Swedish oil group Lundin Petroleum saw earnings drop 10% for the second quarter of 2013 – but insisted its planned production ramp-up for the end of the year was on course.
The company expects output to exceed 40,000 barrels per day by the end of 2013 once the Brynhild project comes on-stream.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation dropped to $244million, down 10 percent on the previous year, with production down slightly at 34,800 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
“During the first six months of this year we achieved operating cash flow of $502.9 million primarily as a result of the continued excellent production
performance from our offshore Norwegian assets Alvheim and Volund,” said chief executive Ashley Heppenstall.
“We still remain firmly on target to generate over USD 1 billion in operating cash flow this year.”
The company’s focus for the latter half of the year is on the Johan Sverdrup discovery, with development decision set to be announced by the end of the year, Heppenstall said.
Lundin has invested heavily in the giant Johan Sverdrup find in the Norwegian North Sea, despite wells at the edge of the field having produced disappointing results in recent weeks.
“Whilst work is still ongoing regarding the concept selection, I expect the gross plateau production from Johan Sverdrup to be in excess of 500,000 bopd,” said Heppenstall.
“Putting this in context this represents over 25 percent of current Norwegian oil production. The net impact on Lundin Petroleum’s production will be to take our net production levels to about 150,000 boepd or four times our current production.”
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