OSLO, Norway , July 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- BlueNord ASA ("BlueNord" or the "Company") today published its second quarter and first half results for 2024. The second quarter of the year delivered strong operational performance which supported the overall financial performance of the Company. In addition, BlueNord reset its capital structure in the quarter enabling it to deliver its announced distributions policy once Tyra has reached plateau production, which is now expected in Q4 2024 per the Operator's current plan.
Highlights:
Second quarter net hydrocarbon production of 24.5 mboepd, in line with the quarterly guidance of 23.0 – 26.0 mboepd
Revenues of USD 171 million for the quarter and USD 339 million for first half of 2024
EBITDA in Q2 of USD 72 million, delivering EBITDA for H1 of USD 160 million
Cash Flow from Operations in the quarter of USD 57 million and USD 146 million for the first half of 2024
Successful reset of capital structure with new USD 1.4 billion Reserve Based Lending Facility ("RBL") and the placement of a new senior unsecured bond issue of USD 300 million
Continued progress of the hook-up and commissioning of Tyra II, with schedule for the repair of transformers in-line with expected plateau production in Q4 2024
Glen Ole Rødland elected as new Chair and Miriam Jager Lykke appointed as Chief Operating Officer
Operational:
The overarching strong production trend from previous years continued in the first half of 2024 and for the 14th consecutive quarter, BlueNord delivered production in-line with or above guidance. In addition, the Company's active drilling programme is progressing well, with the spudding of Harald East Middle Jurassic ("HEMJ") on 17 June and the sanctioning of an additional Halfdan well. The partners in the Danish Underground Consortium ("the DUC") also extended the contract on the jack-up rig Shelf Drilling Winner by 17 months, further securing future drilling activities.
Tyra II:
The Tyra West facility is ready to start-up with all the wells now unplugged, and more than 50% of the Tyra East wells are also unplugged. The hook-up and commissioning work is now complete on the Tyra satellites, Roar, Tyra South East, Harald and Valdemar. With the announced technical start-up issues related to the transformers, and as per REMIT from the operator, the schedule for repair of the transformers is in-line with Q4 plateau production. Temporary production from Harald is expected to commence in July and will initially support the Tyra commissioning, hence only minor export volumes are expected. Other temporary production modes are being matured, and based on the current plan of the operator, plateau production remains expected in Q4 2024.
Financial:
The Company continues to deliver solid financial results, supported by the stable contribution of the producing assets. During the quarter, BlueNord successfully closed the amended USD 1.4 billion RBL, replacing the existing Facility of USD 1.1 billion and deferring the maturity to 2029. In addition, the Company placed a new USD 300 million senior unsecured bond with a five-year maturity which was partially used to repay the existing USD 175 million bond BNOR14. Following the capital structure reset, BlueNord is in position to deliver on its distributions policy once Tyra II has reached plateau production.
"During the second quarter of 2024, BlueNord achieved several significant milestones that positions our business strongly for the future. Operationally, we produced 24.5 mboe/d and benefitted from the continued contribution of the first Halfdan infill well. This will be supplemented by an additional infill well on Halfdan that was sanctioned during the quarter and will be drilled in the second half of 2024. The Harald East Middle Jurassic well was spudded in June 2024 and we believe this could add up to 8 mmboe net to BlueNord in a success case, with the result due over the summer. This activity is facilitated by having an active drilling rig on the DUC, and we are pleased to announce that the Shelf Drilling Winner rig contract has been extended by 17 months beyond its current expiry in March 2025.
We expect gas export from Tyra to partially resume imminently and plateau production to be reached in Q4 of this year according to the operator's plan. From a corporate perspective, we successfully completed the capital structure reset that we announced earlier in the year with an upsized USD 1.4 billion RBL facility and the issue of a new USD 300 million unsecured bond. This positions us well for the second half of the year where, with Tyra at plateau per the Operator's current plan and all covenants now consistent with the distribution policy we have announced, we expect to start the material return of capital to shareholders," said Euan Shirlaw, Chief Executive Officer of BlueNord.
The report and investor presentation are attached here and may be downloaded from the Company's website www.bluenord.com or www.newsweb.no.
This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation, and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. The stock exchange announcement was published by Cathrine Torgersen, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, BlueNord ASA, at the date and time as set out above.
