Investment accounts
Adult accounts
Child accounts
Choosing Fidelity
Choosing Fidelity
Why invest with us Current offers Fees and charges Open an account Transfer investments
Financial advice & support
Fidelity’s Services
Fidelity’s Services
Financial advice Retirement Wealth Management Investor Centre (London) Bereavement
Guidance and tools
Guidance and tools
Choosing investments Choosing accounts ISA calculator Retirement calculators
Share dealing
Choose your shares
Tools and information
Tools and information
Share prices and markets Chart and compare shares Stock market news Shareholder perks
Pensions & retirement
Pensions, tax & tools
Saving for retirement
Approaching / In retirement
Approaching / In retirement
Speak to a specialist Creating a retirement plan Taking tax-free cash Pension drawdown Annuities Investing in retirement Investment Pathways
Serica maintains full-year production guidance
(Sharecast News) - Serica Energy maintained its production guidance in an update on Thursday, targeting between 41,000 and 46,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day for 2024. The AIM-traded company, which was holding its annual general meeting, said its operating costs remained consistent with its target of $20 per equivalent barrel, reflecting stable financial management.
It said the Bruce Hub had shown steady production for the year-to-date, with an uptick in June following a successful Light Well Intervention Vessel (LWIV) campaign.
That intervention was yet to establish a steady production state from the worked-over wells.
Additionally, production from the K1 well in the Keith field resumed on 8 June, although it had been intermittent as topsides operations were optimised.
The upcoming Bruce field platform well interventions were set to start in mid-July, with a planned duration of 90 days, focusing on enhancing production and routine monitoring.
A brief outage of the Forties Pipeline System in July would coincide with maintenance activities on the Bruce Hub, scheduled for a seven-day shut-in.
At the Triton Hub, the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel was operating with a single gas export compressor, with repairs for a second compressor expected in October.
A compressor trip in May halted production for three weeks, but full production has since resumed.
However, the firm said the vulnerability would persist until repairs were completed, while the planned summer shutdown of the Triton FPSO would start on 1 July for 40 days.
Other assets were said to be performing well, except for the Erskine field, which had been offline since 26 January due to a compressor issue on the host Lomond platform.
After briefly resuming in early May, production would restart in late July following the Lomond turnaround.
In the Triton area, the reservoir section of the B1z sidetrack, now referred to as the 'B6' well, on the Bittern field had been successfully drilled.
Initial well logging indicated a high-quality, oil-filled reservoir.
The well completion and testing were scheduled for August, post the Triton summer shutdown.
Subsequently, the COSL Innovator rig would move to the Gannet E field to drill the GE-05 well, with production expected to begin in November.
As of 26 June, Serica held £301.6m in cash and equivalents, with debt drawings of $231m (£182m).
That followed significant expenditures, including £58.3m in tax payments, £80m in capital spending, £17.3m in asset acquisitions, and a £15m share buyback.
The company anticipated a pre-tax capital expenditure of about £200m for 2024, with tax and dividend payments heavily weighted towards the second half of the year.
"Over just a few years Serica has been transformed from a small international exploration focussed company into one of the top 10 producers in the UK North Sea, safely and responsibly operating complex facilities offshore and growing its 2P reserves some 35 times since the beginning of 2015," said chairman and interim chief executive officer David Latin.
"To deliver these achievements we have navigated operational challenges, oil and gas prices hitting historic lows - remember gas prices of 10 pence a therm in May 2020 - and pulled off multiple good acquisitions.
"With the assets, financial strength, staff and leadership now in place, we have a very solid platform for entering the next phase of growth."
Latin said the company was "proud" of its track record of growth and value creation, aiming to repeat the same in the future.
"Unfortunately, recent and potential future increases in UK oil and gas taxes make that increasingly difficult.
"Consequently, while we remain watchful for opportunities in the UK that might be attractive despite this increasingly challenging context, we are also looking very actively overseas."
At 1037 BST, shares in Serica Energy were down 9.93% at 137p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Share this article
Related Sharecast Articles
Important information: This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
Award-winning online share dealing
Search, compare and select from thousands of shares.
Expert insights into investing your money
Our team of experts explore the world of share dealing.
Policies and important information
Accessibility | Conflicts of interest statement | Consumer Duty Target Market | Consumer Duty Value Assessment Statement | Cookie policy | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion | Doing Business with Fidelity | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Reports | Investing in Fidelity funds | Legal information | Modern slavery | Mutual respect policy | Privacy statement | Remuneration policy | Staying secure | Statutory and Regulatory disclosures | Whistleblowing policy
Please remember that past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance, the performance of investments is not guaranteed, and the value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you invest. When investments have particular tax features, these will depend on your personal circumstances and tax rules may change in the future. This website does not contain any personal recommendations for a particular course of action, service or product. You should regularly review your investment objectives and choices and, if you are unsure whether an investment is suitable for you, you should contact an authorised financial adviser. Before opening an account, please read the ‘Doing Business with Fidelity’ document which incorporates our client terms. Prior to investing into a fund, please read the relevant key information document which contains important information about the fund.
This website is issued by Financial Administration Services Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (FCA Register number 122169) and registered in England and Wales under company number 1629709 whose registered address is Beech Gate, Millfield Lane, Lower Kingswood, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 6RP.