Norway's Aker BP Q4 profit lags expectations, capex to rise more than 50% (updated)

Aker ASA

08/02/2024 05:58

(Adds CEO quote, details, production outlook)
       OSLO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Norway's second-largest listed
oil group Aker BP  AKRBP.OL  said on Thursday its capital
spending was to increase by more than 50% in 2024 as the company
develops new fields, and raised its quarterly dividend by 9% to
$0.6 per share.
    It reported October-December earnings before interest and
tax of $2.15 billion, down from $2.21 billion a year earlier,
lagging a mean forecast of $2.48 billion in a company-compiled
poll of analysts.
    The company said it had suffered some "operational
challenges" in the second half of 2023, including an unplanned
shutdown at its Alvheim field caused by a malfunction of
equipment installed during maintenance.
    Aker BP is developing more than 10 new offshore oil and gas
fields off Norway, with much of it due to come on stream in
2027, including the 650 million barrels of oil equivalent
Yggdrasil project.
        "The cost estimates remain unchanged, and we are one
year closer to first oil and generating another wave of value
creation for Aker BP and our stakeholders," CEO Karl Johnny
Hersvik said in a statement.
  
        Aker BP sees capital spending rising to $5 billion this
year from $3.3 billion in 2023.
  
        The new projects are expected to lift its oil and gas
production to around 525,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day
(boed) in 2028, up from an expected 410,000-440,000 boed in
2024.
  

 (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik)
 ((nerijus.adomaitis@thomsonreuters.com; +47 9027 6699; Reuters
Messaging: nerijus.adomaitis.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))