” Stephen Kersley, Taqa’s chief financial officer said in a media call.
Taqa said its average global daily oil and gas production was 127,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, compared with 134,000 bpd in the same period last year, a fall of 5 per cent.
“Notwithstanding the shut-in of Cormorant Alpha, which is still ongoing, Taqa made good progress in other areas of the North Sea, including making a discovery at the Darwin field and, post-period, securing government approval for its plans at the Cladhan field. A strong performance in the Netherlands also positively boosted Taqa’s performance, the company said in a mandatory filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. Taqa’s stock was unchanged, trading at Dh1.28 at 1330 hours on Wednesday on the bourse.
Kersley added: “Total oil and gas revenues were down 17 per cent at Dh2.4 billion. Lower production in the UK North Sea was slightly offset by higher output in the Netherlands. In North America, results were flat as stronger natural gas prices were offset by record high crude oil differentials between WTI and the price we receive in Canada.”
Commenting on Taqa’s financial performance, Carl Sheldon, Taqa’s chief executive said: “I can take some positives from what was a challenging quarter. Our major construction and development projects in Morocco, Ghana, the Netherlands and Iraq are all progressing very well and will start generating significant revenues in the next two to three years. Stronger natural gas prices in North America position us well to take advantage of our large land position and prospects in Western Canada. Similarly, new developments and discoveries in our North Sea business promise to extend the life of these assets.”
Kersley said Taqa’s total debt of Dh80.3 billion in the first quarter of 2013 increased slightly from the same period in 2012, following new bond issuance in anticipation of bond maturities in 2013.
“We are in a strong financial position with increased liquidity and robust cash flows,” said Sheldon.
“We reinforced our strong financial position with robust available liquidity of Dh21.8 billion and, post period, Standard & Poor’s announced that it was raising our A rating to a positive outlook,” said Kersley.