NORTH Sea-focused EnQuest is on the alert for growth opportunities after nearly doubling the amount of cash it generated last year.
The company said it delivered free cash flow of around $395m (£290m) last year, against $210m in 2020.
The increase reflects the scale of the boost provided to North Sea firms by the surge in oil and gas prices last year.
READ MORE: North Sea firms plan huge payouts to investors
EnQuest’s average production fell to 44,415 barrels oil equivalent daily in 2021, from 59,116 boed in the preceding year.
However, the average price it received for its output increased to $69 per barrel oil equivalent, from $41.3/bbl in 2020.
The fall in production came after the company faced challenges on the Magnus field, which it acquired from BP in 2018. EnQuest recently completed work on a programme to boost output from Magnus.
The company appears to remain confident that it can generate value for shareholders by following a strategy that has involved buying assets that other firms cooled on and developing finds.
EnQuest highlighted a strong performance by the Kraken field off Shetland which it brought onstream in 2017. The company also noted it enjoyed the benefit of production from the Golden Eagle assets bought from Canada’s Suncor last year in a deal that could be worth up to $375m.
READ MORE: Plans to develop billion barrels oil field off Shetland set to be revived
In an update on 2021 trading, chief executive Amjad Bseisu indicated the company could invest in increasing production from existing assets and in mergers and acquisition activity to capitalise on buoyant oil and gas market conditions.
He said: “The supportive macro environment and higher oil prices allow us to look forward to organic growth to offset natural declines.” This could involve investing in the firm’s “low-cost, quick payback well portfolio” and considering M&A opportunities.
EnQuest produced an average 5,028 boed in Malaysia last year, against 6,436 boed in 2020.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel