EnQuest PLC (3EQ.F) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Okay. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our 2023 Full Year Result Presentation. Thank you for joining us on the Thursday before Easter, and I hope you and your families are well and enjoy a happy Easter. My name is Amjad Bseisu. I'm the Chief Executive Officer of EnQuest. Joining me today are our new Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Copus; and Steve Bowyer, our North Sea General Manager; as well as Investor Relations Head, Craig Baxter and Bernadette in the crowd. Salman Malik, who is not with us today and is now our new Chief Executive of Veri Energy, turned over the CFO role to Jonathan Copus last December. Jonathan will present the financial results after me, and then Steve will cover the global operations performance. I've known and worked with Steve for a while when he was a young man at Talisman and Senergy, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, and also with his role as CEO at First Oil, our regional partner in Kraken, and then laterally at Decipher as CEO. I've also worked with Jonathan's organization of Salamander many years ago in Southeast Asia. They both are part of our refreshed leadership team, who will help us drive forward in our new era, our new pivot to our new growth phase. We'll talk about our journey a little bit more today. So just to start off with the less familiar people, give a little bit of a history about EnQuest. We started in 2010 when we listed, having been part of another company for 3 years beforehand and merging the Petrofac and Lundin assets in 2010. Our focus from the beginning was taking underdeveloped producing assets and mature assets and -- from mostly majors and increasing the value of those assets. As you can see from the slide, we've had a number of assets, up to 9 assets, we've operated in the North Sea with material reserves and resources in place. We also have taken over the Sullom Voe Terminal, which is in Shetland Islands. It's both important for upstream as well as our new energy ambition, which I will outline shortly. We've also taken the full cycle of our assets from development to production to decommissioning over the last few years as 5 of our assets have reached the end of their useful economic life. This gives us expertise and capability across the platform from development all the way to decommissioning and even beyond, repurposing to new energy. We also are aware we've moved in that area, in repurposing by setting up a sister organization, Veri Energy, where we have acquired 4 CCS licenses and we've just been awarded 148 megawatts of electrification for the Shetland, Sullom Voe Terminal. Our combination of assets and core capabilities really put us apart from our peers as we're able to offer not only a full offering across the spectrum, but also differentiated operational drilling execution and decommissioning capability. We're driven by our values of respect, collaboration, innovation, growth and learning and focus on results. And that's really the driver behind our differentiation. In many of our assets, improving uptime, lowering cost, being able to drill new wells, we were able to extend the life by at least 10 years. And we'll talk a little bit more and show you that in the presentation, pretty much all of the 9 assets that we've operated. This has also enabled us to add almost 1.5x our reserves since inception, producing almost 200 million barrels of reserves since our inception. This approach aligns well with the sustainability goals, making the best use of resources and assets that have already been discovered and developed and managing them responsibly. You've seen this slide type before. We have been focused on delivering, delevering and growing since 2018 when we established our strategy on those three pillars. We are now very much primed for growth in the third phase of our journey. You've seen that we've reached our target of 43,800 barrels in line with the midpoint of guidance. This was really excellent considering the return of production at Kraken with the transformer downtime to be able to deliver the midpoint of production guidance with those 30 to 60 days of reduced production at Kraken. I also -- I'm very proud that we've had another year of record-breaking decommissioning performance, executing 25 wells during 2023 and 49 wells on Thistle and Heather in the last 2 years. This is a demonstration of our decommissioning capability, but it was also very much underpinned by excellent exceptional performance, underpinned by the NSTA data, the North Sea Transition Authority data, which publishes average cost per well for plug and abandonment in the Northern North Sea. Our costs are GBP 2.5 million versus an average of GBP 4.3 million, 42% lower than industry average. This gives me great hope and confirmation that we are actually now also developing our third leg of our capability in decommissioning. With our strong operational delivery and with the backdrop of supportive but lower commodity prices versus 2022, we generated $300 million of free cash flow in 2023. We're also able to deliver slightly lower OpEx per barrel as we continue our ethos of cost control. As such, our delevering continued and has gotten us now to $480 million at the end of 2023, with a further reduction to $410 million by the end of February 2024. This is close to our target of 0.5x net debt to EBITDA, at the end of the year standing at 0.6x net debt to EBITDA. I'm also pleased that we have fully repaid our RBL facility in the early part of this year, which was a $500 million facility that we took in October 2022. All of our debt maturities are now aligned to 2027, providing clear runway for value creation and the ability for us to execute growth transactions. This has been a difficult journey, but it's been something we're extremely proud of that we have paid down almost $1.5 billion since our peak of debt. Meaning that we are in a position now to return also capital to shareholders. I'm very pleased to announce our maiden return of $15 million share buyback program this year. As we've said and we have delivered, this will take a part of our capital allocation program in the future and will figure in our capital allocation going forward. Looking ahead, our stronger balance sheet coupled with our differentiated operating capability, which does set us apart, and advantaged tax position through our tax credit, delivers a very strong platform for growth. We will remain disciplined in our investment decision and we will be value-led when evaluating all opportunities. We are a top quartile operator, which enables us to be differentiated also in our acquisition and our aspirations to become a top quartile producer. This is a summary slide, but really kind of embodies what we're all about. As I mentioned, we are a top quartile operator and safety underpins everything that we do. The upper quartile performance in this area is not only our license to operate, it's our license to exist. And I'm very proud that we are, again, at 0.52 lost time incident frequency, below the average of 1.31 for the U.K. We have exceptional production efficiency given the vintage of our assets. Magnus being around 40 years old and Kittiwake having lots of history with many different operators, but being operated more efficiently now than decades in the past. Our track record of asset extension of adding 10 years plus to every asset we've taken over is clear in the 9 assets that we have taken from others, mostly majors. When we take over an asset, we provide focus on the operation and are consistently successful in applying this differentiated capability to lower cost and increase production time. The capabilities, on the left-hand side, including becoming a decommissioning leader and our strong wells and top quartile U.K. drilling experience, as well as our Rushmore survey differentiation in terms of being a quartile -- upper quartile operator in drilling wells and in decommissioning gives us also the ability to do the transformational growth, to the right. This is the foundation for our growth. Our infill drilling in core portfolios, our ability to access additional core 2C resources in Bressay and Bentley. Our tax credits, which prioritize transactions in the North Sea, which gives us the ability to do transformative acquisitions. Also, extensive opportunity hopper in Southeast Asia, where we're viewed as the largest operator -- independent operator in Malaysia. And we're also targeting gas to lower our emission barrels and have increased our gas production from near 0% to about 7% last year. Whilst we continue to execute opportunities which provide organic growth within our existing hopper, we are also focused on delivering a transformative transaction. Given our significant tax advantage in the U.K., I expect that we will look at those types of opportunities first, and alongside executing international M&A opportunities, we will diversify our portfolio in time and improve our overall carbon intensity by adding more carbon -- lower carbon gas to our portfolio, as mentioned. We have a credible plan to progress our business towards net zero. This is a key for us, and we've been able to do that quite significantly through the startup of Veri Energy, where we've made significant progress in that area. We have projects to right-size Sullom Voe, reducing the footprint to enable us to use that COMAH approved site for new energy projects. We're already reducing the size of the plant -- of the 1.5 million barrel a day plant, to two facilities, one which services east of Shetlands, which is the new stabilization facility, and one which will service west of Shetland. This will also help us reduce the emissions in the terminal by over 90%. We also plan to utilize the Bressay gas to tie back to displace diesel and power Kraken, which would also significantly reduce our emissions and our costs given Kraken represents 20% of our group emissions. This takes our emissions down 50% in Kraken. The articulation of these opportunities as well as our impressive track record of reducing emission in recent years helped us achieve a B rating with the Climate Change Survey, the preeminent ESG rating. This is a great validation of our work in this area. I've also mentioned an exciting opportunity of the electrification and the ability to attract 148 of megawatt green power into Sullom Voe, which we'll look at capitalizing on in the future. These opportunities ahead of us, alongside the valuable infrastructure, can help us de-carbonize at many levels, and we are looking at multiple opportunities in that regard. I will now turn over to Jonathan to take you through the financials.

Thanks very much, Amjad. And good morning, everyone. I've been at EnQuest now for almost 4 months. And I think the thing that struck me the most is the quality of the team. And that high-quality team -- I've also been very impressed by the respect that they receive from across the industry, and that respect is built on being exceptional operators of late-life assets. So it means that I'm very excited to stand here today because we are a group that is at a pivotal point in terms of its history. And what I mean by that is that we're looking towards growing our operational footprint and building value. I think I'm just thinking about where to start in terms of talking about the group finances. I thought it was probably a good place to start is where the team left off last time that they presented results. And that's about discussing our financial priorities. So first of all, our priority has been to reset the capital structure. Now in recent years, we have refinanced our debt facilities and all of our debt maturities are now extended to 2027. Our second priority has been to delever. And in 2023, we've reduced EnQuest's net debt by 33%, and our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio at 0.6x is now very close to the 0.5 targets that we've laid out. The third point here is about cost discipline and capital optimization. And those things are really at the heart of everything that we do as an organization. And alongside the energy profits levy, we will continue to optimize the execution of our portfolio and the delivery of our capital program as well. Fourthly, and this is, of course, new news in terms of the update today, is shareholder returns. And from a position of balance sheet strength, we've today launched our first share buyback program, and that's a major milestone for us as a company and, of course, also for our supportive shareholder base as well. And the last point really underpins all -- pretty much all that we're doing this year and how we think about the future and strategy, and that's about unlocking M&A. And if you take all the points that I've talked about on this slide from 1 to 4, they prime us for growth. And we continue to explore a range of value-led M&A opportunities within our core upstream business. As you just heard from Amjad, we are a top quartile operator. And I think the prize here is to be a top quartile producer in the U.K. And we believe that the majority of the barrels in the North Sea are transactable and that is a belief that's built on the public statements of our peers. So now turning to the income statement. Brent fell by 18% year-on-year to average $82.5 a barrel. As we've also -- Amjad also mentioned earlier, commodity prices were also less volatile there in the period as well. So in the period, we delivered revenue of about $1.5 billion, and our hedging losses fell to about $11 million. Our cost of sales were reduced by 21%, and our unit operating costs reduced to $21.9 per BOE. Now this reduction reflects strong cost management against the backdrop of FX volatility and also, of course, inflationary pressures as well. Our adjusted EBITDA totaled $825 million, and we recognized an impairment charge of $117 million and an income statement tax charge of $263 million. And looking at that tax charge for a moment, that's an effective tax rate of 113%. Now this income statement rate, of course, contrasts with the 35% rate on which we pay cash tax. And really underlying it, it's showing the impact of the items that are not deductible under EPL. Moving beyond the income statement, though, the real thing that underpins this story is how we've lowered our debt and reshaped its maturities. And in this chart on the left, you can see how we've reduced net debt by $1.5 billion since 2017. Now that's required really high levels of focus and really high levels of discipline, and it is a huge achievement. We finished 2023 with net debt of $481 million. And at the end of February, we've updated that we've reduced our net debt further to $410 million. We've also announced today that we fully repaid our RBL, another important milestone for us as an organization. This all provides a very significant runway within which we can grow the business. And in doing that, we plan to utilize our advantaged tax position. Our tax credit is totaling $2 billion at the 31st of December 2023. Translating all of this to cash flow, our net operating cash flow for 2023 totaled $754 million, from which we delivered free cash flow of $300 million. Within our net debt, our gross debt totaled $795 million, and we had cash of $314 million. In the period, we also sold a 15% interest in the Bressay license and the EnQuest producer and some equipment and capital spares that we expect to use on the Bressay development. Now that transaction was net debt neutral at 31st December 2023, and we're expecting to receive $58 million of net cash benefit from the transaction in 2024. And then lastly, but, of course, very, very importantly, alongside our greatly reduced net debt, we also finished the year with group liquidity of $500 million. And that liquidity is a really strong platform from which we as a group plan to transact. I want to finish the finance section really looking ahead at EnQuest's capital priorities for '24 and '25. In 2024, we expect production to lie between 41,000 and 45,000 BOE a day, and that's largely in line with the 2023 levels. We expect operating expenditures to be $415 million, and that's a year-on-year increase, but it really reflects the normalization of costs and higher uptime at the Kraken project. Looking to 2025, with a 70% reduction in the Kraken FPSO lease costs from the 1st of April, we expect our cash margins there to expand. And the net saving to EnQuest in that period will be about $80 million a year. Cash capital expenditure, we are guiding towards $200 million in 2024. Steve will cover the detail of this investment. But we expect these activities to grow organic production in 2025, whilst also lowering costs and emissions as Amjad has just outlined. And decom expenditure, we are expecting to total $70 million, and that primarily reflects the closing stages of the well program and the P&A program at Heather and Thistle. The last point, of course, is part of the new news today as well, though. Now we really understand that distributions are valued by our shareholders, and having launched our first buyback program today, we are aiming to make shareholder returns a sustainable part of our capital allocation framework. So I'll now hand over to Steve, and Steve will talk you through the detail of our operational performance and the outlook in '24.

Thank you, Jonathan. Thank you, Amjad. Good morning, everyone. I'm Steve Bowyer. I'm our -- General Manager of North Sea. I'm also Head of Business Development at EnQuest. A bit of background about myself. So, I'm a reservoir engineer by background, been in the industry approaching 30 years. In the '90s, I was with Talisman, which was the first of the mature operators extending the life of assets, trying to drive top quartile performance. Having joined EnQuest, I'm very impressed with the teams in terms of what we have. As Jonathan says, there's an entrepreneurial spirit, but the teams are also empowered to deliver. And I'll give you some proof points as to why we think we're differentiated in this market. And with a challenging market as the North Sea is with EPL, it's really important that you are good at operating and you are top quartile. So we'll show that as we go through the various asset performance. I'll talk a bit through '23 and '24 as well and how that's performed through the year. So if we just click on to here. So just going to focus in on our key assets. So Kraken, one of our heritage assets, one we've developed ourselves. This really sets us aside from others in terms of us demonstrating our top quartile development and operating capability, very strong in terms of bringing forward what was a complex asset. So Kraken is about 0.5 billion barrels of oil in place discovered in 1985, and EnQuest have come along, develop that, and not only developed what is a complex asset, but developed it below the CapEx budget. So original CapEx budget, $3.2 billion. EnQuest delivered that in $2.2 million. So a huge reduction in the CapEx. That came through good planning, good teams and effective execution of the project. But not only have we taken it through top quartile in terms of the development performance, but we've done that through the operating capability as well. We've introduced a new UKCS duty holder and brought them up to speed. And you can see the uptimes on the asset. So in 2018, commission was always a bit of a challenge around FPSOs. So uptime a little bit lower. But you can see we've now driven uptime up to 86% in 2023. And in 2022, you can see we're up above 90%. And just underlining the strength of the teams at EnQuest. Effectively, we had an unplanned HSP, which is our hydraulic submersible pump transformer unit failure, which was on the FPSO. We basically turned around those unplanned failures within 30 days and brought the field back on production. So often that would have you down for a much longer period. So really strong performance by the teams, back to full production within 60 days. So that's within the uptime. You can see we're still -- despite that unplanned event, we've still driven uptime of 86%. UKCS average is 77%, which is why we are top quartile. And you can see through the last 4 months of 2023, we've delivered uptimes just close to 100% and carried that performance right through into 2024. In terms of the production levels, you can see they're down a bit 2023 versus 2022. Part of that is the uptime and part of it is natural field decline. We are, though, focused on investing in the asset. So you'll see in 2024, we're starting to prepare for a 2-well drilling campaign on Kraken, really nice targets identified. One of them has got 20 million barrel STOIIP, up to around the target area. And we're also looking at the Bressay gas development, as Amjad has mentioned. So Bressay is a key part of our contingent resources. We see the Bressay -- development of the Bressay gas cap has been a Kraken emissions reduction project. That brings the emissions right down on the Kraken asset and also opens up the fairway to develop Bressay. So we're progressing that through to FID and FDP through 2024, and we'll be looking to progress with the project thereafter. We also see Kraken as a really good analog for Captain in terms of enhanced oil recovery, really nice reservoir sands, nice thick homogeneous sands, with a nice underlying shale. We've commenced studies around enhanced oil recovery, and we see that as one of the future potential upsides in Kraken. So you'll hear more of that in the coming years as we progress through that project. So a really strong capability across EnQuest on Kraken. Then if you go to the other end of the scale, so as Amjad mentioned, Magnus celebrated 40 years last year. That's quite a material and mature life of an asset. And we've picked that up from BP and transformed its performance and extended the life of the asset. And if you're going to operate in the North Sea or in any of the markets around our Southeast Asia footprint, you need to be able to operate mature assets efficiently, effectively, do everything that's top quartile about EnQuest around cost discipline, lower your operating costs. That allows you to push out the life of the asset and invest in incremental projects. So if we just go through Magnus, we've unlocked over $1 billion of incremental revenue to date just to extend that field life 10 years and invested in quick return, low-cost infill well programs and well intervention. So a very strong performance across the board. You can also see the uptime. So as a mature asset, the uptimes on the asset were down at 59% when it was in BP's hands. We've taken that across to EnQuest. It's taken a bit of time to get the uptime up to the right level, but you could see through 2023 through investment in the asset, through maintenance, integrity and investing in the right parts of the facility, we've got the uptimes up to 88%. And we see that performance continuing through '24 in life of field. So now we're putting that up for an investment. We'll continue to invest in that asset and keep the performance strong. And that sees the fairway for that asset through into the 2030s. So a very strong performance. Again, if you look at where we are on our operations and production capability, we've driven the OpEx per BOE, which is one of your key metrics, down from $60 per BOE down to $25 per BOE, so a 58% reduction. So that opens up the full life extension in all of the incremental projects of the asset. '23 performance. So that just kind of underlines the history and where we've taken the asset to. So uptime continuing through 88%. We've drilled 3 wells and brought them on and injector in 2 infill wells. A good performance from all of those. You can see the production uplift, where we've taken production up 26% from 2022 up to 2023. A lot of that is the increase in uptime, but it's also infill well activity and optimizing the existing well stock. In terms of future plans for Magnus, so we're in the process of finishing of our 5-year rig recertification program. That would effectively give us a 5-year continuous activity, say, of Magnus thereafter. So really working the asset hard, keeping the ops uptime high at top quartile efficiency and pushing hard around the infill program, identifying the right opportunities to keep those production levels up. And not only -- so we've obviously proven our model since we started up in the North Sea, but we've also replicated it internationally. So our Malaysian assets. So what you'll see on our key assets is they're all big fields. So Magnus is about 1.7 billion barrels in place. Malaysia is up about 1 billion barrels in place. So we've taken what we've done in the U.K. and we're replicating it in Malaysia. And we see Malaysia as a great footprint to grow around in terms of Southeast Asia. We're established there. We're already a preferred operator in Malaysia. So we've got a great opportunity. As Jonathan says, as we grew the U.K. footprint, we can then dovetail and start to grow internationally around Malaysia. So again, transformative life extension. So we've extended life by 10 years in the Malaysian asset, a very similar model to how we've performed on Magnus, driving through low-cost, quick payback, cost discipline across the portfolio, getting the uptimes up. So you can see we've driven the unit cost down from $30 per BOE down to $22 per BOE. And we've got the uptimes up and we've actually executed the first successful horizontal well program in Malaysia. So very much focused on working that asset hard and growing around that asset. And 2023, so a really strong year operationally across the board. But you can see in Malaysia we're up at 90% uptime. So if you compare that to what I quoted as the North Sea average to the averages in Malaysia, about 77%. You can see we're way above average across all our asset portfolio. And as we look to grow the business, that sort of performance is going to be key in terms of driving forward the assets that we bring into the portfolio. There's also a huge opportunity around supply in gas. So, there's been a huge gas injection program through PM8 and Seligi through time. We started gas export and selling gas into the market through the last year or so. And we're working on future gas supply contracts for our Malaysian asset, which is a big upside and would obviously diversify our portfolio. So focused on that at the moment. And you can see we've taken production up 15% into 2023 from 2022 through the infill well programs. Going forward, it's much the same. So we want to maintain our really strong operating performance and uptimes. We've got 3-well infill programs and 3 workovers planned. There is a huge subset, an opportunity hopper on our Malaysian asset around bringing back wells. So a huge well reactivation program. And we'll continue our expansion on Seligi gas. So going alongside all of that -- so that's the operating piece, which we're top quartile across the board. In this market, you do need to be strong on the decommissioning side if you're picking up mature assets. The aim is to extend them 10-plus years. But you do need to be able to execute the decommissioning programs well. And we've been basically demonstrating over the last couple of years sector-leading well P&A performance. As Amjad mentioned, we're coming in -- our P50 well duration is 27 days versus an industry average of 32 days. That doesn't sound huge, but when you look at the actual effect of well cost, our P50 cost per well is GBP 2.5 million versus GBP 4.3 million. That's through the way we contract the wells and the way we execute the programs. And we've got a huge capability in that. So we've completed 49 wells, running dual strings on Heather and Thistle. 2024 will be the last full year of Heather and Thistle dual string operation. We've basically delivered record breaking Northern North Sea performance. And we've actually positioned ourselves -- so some of our partners, BP, Shell, recognize our top quartile performance and have inquired about decommissioning operator service. So that's something we may look at as we progress the business. But more importantly in my view, it reduces our direct costs around our own decommissioning costs. It enables us to acquire late-life assets and effectively demonstrates our capability on the operator service. As we go forward and as we start to look at mature assets, part of our acquisition strategy will involve decommissioning, either on behalf of the party that's holding the decommissioning liability or taking on a small portion of that ourselves. And working through 2024, so on our future plans, so Heather and Thistle well P&A will conclude in early 2025. We'll then look to down-man the facilities, then we're in the heavy lift program. And from there, we'll be in a more managed decommissioning. But we'll keep that track record and capability and the team in place as we progress forward. So that's kind of the upstream side of the business. On midstream and new energy. So Sullom Voe Terminal is a key piece of infrastructure for the North Sea. It's a really nice piece of land. We've got a 24-meter deep port, 4 deepwater jetties. We can repurpose those for liquid carbon. It's natural that we focus on carbon capture and sequestration as our first move into new energies given that uses all of our existing upstream core capabilities. We were awarded 4 UKCS licenses in the first CCS round. We're in the process of studying those licenses and looking at the potential of those. And we're also at the early stage of studying green hydrogen production and renewable energy, potentially looking at onshore for renewable energy. And as Amjad mentioned, we're looking at a good connection. Want to provide power into SVT, but also to potentially export that power. So a very strong strategy in place for the Sullom Voe Terminal. It's being right-sized. So the right-sizing of the terminal is really important for our existing operations. That allows us to bring the operating costs down significantly. We're in the process of installing a new stabilization facility, which right-sizes the throughput of the facility from what was a large throughput facility down to one that's right-sized for the future oil and gas production needs of the fields coming through that area. And also importantly, we're going to be reducing carbon emissions by over 90%. So we're very focused not just in delivering barrels, but also in our emissions footprint and target and reductions in total emissions. So a very important strategic asset, which I think we're setting up in the right framework for our existing assets and also enabling new energy projects to run through there. So I think just to close, I think we are top quartile. Hopefully, you've seen that through the presentation. We've got top quartile performance across all of our assets. We're looking to leverage that top quartile capability as we look to grow the business. As Jonathan says, I believe the market's there in terms of transactability. We have our competitive advantages around our tax assets. And through leveraging our core capabilities and our differentiated capability, I believe we've got a real potential to do something exciting in this market. Very much focused U.K., but within our group into the international side once we spin off the free cash flow from the U.K. business. Thank you, everybody. I'll hand back to Amjad.

Thank you very much, Steve and Jonathan. I'll just return to the proof points I offered in one of my earlier slide at the start of the presentation, which you've heard really in more detail from both Jonathan as well as Steve as they worked through the detailed financial and operational sections. I mean the key is, we are a safe results company. We're a top operator across the line with our safe results, with a high production uptime with our drilling, with our also asset life extension capabilities, as well as with the decommissioning, which is just emerging. In fact, as we've said, we're almost -- we've drilled almost 25% of the wells in the U.K. in the last 5 years, and that's almost 60 out of about 260 wells. And those -- our wells that are pretty much in the top quartile. We're also emerging as a leader in decom, which I'm very excited about, with 40% lower cost per well versus the NSTA data. We are a top quartile production company efficiency wise. And we are transitioning this expertise to our repurpose assets in the Shetland and offshore. I'm very excited about the future and the opportunity we have to emerge both as a leader in our existing upstream business, in our decommissioning business, and to transition our business to the new energy business. I look forward to a bright future for all of our employees, our stakeholders and our shareholders. Thank you. With that, I will turn over to the Q&A. We'll first take the Q&A here, and then we'll go to Craig to give us Q&A remotely.

Kate Somerville from JPMorgan. Two questions for me. So, firstly, we see great work in terms of reducing the net debt. I'm just wondering for 2024, where you see the net debt going. And also you've now got a lot of preference -- or attention to M&A, where would the top end of leverage in terms of the increment for this year? And then this ties into my next question, which is about share buybacks, which obviously is a nice announcement this morning. Looking forward, how should we be thinking about that? Should we expect 5% in the future? Or does that also depend on whether an acquisition you did?

Okay. I mean, Kate, we've given the parameters for our financials in terms of OpEx, CapEx. I mean -- I guess everybody uses different oil prices, but it's -- you can calculate the net debt. But you've seen the trajectory in the first couple of months, and I'm expecting us to have a good year ahead. Obviously, we have a big tax payment towards the end of the year, and we are trying to see if there is CapEx that we can accelerate into this year to reduce that. In terms of your second question on M&A and leverage, we have set our targets at 0.5. And I think we will look into the leverage with the view of keeping that target intact. So I don't think we're going to want to have a -- buy an asset where we will be above that target in -- even in the short or medium term. And then your third question was -- I think maybe Jonathan can...

Sorry. Remind me of what your third question was.

It's on the buyback going forward. Does that depend on M&A? And how should we be thinking about...

Yes. I think from a capital allocation point of view, what we're focused on is growing value, right? And we find ourselves in a unique environment where with our advantaged tax position, the nature of the basin and our skills that we operate in, there are really significant opportunities to grow the business. I think we also, though, alongside that understand the importance of returns. And having gone through all of the heavy lifting of reducing our net debt so significantly, we're in a position now where returns can become part of our sort of sustainable forward program. So I think the buyback we've announced today is a good start. I think that we'll always think about capital priorities in terms of how we build value. But we're on this path of shareholder returns. We understand its value. And that will be a key part of our considerations as we think about allocating capital in the future.

It's Mark Wilson from Jefferies. Before we get to question, frankly, let's say it does feel like a new presentation. We've got new faces, but there is a fresh look to that presentation there. And obviously, yes, the new news is the buyback. So just explain on the amount of that number, $15 million arguably fairly conservative, and also buyback versus dividends first?

Do you want to take that one?

Yes. I mean I think we view shareholder distributions as a journey, and I think the buyback we've announced is the first step on that journey. So as I was saying, as we grow the business, as we look to deploy our tax assets in a way that maximizes free cash flow and rescale our operations and everything else, then we're going to be -- there's going to be this sort of changing landscape around how we think about capital allocation and returns and things like that. We've talked about our ambition to do a transformative deal. And by definition, when we say transformative, we're focused on flowing barrels. And so it's transformative in terms of cash generation and all these important metrics that go into defining that distributions path as well. So I think that -- like I said, I think we started that journey. We'll continue to update on our thinking about it. But I think to me the crucial point is, is that as we thought about how value is created for shareholders, one of the missing parts of that equation has been distributions. And we've started that now with today's announcement and we'll look to build on that in the future.

And you're obviously very explicit on the M&A and looking at that. And obviously, we've seen quite a number of transformative M&A deals in the North Sea, both Norway and U.K. even in recent days. You mentioned -- and your history is based around asset deals. You mentioned asset transactions, Amjad, in some of the commentary. Can we just check whether you'd be looking more towards asset deals or corporate structured deals?

I mean I think, Mark, we'll be looking at both. Obviously, on the corporate side, there are fewer and fewer players, as you notice, I'm sure. And again -- but I do think we're looking at shareholder maximization and maximum value to shareholders. We have been engaged in some corporate deal discussions in the past, and they have to make sense, obviously, to both parties. The compelling tax credits that we have is a big driver for us in both of those deals. That's the key. So either in a corporate deal or in an asset deal, I think the accretion that we have with our tax credits, $2 billion at the end of the year. So we've gone through $300 million, as you've seen. And then we have the Bentley tax losses, which will be about $1.4 billion, which crystallize in the next year, so 2025 plus. So I still think that's a very significant asset and that those tax credits are important for any deal in the U.K. that we look at. We are looking at deals in Southeast Asia, small incremental deals. But I do think that our capability there -- we are the largest independent operator in Malaysia. We've picked up some early blocks -- study areas as well as blocks in Indonesia. And we will continue looking at that area. And I think Steve mentioned that our big cash flows are going to be in the U.K. in the next -- in the near future. And then we will try and look at as we -- as our tax asset reduces, pivoting that cash flow overseas.

Okay. And I can't resist one more question, because, Jonathan, you said you've done most of the heavy lifting, which is true, but you've got quite a lot of physical heavy lifting next year on removing the Heather and Thistle platforms. Could you just explain what your CapEx exposure is to those, which look like very large part of the decom program? And I'm done.

Okay. I'll cover those, and then maybe Steve can talk about the operational aspects of it. So in terms of our exposure, it's ABEX and it's 6% to the Thistle platform removal. So we had a -- we've been paid that upfront during the Magnus discussions, and so it's public. BP paid us $50 million, which effectively was the value of that 6% upfront when we did the deal. Because they did not want to have a transformation or a transition into a decom -- them taking over the decom asset. As we've mentioned, I think we've had upper quartile -- very, very good performers on both Thistle and Heather. On Heather, our liability is 37.5%. So they're both within the window of the budgets that we've discussed. I think $50 million is roughly the overall budget for Thistle, net to us. And that's -- obviously, we've been spending that since we shut the field down in 2020. So in terms of from time and the number of wells, again, this is the second year running that we're beating our own performance. So it is the -- it's a record performance for last year and the year before in terms of multi-asset and the number of wells done in the North Sea. So from the time this was CoP-ied till the times it will be removed, will be less than 5 years, which is, I think, very, very strong considering the number of wells we've abandoned. So maybe you can talk a bit more about the timing and the operational issues.

Yes. So we're timing those lifts for summer, which is kind of key. We've contracted already in principle with the main contractors for the lifts. Heather is a single lift. Thistle is a bit more complex in the number of lifts, but we've got strategies in place to minimize the cost. So operationally, we're prepared. As Amjad said, it's a case of getting through the well P&A. And then we'll do it in phases. So the work will be done in chunks. So the main aim at the moment is to complete the well P&A in early '25 in both fields, which we're working very well through. Then we will look to flush and remove the topside facilities. The jackets we'll look to phase at a later time. So a very strong plan in place to execute that, agreed with partners.

So we'll have to -- we'll be de-manning early next year.

Matt Smith, Bank of America. You seem very much focused still on the U.K. when it comes potential for M&A. So I guess my question really was, how comfortable are you transacting at the moment ahead of potential fiscal uncertainty into next year? And I suppose perhaps the bigger question is, how comfortable do you think sellers are transacting at the moment? How do both sides sort of get comfortable and narrow that bid-ask spread at the moment when that sort of uncertainty seems -- perhaps it has been wide as ever. So do you think in terms of a timing perspective, this year is the time where you are likely to transact? Or do you think we might have to wait until next year?

So -- I mean, I'll ask maybe Steve to add his comments. So my view is we are looking at others in the same space. So the fiscal uncertainty is kind of hedged, if you will. So we -- I don't think we're looking for anyone outside or assets outside. So the numbers are the same. The big impact, Matt, is the cadence of investment in the future. So I think that we have a tax -- number one, a tax asset, but also we're paying lower tax than others because of our tax asset. And whether it goes from 35% to -- or 38% the EPL, I mean it's a small delta, it's a small difference. It shouldn't have a material impact on us. The impact on investments, which is a separate issue, is -- I think that is something that will probably be determined or informed for sure by the government's view on investment and investment allowances. My view is we've taken -- the industry has taken a very big hit and a reduction, I mean, in production of almost 30% year-on-year. I do think the impact of jobs we're starting to see. The number -- half a dozen companies have exited or in exit flight. So I do feel and I hope the governments are seeing that. We are seeing -- and ourselves, we're seeing a lot of union discussions. And they're coming to us and asking us, "What's going to happen to the people in Heather and Thistle that are leaving? And is there a growth opportunity? Are we doing any investments?" And the answer is, we'll have to wait for those things. But the first part of that, which is just the EPL and just the producing assets, I think those -- there's still synergies in that. And then there's kind of a hedge if both parties -- one is paying 75% tax, one is paying 35%, or 78% tax and 38% tax, the synergies should be there.

Yes. I think I'll just add that EPL is obviously a disappointment in terms of its application, but it creates a great opportunity when you have the tax assets we have sitting on the balance sheet. Would we go and launch big developments? No. There's too much uncertainty. But in terms of the opportunity set to buy high-quality producing assets, which is what we want to go and do and leverage all of our core capability, I think the market is right for that just now. And I think we have sufficient competitive advantage, not just in our tax assets, but in our operating capability to really get in and acquire the right portfolios of assets. So the opportunity set is there. It's about us being selective to make sure we go after the right assets. And the uncertainty will affect how you develop those. But if we replicate our Magnus story, where we're getting in a good solid production cash flows and investing in quick-win short life cycle projects, then there is a huge potential for us in the market. And once we -- we very much be focused on the UKCS, but we are, as Amjad said, looking at Southeast Asia. We see lots of opportunities there. The key will be getting the free cash flows from the UKCS through leveraging our tax asset to then invest internationally and grow our international footprint around Southeast Asia.

Perfect. We touched upon heavy lift vessels into next year, and it sort of brings me to the question on how you'd characterize the overall sort of supply chain environment in the U.K. at the moment. I suppose the activity levels probably on a shelf basis has been going down, which is, I suppose, useful for capacity. But I suppose you've also sort of seen numerous stories of particular vessels, equipment rigs sort of move into international waters. So just wondering how you sort of see the broad environment sort of evolving at the moment in the U.K.?

So I'll start, and then maybe Steve can add. I mean, we've seen a reduction in OpEx last year. So I think we're still very, very strongly focused on cost and cost control. We do have long-term contracts. And so those actually also help mitigate any increases. There's a bit of a bifurcation or dichotomy in the industry because, clearly, there's a very strong industrial background outside of the U.K., pretty much everywhere, and there's a very weak market in the U.K. because of the lack of investment. So as long as the boats are U.K. spec-ed -- for example, PSVs and the ERRVs, there's lots of additional specs that the U.K. requires. So these boats are not as transportable and movable. I'm just giving you an example. So that market will stay unless they move them overseas even with the higher specs. They'll stay oversupplied. So we do see some areas which are still -- they're oversupplied and they're still limited demand if it's U.K.-centric. If it's movable, like more drilling rigs, then I think we're seeing some more pressure -- upward pressure. But the key is we are still at the lower cost and we still have our cost control. And that, I think, is the determinant for us to add value.

Yes. No, I think you picked up on a key risk for the market. The capability is still there in the supply chain and the supply chain is part of the reason the numbers we have. So the performance is still there within that supply chain. But there are issues around supply going forward. And I think at EnQuest, we always get our contracting strategy in place early enough that we don't reach the pinch point to that supply. And that's the key way we need to approach the market going forward. So with excellence in the way we work the supply chain, we should always be able to access the resources we need. But you're correct to point there are less rigs. The Kraken rigs are really good, high-performing rig that we're bringing into the market. And it's important that companies do invest in the right opportunities and try and keep some of that rig stock there.

I think I'll just add to that. The way I will paraphrase all of that is this is a basin that needs a champion, right? It needs someone who's going to commit to the basin, pull these threads together, operate efficiently and manage that transitional pathway, right? And we see ourselves as that player.

Any other questions from the audience before we go to remote questions?

Yes. Just one follow-up. It's Mark at Jefferies. Can you -- this was actually an investor question this morning, so there is interest on this angle. It's cost base. You've got the -- the FPSO lease is going lower in '25 at Kraken, I believe. Just explain, is that just the timeline from when it was built. And could we just take that off your OpEx guidance for '24 as a projection? Or is it more complicated?

That was the agreement. We had the first 8 years at a higher lease rate. And then after that, the lease rate steps down. We also have an acquisition right of the vessel throughout -- in a particular cadence over time. But at present, it makes more sense to lease it and it makes more sense to take the lower lease. So, the lower lease comes out of our lease rate. The lease rate is in our numbers, and I think it's $115 million. And you have to take that $80 million off that lease rate. That's net -- those are both net numbers to us.

Thanks, gents, for all your answers so far. So actually, the questions on the floor have their finger on the pulse, because the questions that have come in, and there have been several, have all been on very similar themes. So I'll try and pick a couple to close for you, Amjad, Jonathan and Steve. So, first of all, Amjad, if I could put this one to you. We've had a number of questions about -- around Bressay. And would you mind giving us a sort of brief overview of how you view the transaction and what it means for the potential development of Bressay in the immediate and in the longer term?

Okay. I mean I think the Bressay transaction was a very good transaction. It was an exceptional transaction for us. We were able to, number one, monetize our FPSO, find a partner and actually start down the path of developing the asset. So the first port of call is the gas line to use the gas in Bressay to go back to Kraken and reduce the emission of Kraken. It's a win-win situation. We have had that as part of the FDP when we presented Kraken in 2014 or 2013, the FDP. And so it makes -- it segues very much into the development plan. I mean, that also helps us, alongside our partner, look at a phased development of Bressay. Number one, the gas production reduces the -- actually derisks the field because of coning and the possibility of coning. So Bressay is 2 times the size of Kraken in terms of STOIIP, and it's very similar in terms of viscosity. So the great thing is we have a company which has developed technology to develop heavy oil overseas. Kraken is the heaviest oil produced anywhere offshore, heaviest by far. And so we have developed technology. I think it's a very differentiated technology. We have 2 fields which are very large, with very large gross value add for the United Kingdom. And hopefully, we'll be able to do those in a phased basis in time. We are committed to looking at options for reducing the carbon emission. We understand that beyond 2030 the commitment is for zero emissions. And so we are looking very much at how we can triangulate that and manage that going forward. But I'm excited about it. It's a huge asset for the company, more than doubles our reserves. But again, it doesn't come without its challenges. But I do -- we have received a positive indication from the NSTA about the gas line, and I think that's going to be a very important segue into the field development in the future.

Thanks, Amjad. That's a very full answer. Thank you. Let me finish then. We've talked a little bit about -- a lot about EnQuest's position as a top quartile operator moving towards a top quartile producer in the North Sea. Can you give a little bit of -- can you elaborate slightly on growth in 2025, Amjad? With these material assets that we have in our portfolio, what specifically are we going to do to achieve that growth, because I think that's quite a good proof point?

I'll maybe cover a couple, but then maybe Steve can add to the assets. I'll talk about Kraken and Bressay because I'm talking about those. Then maybe Steve can talk about Magnus and then -- and Malaysia. So in -- I mean, we're talking about 2 wells in Kraken for next year, which will be important. I mean, Steve mentioned we're excited about those and the STOIIP in them. And then, obviously, the Bressay gas line, we're hoping to get that approved sometime this year. Execution will come in the next year or 2. But that -- not only does that help our -- some small production, but more importantly, it helps our emission targets and it gives us a longer life for Kraken to meet the emission targets that are required. Maybe you can talk about Magnus and Seligi.

Yes. So from the organic growth side in the portfolio, Magnus has got an ongoing wells and a drilling program. So, the 5 yearly rig recertification has been ongoing for the last 4 months that will conclude in the next month. So you'll see us continually execute a program on Magnus. And around Seligi and PM8, we've got well programs on 6 wells, 3 workovers, 3 infill wells. And we've got a huge asset around the gas side. So there's been historical gas reinjection. And the reservoir and gas injection, we're looking through negotiation and have that produced in the future. So that gives huge potential. And then as Amjad mentioned, we've got Bressay and Bentley moving forward. So the Bressay gas asset is a big opportunity. And we're also very excited about Kraken enhanced oil recovery. So early stage of study. You can see a big -- if we get that right, you'll see a big uplift in Kraken in the coming years if we get that project correct. So lots of organic opportunities across the portfolio, and obviously looking at the transformative acquisition, whether it be corporate or asset based.

I'll just add about Malaysia. We have -- we've built the infrastructure in Malaysia to sell -- or to deliver up to 300 million SCFs a day in 2019. With the COVID hit, our plans have been delayed. But we did sign last year delivery on more of a tariff basis of about up to 50 million SCFs a day, which is what we're doing this year. But we will be also looking to expand that in drilling wells and delivering a phased increase there. We have 2.5 TCF of gas resource. We own 800 B's of that ourselves and with the government owning the other 1.7 TCF. And we're delivering that resource because it doesn't require much capital, just drilling wells. That has a huge upside, both in us aspiring to get more gas in our portfolio because it will have a large piece of our portfolio. And you'll see this year, we'll -- gas will become more and more a bigger part of our portfolio.

Thank you. That was a very thorough answer. Thanks to you both. I think Mr. Wilson would like one more and I think we should close. Thank you.

Are there any questions remotely? Or was that the last one?

They were all about -- all the themes that's shareholder returns and M&As that you covered with [indiscernible].

Okay. So just one thing I want to touch on because the improved uptime at both Magnus and PM8/Seligi is clear. And so that's very good. But at the same time, they are very old assets, and you've extended the life. So I just want to check on just to, hopefully, close off on some risk. If there has been any issues at those 2 places in the past few years, is it just well integrity or riser integrity? I just -- and with Steve being in there, can you just speak to those? And are we happy that those are years behind us?

Yes, sure. So we have ongoing integrity programs. We obviously assess our assets, top sites and risers and pipelines. And we're actually running an intelligent peg on Magnus. And we've done that this year. And we'll get the results of that and that will give us a good fairway in terms of the life of that pipeline. You obviously always need to look at your midstream opportunities at the moment and how you manage around other fields reaching CoP, let's say. So there is a whole project potentially around Magnus in terms of the export life going forward, which we've got in our plan. We'll find it from ILI when we need to do that. Probably about 2026, '27 we'll be looking at that. So everything -- we have everything planned in, Mark, in terms of the opportunities and what we need to do to keep the life of those assets running into 2030. So it's an ongoing maintenance plan, no different than any other asset. And on the well side, just to say, we do go through a full well integrity review. Part of the program is actually going into the wells that are reaching near the end of their field life that we need to sidetrack them, and then we're working to move them. So that's part of our own good maintenance program. So very active on that side, too.

Thanks, gents. And Amjad, do you want to just close?

Well, no, no. Again, the questions are around -- again, the focus around capability, which I think is great. I wouldn't underestimate the -- what we have in terms of the ability to operate like Magnus or how we have done on Thistle and -- because, again, Magnus was 63% production efficiency when we took over. It was -- it is doing 6,000 barrels a day. It's triple that with gas now, where we've been able to also produce the gas from the field. Similarly, in Malaysia when we took over 7,000 barrels a day. It's north of 15,000 with the gas production now. So again, this capability, I think, is very unique. I don't see too many other companies having it. And I think in time, this will -- we will now that we have put the -- our balance sheet behind us and we have a strong balance sheet going forward, I think this -- now we can pivot back to what we were -- the cadence of doing deals over the first 4 years of our existence, where we did about 6 deals in very short order, even with a higher oil price environment. So I'm very excited about the future. I also believe that this capability is movable to new energy. And again, I mean -- those things go in spurts depending on government support. But I do think we have some emerging assets there which are very exciting, 148-megawatt of green energy going to Sullom Voe, which we have an allocation for, which we can look at either electrification or doing something with hydrogen. We have a grant from the government to look at hydrogen in Sullom Voe. Again, it's a question of what the government wants to do with the subsidies, because these -- they're till -- they still require subsidies, at least to build the infrastructure. So excited about all facets of our business. And thank you, everyone, for attending. And again, please ask us any questions offline if you have any further questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.