Equinor increases share buybacks encouraged by boost in profits
Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor recorded a profit of US$1.41 billion in the third quarter of 2021 due to higher prices and solid operating performance.
Equinor reported on the 27th October its adjusted earnings of US$9.77 billion for the third quarter of 2021, which is significantly higher than the US$0.78 billion reported in the third quarter of 2020.
Adjusted earnings after tax were US$2.78 billion, compared with US$0.27 billion reported in the same quarter last year.
IFRS net operating income was US$9.57 billion in the third quarter, which is another much stronger result compared with negative US$2.02 million in the same period of 2020.
IFRS net income in the third quarter was US$1.41 billion. This is an improvement from the negative US$2.12 billion net income in the third quarter of 2020.
Net operating income was impacted by higher prices for gas and liquids, significant positive effects from derivatives mainly related to European gas, and net reversal of impairments of US$0.51 billion including a reversal of US$0.98 billion related to an offshore asset in E&P Norway and an impairment of US$0.48 billion related to a refinery in the marketing, midstream and processing segment.
Furthermore, the board of directors has decided to increase the size of the second tranche of the share buy-back, from an indicative level of $300 million communicated in June, to US$1 billion.
The decision was reached based on favourable commodity price conditions, strong cash flow generation and an adjusted net debt ratio of 13.2 per cent. The second tranche starts on 27 October and is scheduled to end no later than 31 January 2022.
In company-related news, it was reported that Equinor and its partners received permission to increase gas exports from two offshore fields in Norway to supply the tight European market.
Production permits for the Oseberg and Troll fields have each been increased by one billion cubic metres (bcm) for the gas year, which started on 1 October.
Source: Offshore Energy Today