A major North Sea player has highlighted the effect of a “once-in-a-decade” wave on its operations.
It highlighted the fact yesterday that 2026 had begun with “extreme weather” in the UK North Sea.
EnQuest flagged the effect of this weather on its Magnus field.
It also underlined its belief in the potential of this field, as it revealed it had paid $60 million to secure 100% of the future cash flows of Magnus, an asset which it acquired previously from BP.
EnQuest also flagged its plans for further drilling on the Magnus field.
Amjad Bseisu, chief executive of EnQuest, said: “2026 has begun with extreme weather in the UK North Sea, which impacted our operations in January and February.”
EnQuest revealed yesterday that production at Magnus had been reinstated in the early hours of Sunday.
The company observed: “2026 has begun with the UK North Sea being impacted by severe weather. Storm damage to the third-party-operated Ninian Central Platform (NCP), which was caused by a once-in-a-decade wave, resulted in an unplanned outage for all system users, including Magnus, in mid-January. Following the completion of remedial works, Magnus production was reinstated in the early hours of 22 February.”
It added: “To proactively address the risk of third-party equipment downtime on Magnus production, EnQuest is well advanced with plans to bypass NCP during 2027.”
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Mr Bseisu said: “Having successfully navigated similar third-party infrastructure outages last year, we remain confident in our ability to deliver top-quartile operating performance for the balance of the year and maintain stable year-on-year production.”
EnQuest said its overall production guidance for 2026 is 41,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) to 45,000 boepd.
It revealed that January year-to-date production is around 33,800 boepd, “including the impact of the third-party infrastructure outage at Magnus”.
EnQuest said yesterday that group production averaged 45,606 boepd in 2025 - including pro-forma volumes from operations in Vietnam - “above the top end of guidance” of 40,000 to 45,000 boepd on this basis.
The company completed its acquisition of Harbour Energy’s Vietnam business last July.
Commenting on the performance of its North Sea operations last year, EnQuest said yesterday that 2025 production in the UK “remained within 4% of 2024 volumes, with Magnus up 8% at 15.3 kboed (thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day), despite a five-week third-party infrastructure outage”.
It observed: “Excluding this outage, North Sea production efficiency was 92%.”
Noting that it had “executed the settlement of the Magnus contingent consideration”, EnQuest added: “Under the terms of the agreement, EnQuest will pay $60 million in cash to secure 100% of the future Magnus cash flows.
“This credit-enhancing settlement crystallises the remaining contingent payments that would otherwise have been payable over time, simplifying the group’s balance sheet and unlocking the full upside of one of EnQuest’s core assets.”
EnQuest noted this agreement “does not alter arrangements originally agreed in respect of Magnus decommissioning responsibilities”.
It added: “Following the credit-enhancing settlement of the Magnus contingent consideration, EnQuest sees significant potential in the asset's future and is evaluating several organic opportunities to grow production, starting with a six-well infill drilling campaign across 2026-2027.”
Mr Bseisu said: “The group delivered another impressive year of operational performance in 2025, with asset uptime of [circa] 90%, production above the top end of our guidance range at 45.6 kboed, and strong cost management. We also grew our operations by expanding our South East Asia footprint, acquiring and integrating our new Vietnam business, delivering first gas from our Seligi 1b project (Malaysia) nine months ahead of schedule, and entering Brunei and Indonesia.”
He added: “Delivering value-led growth remains our strategic imperative and, by refinancing our RBL (reserve-based lending) in 2025, we have expanded our cash and available funds by [circa] $200 million, to [circa] $675 million. Importantly, we have also agreed on a settlement for the Magnus contingent consideration mechanism. This credit-enhancing transaction secures for EnQuest full economic exposure to Magnus, simplifies the group’s balance sheet and demonstrates our long-term commitment to this core asset.
“These steps strengthen our foundation for growth, enhancing group liquidity as we work to deliver transformative transactions in the UK North Sea and South East Asia.”
EnQuest said that it had, in the second half of 2025, made UK energy profits levy (EPL) tax payments totalling $104m.
It added: “In line with the group’s focus on fiscal efficiency, EnQuest expects to pay significantly less cash tax during 2026.”
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