Ophir Energy FLNG projects progressing

Ophir Energy Plc has released its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2014.

The company announced a post-tax profit of US$54.8 million, compared to a loss of US$245.8 million in 2013.

A major achievement in 2014 was the completion of the sale of a 20% interest in its LNG assets in Tanzania to Pavilion Energy for US$1.288 billion. The company said that its financial position is the “strongest it has ever been”, following the Pavilion Energy transaction.

Ophir Energy also progressed with the floating LNG (FLNG) project in Equatorial Guinea. A statement from the company read: “Having hit all of the key project milestones for 2014, the project has now been significantly de-risked and a clear commercial framework [has been] established. We are confident of making further progress in 2015, when we expect to commence the upstream and midstream FEED projects.”

This year, Ophir Energy expects to continue to progress its two FLNG projects in Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, both of which are scheduled for final investment decision (FID) in 2017. The company said that the FLNG projects have low capital requirements, as drilling has been completed and construction is not set to commence until after FID. The statement continued: “With only $150 million of capital expenditure through to FID we can continue to push both projects forward whilst also maintaining capital discipline.”

Nick Cooper, CEO of Ophir Energy, said: “We continued to drive the business forward in 2014, completing the Pavilion transaction, proving up more resource, and taking the first steps towards a sustainable financing strategy with the acquisition of Salamander Energy which brings low break even production (completed March 2015).

“We have responded to the current oil price environment by identifying and actioning US$250 million of budget savings and CAPEX reductions over the next two years. However, there is a unique opportunity at the moment to acquire exploration acreage at low cost and with minimal work commitments. Ophir has doubled its exploration footprint during 2014 but only has US$100 million of committed E&A spending in the portfolio between now and 2017. We are able to offer investors unique access to a high class exploration portfolio where only the prospects that offer the best potential returns are drilled.”

Edited from press release by Callum O'Reilly

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/floating-lng/20032015/ophir-energy-flng-projects-progressing-455/