BW Energy Limited (BWE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to this Fourth Quarter 2024 presentation by BW Energy. Today's call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. [Operator Instructions]. Carl, you may now begin the presentation.

Thank you, operator. Warm welcome to this fourth quarter presentation, fourth quarter 2024 by BW Energy. As usual, this presentation will be hosted by Brice Morlot, our CFO; Lin Espey, our Chief Operating Officer; and myself, Carl Arnet. I have 2 things that I would like you to notice. First of all, our disclaimer and also notice that all our figures presented in this presentation are unaudited. The audited figures will be available at the release of our annual report later in February. Then onwards to the Q4 highlights. We had a record quarterly EBITDA and a 32% increase in net production. The Dussafu net quarterly production was at an all-time high of 2.5 million barrels, and we are currently producing around 40,000 barrels per day gross at Dussafu. Then on to a lot of figures this time. This is the fourth quarter first. Our net production was 33,600 barrels per day, which is significantly up over the third quarter and the fourth quarter '23. Our revenue, again, $233 million and significantly up, same OpEx, but OpEx was down due to the higher production and cost focus. So also much better than in Q3 '24 and Q4 '23 at $25.6 per barrel. Our EBITDA was $141 million, net profit $56 million and the operating cash flow, $117 million. For the full year, the net production was 10 million barrels, which was significantly up from '23, almost 70%. Our revenue, a new record was close to $800 million, again, significantly up over 2023. The OpEx for the full year was $30 per barrel, which is about 16% down from previous year. EBITDA of $457 million, which is significantly up 90% and the net profit, $165 million, close to $166 million actually, which is again doubling from '23. The operating cash flow was very solid and at close to $350 million and of course, up significantly over '23 as well. So all in, I would say we are very pleased with developments in 2024. And I think we can now say that we have turned the corner on our trials and tribulations with ESPs. And although we did see some patchy production from Golfinho due to certain issues that I will cover later. It is showing very solid production from the Tortue and the Hibiscus/Ruche area, as you can see from this graph. 2025 guidance, net production, we expect to produce between 11 million and 12 million barrels. We expect operating costs around $18 to $22 per barrel. The operating cost we will report from now onwards will not include royalty and tariffs, which is not customary to include. So we have made a little adjustments just so that you are aware of this new reporting regime. The net CapEx expected for 2025 is $260 million to $285 million. This does not include the Maromba and Golfinho. Maromba, we expect to FID later in the first quarter and the Golfino boosting is still work in progress. The G&A is expected to come in at around $19 million to $22 million. Then some more granularity on operations. The Dussafu net production was 2.5 million barrels, significantly up over the previous quarter. We had a high operational uptime on Dussafu, and we brought 2 new wells online as well as restarted 3 wells after the workovers. And the operating cost reduced to $18.5 per barrel, which is below the year-end 2024. The Golfinho production was a bit more mixed bag. We had an unfortunate shutdown of the Petrobras gas import pipeline, which caused a shutdown of our ESPs or our wells produced by ESPs. The operating cost as a result is high at $56.4 per barrel. And we are, of course, forward -- increasing our focus on the production regularity and what we can do to improve on the situation on Golfinho. We had another good quarter in terms of HSE performance. We had 1 LTI in 2024 and no environmental incidents. So all in, a good HSE performance. Then on to field development. Our major field development is Maromba and we expect to FID that in the course of first quarter '25, this quarter. The wellhead platform design is near completion. And again, to remind you, this is a dry tree concept. We are currently undertaking a geotechnical campaign on site and the objective is to find the proper field center and have specific locations for the location of the wellhead platform. The FPSO refurbishment has commenced, as you can see from this snapshot from the yard in China, and we are currently undertaking steel work. And as soon as we FID the total project, we will, of course, then also order long lead items. and we expect to do that pretty much simultaneously with FID the project. Planned delivery of this project is in Q3 2027. Investment budget, $1.2 billion. We are, again, to remind you, in the first phase, targeting the low-risk Maastrichtian barrels that have been highly appraised and delineated by the previous owners of Maromba, Petrobras and Chevron. And the target production is 50,000 barrels per day. We are getting very close to completing the financing efforts with the FPSO financing having gone through credit approval and the wellhead platform is also very close to completion. Then on to appraisal and exploration activities. The main activity as we speak is the Bourdon appraisal in Gabon. We are currently drilling and we are, as we speak, getting close to TD for the well, the planned TD. Here, we are targeting risk gross recoverable reserves of 30 million barrels, and we obviously expect to have the results of this well in the first quarter. Just a small reminder on the Bourdon concept. It's always been a large potential in the Bourdon. It has a seismic -- good seismic profile. But again, just to remind you also of the risks here, we do have inherent risks in the drilling and this prospect, and they are mainly related to whether we have a seal and the quality of the rock that we have good quality reservoir. So those are the main risks. As you may surmise, I mean, we started back in 8 years ago in Gabon, and we are drilling this prospect now. So it has not been our top-ranked prospect, and it does have as such a higher risk than previously drilled prospects where we have been, as you know, highly successful historically. The second appraisal well, high-impact well, we will drill in '25. We expect to drill or spud in third quarter '25 is the Kharas appraisal well in Namibia. The well will be located in the northern portion of the Kudu license. We have been out to bid for rig, rigs and services, and we are currently in a selection process. It's looking very positive that we will have access to excellent assets to do this work. And we are working with the other operators in the Orange Basin and looking into potential sharing of available resources. Our Kudu seismic processing has been completed. And we have -- as we have told you previously, we have a number of very interesting targets, but we will start with Kharas in 2025. The last activity on our appraisal and exploration is the planning of the seismic campaign over the new Gabon acreage. We have, as you know, signed up Niosi Marine and Guduma Marine, two very large blocks offshore Gabon surrounding the Dussafu as well as the Etame fields and also some inboard Perenco fields. Total is around 5,000 square kilometers, and we hope that we can start our seismic campaign in the fourth quarter '25 or the first quarter '26. The intent is to shoot these 2 blocks, Niosi and Guduma as well as the parts of Dussafu where we have poor seismic quality, mainly the Walt Whitman area in the northeastern corner, maybe also some extra seismic in the Moubenga area, where discoveries have been made in the past, but on very, let's say, poor quality seismic. So that's the main activities in the -- in terms of exploration and appraisal. Then I will hand the word over to Brice that will take you through the financials.

Thank you, Carl. Well, an excellent production for the quarter, and it's reflected in the financial figures. So let's us dive in the Q4 financial section. To the income statement for the fourth quarter, we had an operating revenue of $237 million, so it's plus $30 million compared to Q3. We had 3 liftings in Dussafu and 1 Golfinho lifting in the quarter. So very good production. We are currently producing over 40,000 barrels per day at Dussafu. This is a bit offset by the lower realized price in the Q4, around $72 versus $82 in average. $3.8 million of unrealized loss on hedging operating expenses of $91.8 million. This reflects a higher production on Dussafu and increase in royalties and tariff, which gave us an EBITDA of $141.6 million for the fourth quarter. This is the record quarterly EBITDA for BW Energy. So again, an excellent quarter for the company with a strong production growth. A slightly higher depreciation for Dussafu due to higher production, giving us an operating profit of $84.5 million. A slightly lower interest income. We had interest expense of $16.4 million, a profit before tax of $73.6, income tax expense of $16.7 million. And so we end the fourth quarter with a strong net profit of $56.8 million. So for the full year 2024, a revenue of $0.8 billion, up 60% compared to last year, an EBITDA of $457 million, up 90% and a net profit that has doubled of $165.9 million, a very good year. To the cash flow overview. We had a cash at end of September of close to $210 million. We had operating cash flow of $117.7 million, a net investment of $76.6 million and then net financing activities of $29 million, and that gives us a cash position of $221.8 million at the end of this quarter. Investment in assets. This slide presents the company investments since 2021. In 2024, investments focused on drilling and workovers of Hibiscus wells related to the Dussafu development, investment in PEL 73 license in Namibia, facility upgrade as well for FPSO Adolo and FPSO Cidade de Victoria at Golfinho and the acquisition of Maromba FPSO. To the balance sheet, our balance sheet is supporting our growth strategy, a total asset of $1.9 billion, a net interest-bearing debt of $341 million. In this, we have the Dussafu reserve-based lending of $250 million, the Golfino prepayment facility of $80 million, the corporate bond of $100 million and the Maromba lease less the cash. We have a very strong balance sheet with more than 43% equity ratio. A ratio NIBD/EBITDA of 0.75x. And you can see on the right, the maturity profile of our debt. We will publish audited figures for 2024 full year on the 26th of February. Lifting schedule and hedging. We will have in Q1 '25, 3 Dussafu liftings of around 950,000 barrel each and 1 Golfinho lifting of 0.5 million barrels. And a few words on hedging. We have requirements to hedge in the RBL facility for Dussafu, where we have to hedge 40% of the year 1 production and 25% of the year 2 production. We are also hedging part of the Golfinho production. So currently, we have 4.9 million barrels hedged for '25 and '26, and this is a mix of puts, zero cost collars and swaps. Then over to the summary. This is the production outlook. We expect to produce 11 million to 12 million barrels of net production to BW Energy for 2025. This production outlook presents you as well the potential of growth for BW Energy with Golfinho boosting online in Q3 '26. Then we have Hibiscus and Ruche Phase 2. Four additional wells on Maromba in Q4 '26, Maromba online end of '27, early 2028 and 2 infill wells end of 2028 in Golfinho. Our upcoming milestones, we had an amazing year in 2024, a solid net production of 10 million barrels of oil, up 33% from 2023 and record EBITDA. So we are in a strong position to grow. And this is our plan -- exciting plan for 2025. We have the Bourdon appraisal. The well, as Carl said, the well is being drilled as we speak. So we will be able to share more information with you in the coming weeks. We have Maromba FID. The concept design and financing are nearly completed and with an ongoing geotechnical campaign finalizing the last aspect of the concept. The FPSO is in China now. Refurbishment has begun, and we plan to FID in March. And this will be for a field delivery planned for the end of 2027. And Kudu appraisal, we are in advanced discussions with regional partners to secure a rig and long lead items are already on their way. This put us in a strong position to spud the well before the end of the year. So in conclusion, there is a high level of activity with production exceeding 40,000 barrels per day, ensuring strong operational cash flow, and we have a solid balance sheet that provides a strong foundation to support our growth strategy. And that brings us to the end of this presentation. And then I'll leave the word back to operator for questions from the audience, and then we will continue with questions we have received from the web. Thank you.

Our first question comes from the line of Teodor Sveen-Nilsen from SB1 Markets.

A few questions from me. First on Dussafu. Very positive to see that the production now is 40,000 barrels per day. I just wonder if you could shed some light on how we should model the production through the year and what you expect as an exit rate production from Dussafu from 2025? And second question that is on CapEx. You're providing on CapEx without Maromba and Golfinho cost. Just wondering if you could provide an approximate number of what we should expect as a total CapEx also included the non-FID projects. And then final question that is on Maromba and [indiscernible] farm. I think we discussed that previously, but if you could just give an update on how you think around the potential farm down timing and which stake we should expect to farm down, that would be useful.

Thank you, Teodor. I received -- thank you for your question, especially on the guidance. I received as well quite a lot of questions online. So I will try to answer the questions on the 2025 guidance in a block. So for the production guidance, we guide 11 million to 12 million barrels per year. That's around 31,000 to 33,000 barrel net to BW Energy. I have a question, by the way, from Mr. [indiscernible] online. This includes Dussafu and Golfinho. But yes, Golfinho boosting is excluded from this and as well from the production and from the CapEx guidance. In terms of breakdown of the production, you can take 25 barrel oil per day in Gabon and 7,000 barrel oil per day in Brazil, net for BW Energy. Yes, the production is good at the moment in Gabon, but we hope to maintain a production above 40,000. This is growth, but we have to be a bit conservative. We need to take in account maintenance and expected downtime planned shutdown of 15 days this summer, probably. And of course, a bit of decline. So we prefer to guide with a bit of conservatism. A word on the so-called nameplate on Adolo. We don't foresee any surface topside facility major bottleneck. We have a valid NOC to approve 45,000 barrel per day capacity. We are working to validate an ongoing study to go above this. So technically, no big constraints. We now hope that the well will deliver as they should. You had a question on the CapEx guidance. So on the CapEx guidance, we guide $260 million to $285 million that includes 1 Kudu well at the end of '25, but it excludes non-FID project, Maromba and Golfinho boosting. There is no contribution from Maromba and Golfinho boosting in the guidance. Post-FID, we will, of course, increase the guidance accordingly. You can take for Dussafu $100 million. Kudu, the well should be less than $100 million, so maybe $95 million. Golfinho, $40 million and Maromba a bit less than $20 million. And for the non-FID project, Maromba is $1.2 billion, but we are working on a dedicated presentation to the market that will be early May. I think it will be an interesting presentation, and we will share with you all the figures for Maromba. Did I answer your question, Ted?

I think there was one question.....

Maromba farm down.

And well, I -- obviously, we will always entertain discussions on farm down. So far, we do believe that it is vastly more accretive for our shareholders to bring the project further and take it through FID. But as I said, we always entertain interested parties. We have in the past as well. But we do need to see somebody with a tangible interest that is willing to pay what we think is sensible. So it's difficult to say how much because, again, that will depend on valuation and the view of the asset. So we are very convinced we have a first-class asset with very high return. And I think that's our position. We are super excited about Maromba and see this as a huge next step for the company, and we are totally okay to drive it forward alone. And then we will see. So I find it very difficult to speculate on what people may or may not think around us. So that's really the answer.

[Operator Instructions] The next question will be from the line of Nick Linnane from Sefton.

Just a couple of questions. Can you break down the OpEx guidance between what you're assuming for Golfinho and what you're assuming for Dussafu? And also within the -- can you give a bit of color on what the Dussafu CapEx is covering. It still seems quite a bit -- is there an amount in there for the Seaboard Production partners payments? And would that complete those payments in 2025? Are those all still run into 2026?

So in terms of OpEx profile guidance in '25 between Dussafu and Golfinho, Dussafu is around $18 and Golfinho around $49, a bit more $50 per barrel. What was the last question again, sorry?

The CapEx for Dussafu, if I heard right, I think you said about $100 million. What's that mostly covering? And does that include an amount of seaboard production partners payments that you're still making?

Yes. So on the CapEx for Dussafu, we have some life extension on the FPSO. It includes as well the Bourdon well is in '25. So that's included in this. So that's the Dussafu CapEx.

Okay. And one last one, just on the, I guess, decline you're assuming at Dussafu. So it's operating a bit above 40 now. If I heard correctly, I think you said it was 25 net you're assuming for Dussafu about 34 gross. So that sort of implies declining to maybe a bit below 30 by the end of the year. It seems quite a big decline given as well that the original plans were based on 6 wells and you now have 8 wells. So I guess if there's any specific reasons you think decline may be relatively steep, it would be useful to hear those.

Yes. Maybe Lin can take the decline, but you have to take in account as well that we will have a planned maintenance shutdown, and we have to include a bit of downtime, maybe some issue with the compressors. So that's why we try to guide with a bit of conservatism. But maybe, Lin, do you want to take that one as well?

Yes. And Brice, exactly you got it spot on. I mean 40,000 barrels a day is what it's operating when everything is running, but there's unplanned downtime and there's also scheduled maintenance downtime, which is going to be 10% or so. And so that automatically gets you down to 36. And then on top of that, we've made an assumption towards -- in the second half of the year that we may lose an ESP well to also provide a little realism that one of the wells, we may have an ESP issue. So that's -- those factors right there bring the overall average to what we've guided.

Sorry, in terms of specific well you think has an issue or that's just probabilistically, you think there may well be an issue with one out of by then.

Exactly, just probabilistic, no specific well.

Okay. And you said 10% downtime, so 5 and a bit weeks for 0 production is assumed. Is that right?

No. Well, it doesn't really work like that. We have a 2-week shutdown for maintenance, which is scheduled midyear, like Brice said. And then just average unplanned downtime where you have spurious shutdowns of the process plant, that takes the balance. And that's averaged out throughout the year.

Well, just to fill in a little bit there. I mean, typical uptime for these kind of facilities, quite simple facilities is actually below 95. So I think we're doing quite a good job to keep it at 95. This plant was probably designed more to achieve 90 to 92. So I think we've done a good job of increasing the downtime. So 5% is quite normal in spurious shutdowns. And then as Lin said, we have the 5% addition, which is the planned shutdown.

Okay. If I can just ask one last question. What do you estimate is the current well production capacity is sort of just over 40. Is that what you estimate the capacity currently is?

Yes, I think it's a good number.

Yes, that's a good number. Yes. Just maybe just a tad above it or so.

As no one else has lined up for questions in this call, I'll now hand it back to Brice for any written questions.

Yes. Thank you. Quite a lot of questions online. Question on Maromba. But as I said, we are planning a market presentation dedicated to Maromba once the project reached FID. So we will, of course -- you will, of course, be invited, and we will provide you all the information you need. So questions on Golfinho boosting. We hope to FID end of Q2 '25. We are still assessing the well stock and refining the best possible options. So we will share information on boosting when they will be ready. Questions on Bourdon. Well, Bourdon, we are drilling Bourdon right now as we speak. So we are close to reaching target. Then there will be the logging. So we can't share data yet, but we will share that as soon as they will be ready. Question on Golfinho prepayment facility. Yes, the facility will mature in March '25. And yes, we will renew or extend the facility for the same amount, $80 million. Question on Kudu from Mr. [indiscernible] and Mr. [indiscernible]. So budget is around -- yes, $95 million for the well. It's a well that will be drilled at 640 meter water depth. The long lead items are secured. And we are planning around 80 days plus them up for the drilling phase. And the objective is to map the true potential of Kudu. For the time being, no, there is no plan to farm down. No [indiscernible] has been opened as well. And that's not the plan for the moment. And for the second well, well, we need first to evaluate the acquired data from the first well and we'll take some time to improve our understanding of Kudu before to decide on -- or sanction on the second well. And then I think that's it. I think I've covered all the other questions. If you have other questions, please do not hesitate to send us a mail. This is at [email protected]. And thank you very much for attending this presentation, and then I will leave the word to Carl to close the meeting. Thank you.

Well, thank you, Brice. I see there's a number of questions regarding the ReconAfrica well in Namibia. And some speculation about announcements. We leave really announcements around this well to ReconAfrica as well as the farm-in. That's, I think, purely a function of when it was actually signed off by Namibia. So I don't think there's any -- there's no reason to speculate why these announcements were made almost simultaneously. The results will be and has been an announcement from Recon, and we don't have anything to add to the -- to what they say in their press releases.

I think I forgot a question actually on dividend, sorry, Carl, and because we forgot to put that in the presentation. But as we said, the dividend payments will commence after Maromba first oil in 2028.

Yes. Very good. Yes. Okay. Anyway, as Brice said, we are planning to have a showcase a bit more thoroughly the Maromba development as soon as we have the FID. It will probably be done in conjunction with the reporting of the first quarter 2025 results, and we aim to do that in person in Oslo. So we're very much looking forward to that and looking forward to any questions. And again, thank you so much for attending this presentation and your continued interest in BW Energy. Thank you very much.