BG GROUP reported a 19% year-on-year rise in second-quarter underlying profits yesterday, thanks to higher oil and gas prices.
The UK energy firm said net profits – excluding one-off items and non-cash accounting charges – totalled £576.2million in the three months to June 30, ahead of analyst expectations of about £538million.
A £283.9million non-cash charge, related to long-term gas contracts, pushed headline net earnings down 21%, however, to £385.7million.
Revenue and other operating income rose by 18% to £2.6billion, which BG said reflected reflecting higher commodity prices in its exploration, production and liquefied natural gas activities.
Half-year figures revealed pre-tax profits of £1.76billion, against £2.20billion a year earlier, on revenue and other operating income up by 11% to £5.6billion.
Second-quarter highlights included approval for a development and operating plan for the Gaupe field in the Norwegian North Sea. Gaupe will be a two-well subsea tieback to the Armada field on the UK continental shelf.
Gross recoverable reserves on Gaupe are estimated at about 30million barrels of oil equivalent. It will be the first BG field to go into production in Norwegian waters and is due on stream by 2012.
EnCore Oil has announced the completion of the transfer of its onshore UK assets together with its interest in the offshore UK Ceres gas field to Egdon Resources.
The deal involves EnCore gaining a near-30% stake in Egdon.
The transfer of EnCore’s onshore France assets to Egdon is expected to complete later in the year, at which time Egdon will pay EnCore £100,000.
Alan Booth, chief executive of EnCore, said yesterday: “The transaction with Egdon has placed a tangible and transparent valuation on our onshore portfolio.”