Higher production helps Cairn Energy swing to H1 profit

Cairn Energy swung to a first half profit on higher oil and gas output as it upgraded full year production forecasts.

The company on Tuesday reported a profit of $66.5m against a loss of $500.5m a year earlier as oil and gas sales revenue rose to $257m from $174.3m. Full year oil production guidance was upgraded to 21,000-23,000 barrels a day from 19,000-22,000.

Chief executive Simon Thomson said production performance from Cairn's North Sea assets was ahead of expectations, “delivering significant cash flow to reinvest in the portfolio”.

“The SNE development in Senegal...remains on schedule for first oil in 2022.”