Equinor Net Loss Widens Amid Impairments and Writedowns; Sells US Onshore Assets
February 10 2021 - 1:53AM
Dow Jones News
By Dominic Chopping
Equinor ASA on Wednesday said it was selling its U.S. onshore
assets for $900 million as its fourth-quarter net loss widened amid
impairments and write-downs.
The company, which is 67%-owned by the Norwegian state, said it
has agreed to divest its interests in the Bakken field in North
Dakota and Montana to Grayson Mill Energy, backed by EnCap
Investments.
Separately, Equinor reported a net loss of $2.42 billion
compared with a loss of $236 million a year earlier, as revenue
fell 20% to $11.88 billion.
Analysts polled by FactSet had expected a net profit of $512
million on revenue of $12.74 billion.
Earnings for the quarter were weighed by impairments of $1.30
billion related to the U.S. assets held for sale and a previously
announced writedown of $0.98 billion at the Tanzania LNG
project.
"Our results are impacted by the market turmoil during the year,
but with strong cost improvements and capital discipline we
delivered positive net cash flow for the quarter and the full
year," Chief Executive Eldar Saetre said.
"During 2020 we have delivered more than $3.7 billion in
savings, well above our ambition for the action plan we launched in
March to strengthen financial resilience. We are well positioned
for value creation and strong cash flow in 2021 and the coming
years."
Equinor delivered total equity production of 2.043 million
barrels of oil equivalent a day in the quarter, down from 2.198
million barrels a day for the same quarter of the prior year.
Organic capital expenditure is estimated at an annual average of
$9 billion-$10 billion for 2021-22 while production for 2021 is
estimated to be around 2% above 2020 level.
Exploration activity in 2021 is seen at around $0.9 billion and
it still expects to deliver average annual production growth of
around 3% from 2019 to 2026.
Equinor declared a fourth-quarter dividend of $0.12.
Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 10, 2021 01:38 ET (06:38 GMT)
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