Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) reported on Wednesday a net profit of Dh274 million for the first quarter of 2014, marking a 158 per cent increase over the Dh106 million net profit posted in the first quarter of 2013. Meanwhile, its revenues reached Dh7.26 billion — a 34 per cent increase from Dh5.42 billion in the first quarter of 2013.
In a statement released by Taqa, the increase in net profits was attributed to a recovery in UK North Sea oil output, stronger natural gas prices in North America, and higher technical availability in the international power fleet.
Available liquidity stood at Dh14.9 billion, including Dh4.2 billion of cash on hand. In April, the company refinanced $1.2 billion of bonds that were due to mature in September 2014.
Oil and gas revenue grew 65 per cent to reach Dh3.9 billion, while hydrocarbon production in the UK North Sea increased 118 per cent to 62,900 barrels of oil equivalent a day. The growth in hydrocarbon production is due to a restoration of production of the Cormorant Alpha platform in the UK North Sea, the integration of new assets in the central North Sea, and a successful drilling programme at North Cormorant.
In North America, oil and gas production was stable despite the lower capital expenditure environment, while net realised prices were up 22 per cent. The company’s efforts to reduce costs yielded results as unit operating costs fell 12 per cent.
Global power production saw an improvement year on year, with 13,482 GWh generated during the period, and underlying revenue up six per cent at Dh2 billion.
“We are well positioned with ample liquidity, and look forward to driving continued improvement in earnings and coverage ratios,” said Stephen Kersley, Taqa’s chief financial officer.
In a conference call held by Taqa to discuss their results, Edward LaFehr, chief operating officer, expected the company to continue bringing profitability this year due to various international projects that will be completed soon.
These include the Atrush field development plan, which is proceeding on schedule in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, with first the oil output expected in 2015.
Gas Storage Bergermeer in the Netherlands also started preliminary commercial operations in April, and will be complete in 2015. Bergermeer is set to become the largest third party access gas storage facility in Europe.
Growth projects showed significant progress as well, with the first of two new 350MW units at the Jorf Lasfar power station in Morocco commissioned in April.
In March, Taqa announced the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in two hydroelectric plants in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The plants have a combined power generation capacity of 1,391MW. The acquisition is expected to complete at the end of the year.
