Oil company Taqa expects its Cormorant Alpha platform in the North Sea to resume full production during the current quarter.
Cormorant Alpha has been at the centre of two hydrocarbon leaks this year. It was shut down around the middle of January, losing the Abu Dhabi-based operator up to 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
The company said yesterday limited output from the platform had restarted in June.
Announcing first-half figures, Taqa said lower production in the UK and unplanned outages at two power plants were the main factors behind a 4% decline in total revenue to £2billion. Pre-tax profits for the six months to June 30 slumped to about £94million, from £447.5million a year earlier. Taqa said: “A series of one-off incidents affected both the oil/gas and power/water divisions in the first half.
“These were resolved before the end of the period and the outlook for the rest of the year is positive.
“The comparison with first-half results for last year is distorted by disposals of assets in North America and the sale of shares in (electric car-maker) Tesla Motors in 2012.
“In the UK North Sea, limited production has already resumed at the Cormorant Alpha platform and full production is expected in the third quarter.”
Taqa said first-half oil and gas revenue fell by 18% to £860million as a result of lower production in the UK North Sea and softer pricing in Europe, offset by higher output and a continuing rise in natural gas prices in North America.
Cormorant Alpha’s shutdown continued to affect Taqa’s UK production during the second quarter, leaving first-half output down by 29% at 30,500 boepd.
Taqa also said it had completed the integration of central North Sea oil and gas assets from BP after a near-£700million deal giving it stakes in the Harding, Morrone and Maclure fields.
Meanwhile, Talisman Energy said its mature North Sea assets continued to experience production issues. Posting results for the second quarter, the Calgary-based group added: “We are reducing our full-year North Sea production forecast by about 9,000boepd.
“We are working with our joint-venture partners to resolve these issues and sustain our North Sea production, but it will take time and require ongoing capital investment.”
Talisman said its share of second-quarter UK production from its joint venture with China’s Sinopec averaged 17,000boepd.
This was down by 19% from the previous quarter as operations were negatively affected by scheduled turnarounds and the production issues, amplified by helicopter restrictions in the North Sea.
Talisman’s second-quarter net income more than halved to £64.1million, from £129.5million a year earlier.
Recommended for you
