Norway's Vaar Energi quarterly operating profit lags forecast
OSLO, July 23 (Reuters) - Vaar Energi, majority-owned by Italy's Eni, posted a second-quarter operating profit below expectations on Tuesday, but maintained its dividend payment level and said it was on track to increase oil output.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the April-June quarter rose to $992 million from $778 million a year earlier, below the average $1.04 billion forecast in a company-provided poll.
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The company's Oslo-listed shares were up 3.4% at 0733 GMT, compared to the wider index of European oil and gas stocks, which was down 0.1%.
Vaar remains on track to increase production to about 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), by the end of 2025, CEO Nick Walker said in a statement.
The company also maintained its plans to start the Balder X project in the North Sea in the fourth quarter, and will decide on the installation at the end of August before the winter weather period.
"We believe consensus estimates broadly reflect a start-up in late Q4 this year with production contribution from early 2025," DNB Markets said in a note, estimating 386 kboepd (thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day) in production for 2025.
In case of any delay, the broker estimates a potential negative impact on consensus 2025 production estimates in the range 20-30 kboed, with 5–7% negative revisions to 2025 EBITDA estimate.
The Equinor-operated EQNR.OL Johan Castberg oilfield development in the Arctic Barents Sea, in which Vaar has a 30% stake, is on target to start in the fourth quarter, it added.
Vaar reported on July 11 that its second quarter output was 287,000 boepd, up from 202,000 a year earlier, boosted by last year's acquisition of Neptune Energy's assets in Norway.
Vaar guided for $270 million in quarterly dividend payments for the third quarter, the same as in the second quarter.
(Reporting by Elviira Luoma and Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Jamie Freed, Kirsten Donovan and Barbara Lewis)