04/29/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/29/2024 01:09
29 April 2024-Singapore: Jadestone Energy plc (AIM:JSE) ("Jadestone" or the "Company"), an independent upstream company and its subsidiaries (the "Group"), focused on the Asia-Pacific region, reports its consolidated financial statements (the "Financial Statements"), as at and for the financial year ended 31 December 2023.
The Company will host a webcast at 9:00 a.m. UK time today, details of which can be found in the announcement below.
Key updates:
Paul Blakeley, President and CEO commented:
"2023 was a pivotal year for Jadestone, as we continued the deliberate move away from our older legacy assets in Australia towards newer and higher-value, higher-margin assets across the Asia-Pacific region. During the year we achieved a number of operational and strategic milestones, including significant progress toward first gas at Akatara, a very successful infill drilling campaign offshore Malaysia and 164% replacement of 2P reserves. Closing the Sinphuhorm acquisition and doubling our interest in the CWLH fields offshore Australia were also key steps in the ongoing diversification strategy. Commercial progress on Nam Du/U Minh in early 2024 provides greater confidence in our medium-term outlook. We also delivered a strong HSE performance during the year, with no lost time injuries, and bolstered our pledge to deliver Net Zero Scope 1 and 2 GHGs from our operated assets by 2040 through establishing interim GHG reduction milestones.
While these positive developments were somewhat overshadowed by a disappointing performance at Montara in the first half of 2023, we have since seen steady progress in the asset's reliability as the ongoing work to the FPSO has helped support improving uptime.
Partly as a result of the challenges at Montara and lower realised oil prices the business made a loss of US$91 million in 2023 (2022: US$9 million profit). With stronger oil prices so far this year and our production growing, we expect 2024 to deliver a much better outcome, with the recent March 2024 RBL redetermination setting a borrowing base of US$200 million for the next two quarters, more than double the predicted lending capacity for this period only a year ago and underpinning near-term liquidity. Akatara cashflows and the recent increase in our CWLH stake will further diversify and increase the robustness of our cash generation.
In recent months, the construction activity at the Akatara gas processing facility ("AGPF") has been coming to a conclusion in preparation for first gas. The sales gas pipeline has been completed and successfully tested, with four out of the five planned production wells successfully worked over and the first three tested at a combined rate in excess of 30 mmcfd, well above the 25 mmcfd required to meet deliveries under the gas sales agreement. We currently anticipate that commissioning gas will be introduced into the AGPF followed by commercial gas sales before the end of the second quarter, consistent with our long-standing guidance. There is still significant activity to complete, but we are on the threshold of a significant milestone for Jadestone.
Average production for the Group in the first quarter of 2024 was 17,200 boe/d, which primarily reflects the impact on our Australian assets of a very active cyclone season at the start of this year. Accordingly, production guidance for 2024 has been narrowed to 20-22,000 boe/d. Both the 2024 opex and capex guidance ranges are reiterated today.
While the sale process for Woodside's interests in the Pyrenees/Macedon fields did not proceed, bringing the related share trading suspension to an end, we had provided a competitive and fully funded proposal without any recourse to equity. The learnings from this process provide us with the financial framework to continue assessing the exciting set of inorganic opportunities across the Asia-Pacific region, through which we are well placed to create value from our operating platform and capability. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues at Jadestone for their hard work in 2023, and our shareholders for their patience and continued support."
Paul Blakeley
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Enquiries
Download the 2023 full year results statement
Full-year 2023 presentation webcast
The Company will host an investor and analyst presentation at 9:00 a.m. (UK time) on Monday, 29 April 2024, including a question-and-answer session, accessible through the link below:
Webcast link: https://shorturl.at/cdgxB
Event title: Jadestone Energy Full-Year 2023 Results
Time: 9:00 a.m. (UK time)
Date: 29 April 2024
To join the presentation by phone, please use the below dial-in details from the United Kingdom or the link for global dial-in details:
United Kingdom (Local): +44 20 3936 2999
United Kingdom (Toll-Free): +44 800 358 1035
Global Dial-In Details: https://shorturl.at/flot5
Access Code: 082963