In what will be a record financial result, London-listed Afren Plc, said it expects its sales revenue for 2013 to hit $1.65 billion and operating cash flow in excess of $1.1 billion.
The company, in its trading statement and operations update published last week on its website, said this was driven by a year‐on‐year 14 percent increase in net production, principally from the Ebok and Okoro fields, offshore Nigeria.
Afren recorded total gross production of 59,926 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2013, with net production of 47,112 boepd.
Following exploration success in Nigeria during 2012 and 2013, Afren and its partners will commence development of the Okoro Further Field Development, Ebok North Fault Block and Okwok in 2014, all of which will generate high margin cash flow for the company, according to the statement posted on its website.
Osman Shahenshah, chief executive, Afren plc, said: “2013 has been another exceptional year for Afren, with a combination of record financial results, production ahead of guidance and industry leading exploration success. The play opening Ogo discovery in Nigeria was one of the largest global discoveries in 2013, and will be followed by further appraisal and exploration drilling. At the same time we will continue to allocate capital to the highest cash return projects.”
Afren stated that these new developments will ensure that it delivers double digit production growth over the next five years. “Afren is expecting gross production of approximately 62,000 bopd in 2014 (approximately 40,000 bopd net to Afren), which factors in the shut‐down associated with the additional platform installation on Ebok, cost recovery on Ebok, the ongoing regional developments in Kurdistan and the timing of rig arrival on OML 26 onshore Nigeria.”
On the Ogo discovery at OPL 310, the company said it would now acquire 3D seismic ahead of appraisal and further exploration drilling. OPL 310 is located in the Upper Cretaceous fairway that runs along the West African Transform Margin and Afren has similar exposure on the adjacent OML 113 block, in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Afren continued its exploration success in 2013 with the play opening Ogo discovery at OPL 310, offshore Nigeria, with P50 gross recoverable resources of 774 mmboe.
“The balance sheet is strong, with net debt of $739 million at the end of 2013 and the company has successfully extended the maturity of its liabilities and lowered the cost of its debt,” the statement said.
