Nostrum financially strong after Q3 as operational struggles show

Nostrum Oil & Gas updated the market on its operations for the nine-month period to 30 September on Tuesday, confirming average production of 44,879 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) for the period.

The FTSE 250 company said third quarter average production was 41,265 boepd.

On the sales side, average sales volumes over the nine month period were 39,600 boepd, with average sales volumes for the third quarter at 36,635 boepd.

Looking at the books, Nostrum’s revenues for the nine month period were said to be in excess of $303m, up from $241.5m at the same time last year.

Its cash position at period end was in excess of $144m, compared to $97.5m a year ago.

Total debt stood at $1.06bn, with net debt of approximately $913m as at 30 September.

“Financially it was a strong quarter with the successful bond refinancing completed, higher oil prices and continued implementation of our cost saving programme,” said chief executive Kai-Uwe Kessel.

“However, from an operational perspective it was disappointing to announce earlier this month the delay to the GTU3 tie-in due to the inability to be able to complete hydro-testing prior to the winter period as a result of the non-delivery of critical equipment.”

In addition the loss of two production wells after the fourth quarter shut down last year, and the delay from the first quarter in the drilling schedule, meant production was behind the board’s 2017 targets as Nostrum had not yet been able to bring on the new production wells, Kessel explained.

“On the upside we have had some positive appraisal results which mean our overall strategy looks like it will be well supported by more reserves in the future to prolong the production peak.

“I look forward to providing more details in the coming months on the appraisal programme and our reserve growth plans for 2018.”