Energean Swings to Loss in H1

East Mediterranean-focused producer Energean Oil and Gas has posted a pre-tax for the first half, as it works to close its $750mn takeover of Italy’s Edison E&P.

The London-listed company’s revenues soared by 52.1% yr/yr to $40mn in the six-month period, it said in a stock exchange filing on September 12. Adjusted Ebidta also strengthened by 41.1% to $23.6mn, while operating cash flow grew by 39.9% to $23.7mn.

A scaling up of operations led to a 61% hike in cost of sales to $28.6mn, however. Capital spending also ballooned to $541.4mn from $136.4mn a year earlier, and Energean was saddled with a net debt of $390.4mn at the end of June, versus a cash surplus of $166.5mn 12 months earlier.

Energean said it aimed to wrap up its purchase of Edison E&P in the fourth quarter, expanding its core East Mediterranean gas operations through the addition of Egyptian assets. The deal will raise Energean’s 2P reserves by 292mn to 639mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe). Following the launch of Energean’s offshore Israeli gas fields Karish and Tanin, the combined company is set to produce more than 140,000 boe/day by 2021.

“We are on track and on budget to deliver first gas from the Karish Tanin development in Q1 2021 having delivered key milestones in the project, discovered more gas to monetise through the successful Karish North well as well as making good progress elsewhere across the portfolio,” the company said.

Energean is facing output losses in the shorter term, however. It produced 3,920 b/day of oil from its Greek assets in the six months, up from 3,801 b/day. But it has slashed its full-year guidance to 3,400-3,600 b/day from 4,300-4,800 b/day. The company explained it had decided to smart-stack its Energean Force drilling rig, bringing a campaign of infill drilling at the Prinos field in Greece to a halt.