Danish giant Maersk said the drop in its oil production had ‘bottomed out’ after seeing second quarter profits drop.
The shipping and oil giant posted a profits from its oil division dip during the first half of 2013 after being hit by production drops and the falling price of oil.
“Maersk Drilling had its best quarter ever based on strong performance, said the company’s chief executive, Nils Andersen.
“Oil production was relatively low, but it has bottomed out now and will return to growth in the second half of the year.”
Profits were down to $249million for the second quarter of 2013, after the average price of oil during the period fell by six dollars. Production dropped from 287,000 barrels of oil per day equivalent to 226,000.
The company’s exploration costs almost doubled during the quarter, rising from $199million to $380million, with five wells being completed – including the appraisal of the massive Johan Sverdrup field off Norway.
But Maersk was boosted after a record performance from the company’s drilling arm, which had a 96% operational uptime and led to a profit of $150million for the quarter, up from $98million in the previous period.
Problems with the Gryphon floating production vessel were finally resolved in late May, with the company also receiving insurance of $133million after tax to offset losses, while the company’s operations in Algeria ramped up.
Overall second quarter profits for the group were down to $856million for the quarter, while revenues dropped to $14.2billion from oil and lower container freight rates.
See Nils Andersen talk about the company’s oil performance in our video below
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