North Sea oil firm EnQuest has announced a significant surge in half year profits as its chairman steps down to be replaced by Martin Houston.
The firm reported £215 million in pre-tax profit for the first half of 2019, up from £85m over the same period in 2018.
Revenue for the period also saw a significant increase for EnQuest, jumping from £448m in H1 2018 to £702m in H1 this year.
Group net production was also up by 27%, averaging 68,548 Boepd in the six months to end June 2019.
EnQuest also announced a change of chairman, with former chief executive Martin Houston replacing Jock Lennox who will step down on September 30 2019.
The firm included an update on its Worcester two-well drilling programme at its North Sea Kraken development, which it said is planned for 2020.
EnQuest chief executive, Amjad Bseisu, said: “The Group has delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2019. Production was towards the top end of our full year guidance range and we continue to control our operating expenditures, with unit opex of $20/boe in the period.
“We have generated strong cash flows in the period and significantly reduced our debt, with our net debt:EBITDA ratio at 1.8x, ahead of our target to be below 2x by the end of 2019.
“We remain confident in achieving our 2019 production guidance of 63,000 to 70,000 Boepd. Our two pipeline projects have been completed ahead of schedule and budget and our annual maintenance programme is expected to be concluded around the end of the third quarter. Drilling is underway in Malaysia with our two-well campaign and drilling at Magnus is due to start in the fourth quarter.
“The Worcester development at Kraken, planned for 2020, will utilise our existing infrastructure and is the first step in developing the material resource present in the Western Flank. We continue to assess options to develop the significant potential within our reserves and resources across our portfolio, particularly at Kraken, Magnus and PM8/Seligi.”
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