Taqa’s North Sea operation remained “robust” in the first quarter of the year, despite the wider oil firm experiencing a heavy dip in profits.
The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company reported pre-tax profit of £63.1m, down from £92.4m in the same period in 2018.
The drop was down to foreign exchange losses and revaluation of US power assets.
However, earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was £502million.
EBITDA for its European oil and gas business, primarily covering the UK and Netherlands, increased to £111.2m, from £99m in Q1 2018.
Taqa Europe’s managing director Donald Taylor said the period was characterised by robust production volumes and high reliability from its assets.
Work is progressing on plugging and abandonment activities on the North Cormorant and Pelican fields in the North Sea.
Mr Taylor said: “Our Europe business continued to focus on operational excellence with high levels of reliability across our UK assets, driving robust production volumes. In the Netherlands, improved reliability in our Netherlands gas storage facilities was realised, following engineering work during 2018.
“The recertification of the North Cormorant drilling rig was completed in the quarter; with a programme of development and plug & abandonment (P&A) well activities underway.
“The MSSO1 mobile drilling unit continued on hire during the quarter, initially completing a sequence of Pelican field P&A activities before moving to production adding intervention scopes on the Pelican field.
“We continue to be well positioned for another successful year in 2019 with continued capital spend and a focus on safe and reliable operations.”