Aker BP ASA
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Earnings Call Transcript

Earnings Call Transcript
2023-Q1

from 0
K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this presentation of Aker BP's First Quarter Results for 2023. Our CFO, David Tonne, and I will hopefully provide some insight into our performance and outlook and the presentation is as normal, followed by a Q&A session.It is a real pleasure to report yet another strong quarter for Aker BP. We produced more oil and gas than ever at low cost and the lowest emission intensity in the oil and gas industry. To me, this is a result of having world-class assets and a dedicated team with a culture for operational excellence and continuous improvement. I am also extremely pleased to report that our field developments are on track. We are off to a good start for the new project that we launched in December, where procurement and detail engineering are progressing as planned.And with the strong performance comes strong results. In Q1, we delivered EBITDAX of roughly $3 billion and a free cash flow of nearly $1 billion, almost 3x the amount we paid in dividends, and we reiterate the full year guidance that we provided last quarter.Let me start with a few words on safety. It is, of course, a fundamental goal for us to keep our people safe. And in the first quarter, we had 0 serious incidents and the total injury frequency continued trading onward with only 2 injuries recorded both classified as moderate. Safety focus is an integrated part of our operations model, and we believe that high safety goes hand-in-hand with high operational efficiency in general.When we look at the overall production efficiency, which is our way of measuring the capacity utilization across our producing assets, it was 93% in Q1. This is down from 95% in Q4 due to an unplanned shutdown at Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen, but still strong in an industrial context. The high efficiency also translates into low unit costs. And in Q1, we managed to keep the production cost per barrel at $7.2, in line with strong performance from the previous two quarters and of course, well within the guided range of $78 for the full year.Now high production efficiency, obviously has a positive impact on production. And we are pleased to report yet another production record for Aker BP with an average production of 453,000 barrels per day in Q1. The increase was driven by Johan Sverdrup Phase 2, which had its first full quarter in operation and partly offset by the outage on Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen that I just mentioned.At Sverdrup, we are now in a phase of testing and debottlenecking the Phase 2 facilities to maximize the processing capacity and I'm optimistic with regards to achieving the level of gross 755,000 barrels of oil per day that we have previously talked about. And although we still don't know the exact timing of when the debottlenecking is completed, we remain comfortable with our 2023 production guidance of 430,000 to 460,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day.On the exploration side, we have completed five wells so far this year and made two smaller discoveries. We are currently drilling two wells, Carmen operated by Wellesley, and the Aker BP operated Øst Frigg where we use the Scarabeo 8 rig. This well is targeting additional resources in the Yggdrasil area. The next well on our schedule is the Rondeslottet well, which is a classic high-risk, high-reward opportunity. This is actually an appraisal of a discovery from 2003 called Ellida, which encoded good quality oil in a reservoir with very low pairability and, hence, low producibility.The purpose of the new well is to find out if the reservoir properties are better at the apex of the structure and in the most optimistic scenario, which, of course, have low probability, this could unlock several hundred million barrels of oil. The exploration program for the rest of the year is unchanged since last quarter. But as always, the timing of each well is indicative and subject to rig arrival and it's not unlikely that some of the Q4 wells might be pushed into next year.Q1 was a record quarter not only on production, but also on greenhouse gas emissions with 2.9 kilograms of CO2 equivalents per barrel. The main reason for this good result is that an increased share of our production came from fields that are powered from shore. The ramp-up of Sverdrup Phase 2 and the electrification of Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen, which was initiated late in Q4.In the previous quarters, we have reported CO2 emissions only, which represent more than 90% of our total greenhouse gas emissions. As from this quarter, however, we are including all greenhouse gases, including methane and N2O, which gives a more precise picture of our footprint. With this strong performance, we are fortifying our position as a global industry leader within emission intensity as we showed last quarter.And this chart is so good as it deserves to be shown again. Compared to the 300 largest upstream oil and gas companies globally, Aker BP is ranked #1 on emission intensity per barrel produced. We will, however, not relax in our efforts when it comes to our missions. And let me take this opportunity to repeat the main points of our decarbonization strategy.One, we will continue to reduce emissions wherever it makes economic sense. And two, from 2030, we will offset our remaining emissions for reforestation or other carbon removal projects. With the reforestation initiatives we got through the Lundin transaction, we are already roughly half of this volume covered. And finally, from 2040, we expect all our fields to be powered from shore and remaining emissions from our production will be minimal.In Q1, we also announced that Aker BP was awarded a license for CO2 storage on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in partnership with OMV. We expect CCS to play a role in a transition to a low energy future, and Norway has a significant potential for carbon storage. As a leading operator, we are well positioned to take an active role in this area, and we see this as a potential natural extension of the E&P value chain.

D
David Tønne
executive

Thank you, Karl, and good morning to all of you. Although the first quarter of 2023 was characterized by continued external volatility and declining commodity prices, Aker BP executed on our projects according to plan, and our financial performance was strong with almost $1 billion in free cash flow generated.Volumes sold hit a new record high of 450,000 barrels oil equivalents per day with roughly 85% in liquids. However, with a reduction in commodity prices, our net income was down quarter-on-quarter and ended at $3.3 billion. Liquids were on average sold at $78 per barrel and gas at $99 per barrel of oil equivalent. The average realized differential to Brent was also slightly down quarter-on-quarter, in particular driven by a weaker market for Johan Sverdrup in the beginning of the quarter. But we saw this normalizing towards the end of the period.Moving on to a few key points in the income statement. Despite a 5% increase in sold volumes, the cost of those volumes was down $23 million from the previous quarter. As we kept cost per produced barrel stable, the difference can be explained by the valuation of under lift in the different quarters.More important is then the cost per produced barrel of $7.2. This is well within our guidance range of $7 to $8 and is the result of a focus on cost control in an inflationary macro environment, combined with a weak Norwegian kroner and more normalized power prices. Exploration expenses increased to $98 million, driven by high drilling activity. Depreciation and impairments were $972 million, resulting in an operating profit just shy of $2 billion for the quarter.The impairments of $373 million were mainly driven by the previously announced termination of the Troldhaugen project and by reduced short-term oil and gas forward prices leading to an impairment of parts of the technical goodwill that was allocated to the Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen hub after the acquisition of Lundin. Since technical goodwill is not depreciated, but must be impaired over the lifetime of the asset, we actually expect to impair technical goodwill more or less every quarter if all other assumptions remain unchanged.As the impairment of goodwill is without deferred tax, the effective tax rate in the income statement is driven up and ended at 90% in the first quarter. Net financial expenses increased by $100 million compared to previous quarter. This was mainly caused by the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the Norwegian kroner and the related impact on currency items, including derivatives. Hence, we posted net profit of $187 million for Q1, corresponding to $0.30 per share, up 66% quarter-on-quarter.As mentioned, the good operational performance also flowed through to a strong cash flow generation in the quarter. Operating cash flow after tax was nearly $1.7 billion were approximately $150 million to $200 million can be attributed to positive effects from working capital changes. Cash flow to investments, including exploration and abandonment was around $700 million. This is slightly lower than a [indiscernible] share of the total investments for the full year. And this is as expected as the project sanctioned in December are still ramping up execution.Deducting investments from operating cash, the free cash flow was $977 million. After distributing around 1/3 in dividends and spending 1/10 on interest payments, we ended up with a positive change in cash of $523 million in the quarter. And as taxes paid in Q1 were more or less the same as the current tax generated and no new financial debt was raised. The cash increase is a fairly good approximation of the actual underlying cash generation in the quarter.Speaking about taxes. This illustration provides an overview of projected cash taxes in 2023. We paid one tax installment in Q1 as planned. While we will pay two installments in Q2, where actually one installment was paid already in early April. The tax installments for Q3 and Q4 will first be set in June. The illustration provides a few scenarios for what they might be based on various oil price scenarios. And these scenarios are the same as we presented at the fourth quarter presentation in February, only that we have adjusted the gas prices used in all scenarios from $25 per MMBtu to $15.Our financial position remains strong, which, of course, is important given our investment program. The total available liquidity increased to $6.7 billion, where roughly $3.3 billion is cash and cash equivalents. This compares well to the net after-tax CapEx exposure of approximately $4 billion of our investment program over the next 5 years.Financial debt was stable compared to the previous quarter, but we added roughly $240 million of lease debt in Q1, driven by the intake of the rigs, Scarabeo 8 and Deepsea Nordkapp. The strong revenue generation and further improved financial position is also reflected in our leverage ratio, ending the quarter at 0.6x net debt to EBITDAX.On this slide, we illustrate how our key credit and liquidity metrics have developed over time. I want to reiterate our message from previous presentations. Our first capital allocation priority is safeguarding our balance sheet. This is a key component to maintaining our credit ratings, which gives necessary access to capital markets and ultimately is a foundation for further investments.We have successfully been able to improve our financial flexibility over the years, and this is a continuous effort, where we, in the first quarter, focused on extending the maturity on parts of our undrawn revolving bank facility. Although we have a strong financial position with ample liquidity and no pressing bond maturities, we will continue to actively manage our financial risk and optimize our capital structure going forward.It's a good operational performance from a world-class asset base, combined with a robust balance sheet that enables Aker BP to invest in high-return projects, creating sustainable shareholder value. And the value created will be distributed to our shareholders with the key principle being that dividends shall reflect the financial capacity through the cycle. As we have communicated previously, for 2023, we plan to pay a cash dividend of $2.20 per share, up 10% from 2022. The dividend is to be paid in four quarterly installments with one installment paid in Q1 and the next payment is due in May.To round off my section, I would like to reiterate our full year guidance on key parameters. The main message is that we are progressing in accordance with plan, and we make no changes to the guidance we gave back in February. For production, we maintained a range of 430,000 to 460,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day. And we expect volumes to be in the high end of the range in Q2 as Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 is further ramping up and towards the low end in Q3, impacted by planned summer maintenance.Production costs for the quarter was $7.2 per barrel, and our estimate for the full year is still between $7 and $8 as we continue to see pressure and volatility in key drivers, including general inflation, fluctuating electricity prices and foreign exchange rates.On CapEx, we still expect to spend between $3 billion and $3.5 billion pretax in 2023. We have chosen for now to keep the gap CapEx guiding quite broad for the rest of the year. The reason is that although we have taken fun investment decisions and moved into execution on our project portfolio, there is still quite some uncertainty regarding the in-year and between the year phasing of the spend. And this is being further matured throughout the year.And lastly, on both exploration and abandonment spend, we make no adjustments to the full year estimates of $400 million to $500 million and $100 million to $200 million pretax, respectively.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Thank you, David. Last quarter, we gave an overview of our large project portfolio that we will put into production over the coming years with our latest estimates for resources, CapEx, and breakevens. My key message today is that we are off to a good start and that we are on track. We look forward to delivering these great projects, which will unlock around 770 million barrels of oil equivalents. Between now and 2028, this will require investments of roughly $20 billion pretax, which corresponds to roughly $3 billion after tax.So let me put this into context. The projects play an important role in the longer-term development of the company and along with measures to increase efficiency and recovery, this project will enable Aker BP's daily production to grow to around 525,000 barrels in 2028. In addition, the project would contribute to extending life of existing production and enable future growth opportunities.The project economics is very robust as we calculate the project portfolio breakeven of $35 to $40 per barrel. To further illustrate the attractiveness of these investments, we estimate an IRR of roughly 25% and an average payback time of 1 to 2 years at an oil price of $65 per barrel for the portfolio. The project plans are a manifestation of our ambition to create the oil and gas company of the future with low cost, low emissions, profitable growth, and attractive returns.I am extremely pleased that we have been able to mature all these opportunities into projects. Going forward, the job will be to execute the project on time and on cost. Delivering this project is obviously a very important value driver for Aker BP. This is why we have invested a lot of time and effort into developing a project execution model that drives quality and efficiency.The cornerstone of this is our alliance model, which is a platform for building strong relations and seamless cooperation with our main suppliers based on shared goals and shared incentives. We have been testing and developing this concept for many years, and we know it works, having delivered 16 projects on time and on budget. And of course, our ambitions going forward are nothing less.The close collaboration with our suppliers has allowed us to plan ahead and reserve capacity in the supply chain for our project at a much earlier stage than what is normal in the E&P industry and we are now reaping the benefits of this work. We have placed all major contracts, and we are well underway with detailed engineering, and we're working closely with vendors and sub-vendors to prepare for upcoming project activities.I am often asked if we are impacted by the inflation, we observe all around us. And of course, we are. However, this is already embedded in our CapEx estimates. When we last year established the cost estimates for the PDOs, we made a big effort to understand and estimate the inflationary pressure in the various parts of our supply chain. And of course, we haven't got every detail exactly right. But the overall conclusion is that we are on track and our total CapEx estimates are unchanged.Now let's zoom in to each of the main projects. And I'll start with the tieback project to Alvheim, which is nearest in time. We proudly announced that fast commenced production in March is on schedule and within budget, only 18 months after the PDO was submitted. This is a great example of what we can achieve with the alliance model, working as one team with our suppliers towards a common goal with shared incentives.At Kobra East & Gekko or KEG for short, we are progressing very well for a project start in Q1 2024, and the Tyrving project is on track for a planned start-up in 2025. This project, combined have a net resource estimate of roughly 60 million barrels to our oil to Aker BP with excellent economics and once again demonstrates how we are leveraging our assets by developing discoveries in the vicinity of existing infrastructure.Our largest project is Yggdrasil, previously named NOAKA consisting of several discoveries in the area located between Alvheim and Oseberg. This is the next major development in Norway with a current gross volume estimate of 650 million barrels of oil equivalents with above 400 net to Aker BP, who is the operator. With good cooperation across licenses and operators, we are opening up a mature and prospective area in the North Sea.And at Yggdrasil, we are setting new standards for how to operate the field. We plan for a remotely controlled operation, unmanned production platforms, new technology, and data driven decision and work processes. And we are also digitalizing the project execution with our strategic partners and suppliers. It will be developed with power from shore, minimizing the carbon footprint and there is significant additional volume potential in the area.The Yggdrasil development is therefore designed to also serve as a hub for future potential tie-ins. The Norwegian government has presented a proposition to the Stortinget, recommending approval of the PDO, which we expect before the summer. The project is progressing nicely with all major contract awards and approved concessions. We are well into the detailed engineering phase and we're working closely with the partners and suppliers for construction start already this year. Production start is planned for the first half of 2027.The second largest project is the Valhall PWP & Fenris and comprises of our new production and wellhead platform, PWP for short, to the Valhall field center and an unmanned installation at Fenris previously called King Lear, which will be tied back some 50 kilometers to Valhall. So, this is a unique collaboration project on the Norwegian continental shelf, a coordinated development that will both ensure continued value creation from Valhall area and at the same time, establish a robust development solution for the Fenris discovery.We estimate total volume of 230 million barrels of oil equivalents to be produced, of which around 190 is net to Aker BP. Startup is planned for 2027, and the project is progressing well. In fact, the first cargoes of steel to the Fenris jacket have already arrived at the yard in radar and steel cutting will start before the summer. One year later, the completed jacket will be installed offshore before we start the drilling campaign.Valhall is undergoing a major modernization where the oldest platforms are being removed and the PWP installation will become an integrated part of the Valhall infrastructure. The PWP and funds have also been designed with hub flexibility to enable future tie-ins. The total resource potential enabled by this development, which also includes the effect of life extension and new wells at Valhall is estimated to around 500 million barrels. The final government approval followed the same process as Yggdrasil with expected resolution by the starting before the summer.In the Skarv area, we are going to develop three separate gas condensate discoveries jointly referred to as the Skarv satellite project. Each of these developments comprises of a 4-slot template and two wells, all tied back to the Skarv FPSO in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea. The activity level in the project is currently high, and we're off to a good start.We have recently concluded that the planned maintenance and modification activities at Skarv will be supported by a flotel instead of new living quarters on the FPSO. The flotel alternative offers significantly higher accommodation capacity and will allow us to accelerate the maintenance and modification activities and potentially also have a positive impact on the overall schedule.The total resources to be unlocked by these discoveries are estimated to approximately 120 million barrels of oil equivalents, predominantly gas with planned production start in 2027. The project leaves significant flexibility for future tie-ins where there is Aker BP's discovery of Storjo and Newt as obvious candidates and watch this space. There is more to come from the Skarv area.At Utsira High, we are working on three separate subsea tie-in projects to Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen with a total volume estimate of more than 100 million barrels of oil equivalents. Late 2021, we submitted a PDO for Hanz, which is an oil and gas discovery that will be tied into the Ivar Aasen platform and a schedule for first oil in early 2024. And last December, we submitted PDOs for Symra tied back to Ivar Aasen and Solveig Phase 2, which will be connected to the Edvard Grieg platform. Production start is planned for 2026 and 2027, respectively.We also, in December, submitted a PDO for the Troldhaugen project, which was subject to the performance of an extended well test. The results of this test did not provide sufficient comfort in the project's production estimates, and we therefore decided to discontinue this project. The withdrawal opens for potential optimization of the other project. And although it's a bit early to conclude, we are looking into the opportunities to accelerate first oil date for Symra and Solveig. Time will tell and detailed engineering is ongoing on the two projects.So we're after a really good start on our project execution together with our alliance partners. We're making good progress with current focus on engineering, procurement and contracts, and we remain comfortable with our estimates, both with regards to CapEx and schedule. And then before we open for Q&A, let me quickly repeat the main messages in our Q1 report.We delivered strong operational performance in the quarter with record production, low cost, and the lowest emission intensity in the global oil and gas industry. And we are pleased to report that our projects are on track, and we are laser focused on delivering this project on time and cost. The strong performance also translated into higher earnings and cash flow in the quarters. And as David just went through, we are also on track with regards to our 2023 guidance, which is unchanged from last quarter.We will now take a short break before we open the Q&A session. And if you want to participate in this session, please enter. We have a Teams link provided on the web page. And if you just want to listen in, please stay right where you are, and we'll be back in a couple of minutes.[Break]

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

So welcome back to the question-and-answer session. For those of you who have joined via Teams and want to ask questions, please raise your digital hand. And Kjetil Bakken from our IR team will help me to ensure that we conduct this in a somewhat orderly fashion. Kjetil will also really appreciate if you turn on your cameras when it's your term, and that will make his day and also mine. So Kjetil, what is the first question?

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

I don't know what it is, but I know who it is. And so I will call on Victoria McCulloch to go with the first question. Victoria, please.

V
Victoria McCulloch
analyst

Good morning. Can you hear me okay?

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Absolutely. Good morning, Victoria.

V
Victoria McCulloch
analyst

Apologies, there's no camera at the computer I am at. Otherwise, I would've definitely have it turned on. So apologies for that this morning and I wonder if you could give us a more or phases in progress that we should -- and that might give us an idea of where the phasing across the year is in terms of capital spending. Thanks very much.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Okay. So we can start with production. So as you obviously know, the Q1 production was $453 million. My expectations is that will end up roughly in the same territory in Q2. And then there are some more planned maintenance in Q3. So from an overall perspective, I think the $430 million to $460 million, which is our full year guidance is still our best assessment.When it comes to Sverdrup, I think the last news that we're now running at nameplate capacity, and we obviously plan to ramp up towards the $755 million. The exact timing of that is uncertain, but I'm assuming that will carry out the first test within the next couple of months. And then the CapEx guidance through the year, David?

D
David Tønne
executive

So as I said in my presentation, the CapEx guidance is kept quite broad for the year between $3 billion and $3.5 billion. And the point of keeping in-year phasing and in between-year phasing is still quite or some uncertain. So with regards to updates on this, I think the way that we will do it, we will, of course, provide progress in the quarterly presentations on in-year phasing. And then if there is material changes in the between-year phasing, we'll, of course, also update you on that. But I think this will take a bit of time to really detail out.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes. Then the next question is from Jørgen Bruaset from Nordea. Please go ahead, Jørgen. [Technical Difficulty] Jørgen you have to unmute your line. Okay. Then he might be away from.

J
Jørgen Bruaset
analyst

Sorry, can you hear me?

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Absolutely.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Good morning Jørgen.

D
David Tønne
executive

We can hear you, Jørgen.

J
Jørgen Bruaset
analyst

Okay. So just touching a bit on both the production guidance and also on the CapEx guidance as initially asked -- [Technical Difficulty] -- there seems to be a big lag here. So maybe again question...

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

So we hear you at least very well again. So please go ahead...

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

If we can quantify the maintenance effect in second half.

D
David Tønne
executive

Want me to take that?

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Yes.

D
David Tønne
executive

So as I think detailing the maintenance effect is a bit difficult. But in terms of fields that has a turnaround in the third quarter, it's in particular at all the fields -- so we don't give specific detail guidance on each of the fields and the production for the specific quarter.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Okay. I think we'll move on to the next question, which is [indiscernible]. Please go ahead, [ Vila ]. It looks like he withdrew his question. So the next one is Yoann Charenton from Societe Generale. Yoann, please go ahead.[Technical Difficulty]We don't hear you, Johan. So we'll move on to the next question and then that would be Mark Wilson. Mark, I hope you are there.

D
David Tønne
executive

We can't hear you either Mark. It looks like we have some technical difficulties. So just please remember to unmute before speaking. And we recognize that it might not be on your side, the issues, so we'll try to figure that out.

U
Unknown Analyst

This is John for maybe –

M
Mark Wilson
analyst

Hello, can you see me and hear me?

D
David Tønne
executive

Yes, we perfectly can Mark. Thank you so much.

M
Mark Wilson
analyst

I'd like to ask... Okay. Well, I'll ask my question anyway in case you can actually hear me.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Go ahead, Mark.

M
Mark Wilson
analyst

My question regarding your big exploration well, the Rondeslottet that's coming up. It says it's an appraisal discovery from 2003. Could you give us some details on what that discovery found and therefore, what you're going to see?

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Yes. Sure. I think the issue is a time lag from our microphones to the Teams. So if you can work that out. So the Rondeslottet was a discovery from 2003. It was at that point in time known as a leader -- [Audio Gap] -- held on the flank of the reservoir. And at least as we carried out the geological studies, it seems that there might be better as well as we're moving towards the OpEx and the southwestern part of the reservoir. So the appraisal well is not really to prove in-place volumes. It's to produce producibility of this reservoir at commercial rates. So that's what we're doing. And that means that there are some more -- a little bit of a different formation evaluation program than we used to, where you usually try to prove in place volumes. We're now trying to prove up producibility.If successful, there are several hundred millions of barrels existing in Rondeslottet. So, it's an exciting well, but of course, it's a classical high risk, high opportunity case. But it's different for most of these wells because we...[Audio Gap]

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

All right. I think before we take the next question, I have a suspicion that if you are watching on the stream and you are asking questions on teams, there is some time lag...

M
Mark Wilson
analyst

Is there a flow test in that appraisal would be --

U
Unknown Analyst

We could hear you, but there was some noise on the line here

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

So is it an alternative to do a 2-minute pause and then make sure that the technology works before we continue? Is that the better way of executing?

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes, a message to all of you who are on Teams and asking questions. You should turn off the streaming in your web browser and only follow the sound on the teams, there is a 30 seconds approximately time lag between the two. So if you are listening into the stream and asking questions on Teams, it creates these lags. So please only use Teams.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Okay. Should we then move on to the next question?

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes. I think we'll try again with Yoann from Societe Generale. Please, Yoann, go ahead. [Technical Difficulty]

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

I don't hear anything. Okay. So maybe we have fixed the problem now. Let's see if we can get the next question, Kjetil.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes. We have -- I have opened the line for Yoann. So Yoann, if you are still there, please ask your question.

Y
Yoann Charenton
analyst

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the presentation. Hopefully, you can hear me perfectly.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Absolutely. Perfect._

Y
Yoann Charenton
analyst

It sounds good. Thank you. So I may have missed it. But just looking at the figures you provided for the resources that will be developed under the temperate scheme. In the annual report, you referred to 700 million barrels, which was taking into account the discontinuation of 1 out of 10 PDOs and today, you are referring to 770 million barrels. So can you please tell me what I'm missing here that will explain that gap?And maybe, let's say, a more generic question. Just a year ago, when you presented your results, the Lundin deal still had to complete. At the time, you were showing that ex-Lundin shareholders were going to own 43% of share capital upon deal completion. Also it may be difficult to keep track of things given you regular limit with some of the largest investors, are you able to give some color on how the share may have evolved since steel completion, please?

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes, David?

D
David Tønne
executive

Yes, I can -- very nice to see and hear you, Yoann. That's a great relief that the technology is now working. Yes. So the difference between the 700 million and the 770 million barrels is actually quite easy to explain. So the 770 million includes all the volumes that we have sanctioned under the temporary fiscal regime and not only the volumes that were sanctioned in December. So including, for example, the KEG project that is currently being developed; enhanced under execution.And then with regards to shareholders and shareholders' development. So of course, it's difficult to speak on behalf of shareholders with regards to how they are developing their shareholding. But when it comes to, of course, the major shareholders, there's no big development in their shareholdings since deal completion as far as I know at least.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Let's move on Kjetil.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes. Then we move on to Chris Wheaton from Stifel. Chris the line is yours.

C
Christopher Wheaton
analyst

Thank you. I hope you can hear me okay. Thanks very much, Fantastic. I'll keep my video off, though, because you don't want to see me this morning. One question from me. How much visibility do you have in the project CapEx and timing assumptions given that with industry inflation continuing to be quite strong, and I think particularly in Norway, given the tax system has encouraged everyone to sanction projects, not just yourself. Inflation is going to be quite persistent. How free -- can you talk about the process of you reassessing or reviewing the CapEx timing and amounts within the projects, and therefore, the likelihood of when we can start to see updates on those CapEx numbers actually start to come through.I guess my concern is we come in one morning and discover that you've put out an announcement saying your CapEx is $1 billion higher than you thought it was. That's the kind of risk I'm sort of thinking about. Thanks very much. Actually, also a great quarter of delivery on for production performance and safety and everything as always, as I would expect. So well done. Thank you.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Thank you, Chris. Yes. So basically, two questions. The one is about phasing and the second one is about volume. So when we did our estimations back in October, November last year, we did quite a lot of work on how we expect inflation to behave in 16 different categories across the project portfolio. both from a short-term and a long-term perspective. And we put those inflation numbers into our assessment in December when we made the final investment decisions.I wouldn't say that we were 100% right on all categories. But in general, our analysis of inflation and inflationary pressure at that point in time was pretty spot on. So now that we've done the first master control estimate, which is the kind of bottom-up buildup of cost and schedule, we're pretty much spot on the estimates that we had back in December. So if that is an indication that we are also correct when it comes to inflation in the future, I think we would say that we're pretty well off.Then we are now getting a lot of prices in and more and more prices are being locked in as we move forward in the contracts and the continuation and the clarification works with these counterparties. So that means that there are less and less scope that is actually directly exposed to inflation. So as time goes by, most of the cost increase will come due to events which we hopefully won't really see.But I think there is a discussion around phasing. And it's quite clear that some of this phasing discussion, that was also referred to in Victoria's question. We are discussing about the cash value and the value we worked on with these vendors. And we are seeing a somewhat higher front loading than we would normally see in this project, but that was also accounted for back in December. So all in all, I would say that we were -- yes, we were pretty spot on both when it came to how the market would react in terms of inflation, but also what kind of rectifying measures the market would put in place to compensate for future inflation.And then you had a question about when do we do estimates. We do update control estimates at least once a year and probably now in the first phase, we'll do this every half year, two times a year.

C
Christopher Wheaton
analyst

Brilliant. That's a very hard thing to get right, but that's really interesting insight into your process there. Thank you very much, indeed.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Thank you, Chris. Let's move on.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes, then we circle back to Jørgen Bruaset who hopefully now can both hear us and we hear him.

J
Jørgen Bruaset
analyst

Absolutely, I can see and hear you. Thank you for circling back. I reckon you are not in a position to give any more color on my initial questions regarding quantifying maintenance for the next year, but just two more housekeeping questions from my side. Just looking at the CapEx number for Q1, run rate is slightly below where we see CapEx for the full year. Are you able to just give some more clarification on the distribution of CapEx through the year, H1, H2, back-end, front end loaded?And then also maybe if you're able to tie in some comments on your production guidance versus your OpEx per barrel guidance. So should we look at this as the midpoint of the production guidance squaring with the midpoint of the OpEx guidance? Or are there any other dynamics we need to think about in that regard? Thank you.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Housekeeping, that's your department...

D
David Tønne
executive

Housekeeping is my department and good to also hear you loud and clear now. So, I apologize for that. I think we found the technical difficulties on our side. So I apologize to all of you who are being stressing and muting and unmuting.In terms of CapEx phasing through the rest of the year. So as planned, we wouldn't spend the prorata share this quarter, of course, as the projects are ramping up execution. So I think what we can give in terms of guidance for this year is sort of a steady increase through the different quarters. And as mentioned again, there is phasing elements here that we're still working on. But I think that's the base case expectation.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

We'll move on, Kjetil.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes. Next hand is Teodor Sveen-Nilsen. Please go ahead, Teodor.

T
Teodor Nilsen
analyst

Thank you, Kjetil, can you hear me.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Yes, we can.

T
Teodor Nilsen
analyst

I'll keep my camera off just to reduce the risk for further hookups there. So a couple of questions there. Maybe some of them have been asked already, but since I have been thrown at a higher production towards the end of first quarter and in beginning of first quarter and this quarter. Is the current production above your full year guidance and when is a current production, let's say, quarter to date, April.And then second question, that is on Edvard Grieg, what's the current book value at our gig after the impairment? And second question why did the production decline substantially from the starting well. One of your partners provided a pretty aggressive resource estimate. Do you have a resource estimate for Rondeslottet?

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Yes. Okay. So production rates, obviously, we averaged $453 million. The -- as you point out, the run rate towards the end of the quarter is slightly higher than that. And you're also right that this was the first full quarter with Sverdrup being on nameplate capacity. My expectation is that Q2 will end up pretty much in the same territory, maybe slightly higher. But then there are some maintenance activities in Q3 that would also impact the total yearly average. So I still believe that the $450 million to $460 million is a fair assessment of where we'll end then in terms of total volumes.Production in Edvard Grieg and also actually Ivar Aasen was impacted by a shutdown caused by an electrical failure in Q1. So that's why we have a significant -- we have a slightly reduction in production in Q1 from Edvard Grieg. That's also the main reason that the production efficiency and overall went from 95% in Q4 to 93% in Q1.And then on Rondeslottet, I don't think I'll go out with an updated estimate, and I'm aware that there are different opinions out there. So Rondeslottet is a relatively tight reservoir. It's a discovery from back in 2003 called Ellida at the time. The well produced up a significant oil column. I could say that there are 700 million barrels of potential but the discussion is a producibility. So we'll place this well closer to the OpEx of the structure and in what we hope is a slightly or somewhat higher producibility section. And then, of course, if that's successful, that would unlock quite a lot of potential. So I'll keep it at that, and then we'll come back once the well is drilled.

D
David Tønne
executive

Yes. And then on book value, Teodor, I think you can refer to Note 5 on the details of the impairment and the book value in total of the cash-generating unit, Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen. But I think it's fair to say that we still have technical goodwill allocated to the units. And as mentioned in my presentation, all things equal and no changes in assumptions. We do expect to impair goodwill or technical goodwill on a quarterly basis as we are producing out value of the field.

T
Teodor Nilsen
analyst

Okay. good. Just back to the 700 million barrels you mentioned, Karl, is that oil in place or recoverable resources?

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

So the original estimation is recoverable resources. But as I said, the big uncertainty here is the recovery factor. So that's why we're doing this appraisal exploration drilling. So I'll come back to that once we drilled the well with more precise estimations.

T
Teodor Nilsen
analyst

Understood, thank you. That's all for me.

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

Thank you, Teodor. Then we'll move to the next one, Kjetil.

K
Kjetil Bakken
executive

Yes, there are no further hands raised, but we got a follow-up question from Yoann at SocGen. Do you expect to have received all necessary approvals before we meet again this summer on the PDOs?

K
Karl Hersvik
executive

So the process with the PDOs is now that the Norwegian government has sent all the necessary papers to the parliament. As far as I understand, the parliament will make a decision before the -- while they are in session and before the summer. So that probably means a decision in late May, June somewhat. So my guess would be yes.And then there are concessions related to power from shore and building concessions. So the concessions from power from shore is already given, and we are applying now for construction concession onshore and a bit later for our construction concession in the Fjords for the power from shore project. So that might be the only outstanding item once we meet in July.Then if there are no further questions, I suggest we close and guys, my sincerest apologies for the technical difficulties we had. This is the second time running the system, and we'll make sure it's better next time. Thank you, and have a good day.