Kosmos Energy swings to Q4 profit despite fall in sales

American oil group Kosmos Energy reported that fourth-quarter revenues fell by a tenth as falling prices outweighed an increase in production, but the company swung to a profit and painted a bullish outlook for the coming year.

Total revenues were $507.8m in the three months to 31 December, down 9.9% from the $563.7m reported a year earlier, as the average sales price per barrel of oil equivalents slipped to $75.64 from $81.70.

However, total oil and gas production costs fell to $103.8m from $125.8m previously, and a big drop in the impairment of long-lived assets to $222.3m from $450.0m meant that pre-tax income totalled $41.4m, compared with a loss of $199.9m the year before.

For the full year, Kosmos booked a pre-tax income of $371.7m, up from $337.1m in 2022, but revenues fell to $1.70bn from $2.30bn.

Net production in the fourth quarter was 66,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), representing around 12% growth year-on-year.

The company said it continued to advance its key development projects during the quarter, which it hopes will increase production by 50% compared with the second half of 2022.

"The start-up of Jubilee Southeast was a major step toward achieving this goal and, in the coming months, we expect production to begin at Winterfell in the Gulf of Mexico followed by first gas at Greater Tortue Ahmeyim offshore Mauritania and Senegal," said chair and chief executive Andrew Inglis.

"As we pursue these operated developments, as well as other projects in our organic portfolio, we are confident in our ability to deliver growth through the decade while generating strong cash flow. This is expected to strengthen our balance sheet, help us achieve our leverage targets, while providing flexibility around future capital allocation opportunities including returns to shareholders."