Aug. 2 (UPI) — Strong revenue growth for the second quarter and a pipeline of high-profile developments sets up Lundin Petroleum as a premier European player, the CEO said.
“The quarter was characterized by strong production at low cash operating cost, solid operating cash flow generation, good progress on development projects and successful appraisal activity and organic growth in the southern Barents Sea,” President and CEO Alex Schneiter said in a statement.
Lundin, which has headquarters in Sweden and an operational focus in Norway, posted revenue for the three months ending June 30 of $ 464.6 million, more than twice that of the same period last year. Cash flow of $ 340 million marked an 88 percent improvement over last year and net production was up more than 75 percent.
The company struggled through the market downturn that began in 2015, trimming its production guidance as a result of less than expected output from the Brynhild field off the coast of Norway and infrastructure delays for its Edvard Grieg rig. Last year, Norwegian energy giant Statoil spent $ 538 million to acquire an 11.9 percent stake in Lundin, and the company this year spun off its non-Norwegian production assets into a company called International Petroleum Corp.
For production, the company said it was doing better than expected, driven in part by the operations under way at Edvard Grieg. Production should be between 80 million and 85 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, an upward revision from the previous estimate. Operating costs, meanwhile, should move lower by about 6 percent.
Production at Edvard Grieg field off the coast of Norway began in 2015 and the company earlier this year said the results from an appraisal well revealed the presence of another 30 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Lundin holds a 22 percent stake in the Johan Sverdrup oil field, second in the consortium behind Statoil. Johan Sverdrup is one of the larger fields moving toward production, with output expected by the end of 2019.
“Even though the oil industry continues to face challenging times, marked by low oil prices and uncertainties, I am confident that we will continue to successfully steer the company through these stormy seas and remain as one of the leading independent oil and gas companies in Europe, with significant future growth potential,” Schneiter said.