Vår Energi ASA (VAR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to welcome you all to Var Energi's 2026 Capital Markets Update and presentation of our fourth quarter 2025 results. It's great to see so many people here in the room and also joining us on the webcast. 2025 has been a transformational year for the company. And today, we will present an updated plan for how we will be delivering higher production and more value for longer with material cash flow generation and attractive dividends. Our CEO, Nick Walker, will lead the way, followed by presentations held by several members of our leadership team. In addition to Nick, [ Torgir, Carlo and Ellen ], we will have our Head of Projects, [ Otkar Dalane ], that will walk us through our high-value project portfolio; and our Head of Exploration, Luca Dragonetti, who will take us through how we will continue to deliver value through our exploration activities. Following the presentations, we will open up for questions. With that, I'd like to invite Nick to the stage.

Well, thank you, Ida, and good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Var Energi's 2026 Capital Markets Update together with a review of our Full Year 2025 results. And it's really great to see you all here again in Oslo and also a warm welcome to all of you who are joining us online. I'm pleased to report that we delivered on our plan for transformational growth in 2025, delivering record high production, strong financial performance and significant value creation. I'm excited for the outlook for Var Energi. We have fantastic assets, a tremendous team, and you'll see today that we have strong momentum improving the outlook for the company and as we say, to create more value for longer. And there's 4 key messages we want to get across today. Firstly, we significantly derisked the company with our major projects now complete, as you can see in this beautiful photograph today. Var Energi has never been in a stronger position. And secondly, we will deliver higher production for longer with more growth opportunities. Thirdly, we're incrementally improving for increased resilience and flexibility. And finally, we have higher value creation, ensuring long-term attractive shareholder returns. I think these are the drivers for significant value creation and are the themes that will run through everything that we talk about today. But first, I want to provide some context to the business environment as I think it informs how we see our strategy and the decisions that we make every day for the future of the company. I think it's incredible that world population has doubled over my lifetime from 4 billion to 8 billion people. And at the same time, you can see that global energy demand has tripled and will continue to grow as the developing world wants the same living standards that we all enjoy. And this continued energy growth is despite significant improvements in energy efficiency. And it's going to be interesting to see the impact of AI and data centers and what that will have on the future demand for energy. And of course, affordable and reliable energy is vital for economic growth and prosperity. And all credible outlook show oil and gas will be required for decades in addition to an increased share of renewable energy. In reality, what is happening is energy addition. It's not either/or. The world needs both hydrocarbons and renewable energy sources. And to provide affordable and reliable energy to all and meet the demand for gas, which is a critical transition fuel, it's clear that the world needs significant new investments in oil and gas to offset declines, as you can see on the chart. This requires long-term investment horizons. And we're seeing increased volatility and significant uncertainties in the world, and this can lead to a lower for longer price scenario. And we need to take this into account as we make investment decisions for Var Energi. To be able to invest through the cycles requires a focus on high-quality, low breakeven projects. And you'll see that Var Energi is doing just that. And our view is that in any scenario, oil and gas will be essential for world energy supply for decades. And those that can produce with low breakeven prices and with as little emissions as possible will have competitive advantage. And as many of you have heard me say before, I believe that Norway is one of the best places to invest in oil and gas. And the reasons for this are really very clear. It's low cost, it's low emissions. In fact, it's world-leading. And that is why Norway should be the last oil and gas region to be shut in. There's large remaining resources with continued access to new acreage. There's been long-term reliable framework conditions and supportive fiscal regime. And the NCS is a key supplier of energy to Europe. And oil and gas is key to Norway as a major source of industrial activity and employment across the country. This has all been driven by long-term government and public support for the industry, and our assessment is this support is strengthening. And all of these factors have resulted in strong competitive advantage for Norway. It attracts the investment needed to develop the shelf and because Norway is seen as a reliable producer with low emissions. And so in this context, our strategy is really very simple. It's also consistent, and you'll see this is the same slide we've used for a few years. And our strategy is to ensure growth and value creation for all us -- all stakeholders over time. It's to be a pure-play Norwegian oil and gas company for the reasons that I've set out. And it's to be a reliable and secure supplier of affordable energy to Europe. And finally, it's to be safe and responsible about how we conduct our business. And we're delivering on our strategy and targets as we will demonstrate today. And as you can see here, the company has a strong track record of value creation, incrementally improving how we perform. From 2018 when the company was established, we've increased production by almost 2.5x, building the third largest producer on the NCS. And it's quite possible that this quarter, we'll become the second largest producer. And we've significantly improved efficiency and costs, whilst at the same time, materially growing reserves and resources. This is combining to deliver strong financials and returns. And you can see we achieved a total shareholder return since the IPO 4 years ago of 115%. And as we will show today, we continue to improve the outlook for the company, creating material value for longer. And we continue to transform as a company to deliver more value and faster, incrementally improving every day to realize the opportunities in our portfolio. This is what I think about every morning when I wake up, how do we make it better and better. It's all about harnessing the entrepreneurial energy in the company where everyone can make a difference and contribute to value creation. And our heritage means we have deep and unique NCS expertise, and we are leveraging this. And I think technology is also key, but it's also about implementing to create value. Of course, we don't deliver alone. We rely on partnerships and collaboration. Our license partners, in particular, [ Equinor ] and key suppliers amongst the best in their fields to help us deliver. And we also draw on the capabilities and expertise of our major shareholder, [ Eni ]. And as much of our value will be delivered through subsea tiebacks, we've established our subsea project factory approach with more on that later. This is how we will create value, and you'll see many examples of this from my colleagues today. And safe and responsible operations are key to our license to operate, and we have high ambition to be the safest operator. I think overall, we've had good safety and environmental trend from our operations. And you can see in 2025, we had 0 actual serious incidents, material process safety events and accidental spills to sea. But however, we're continuing to have too many low-level incidents, which is a strong improvement focus across our organization. And we continue to decarbonize our operations to ensure relevance and investability long term. And you can see we're already in the top 15% globally on emissions intensity, and our methane emissions are at the near zero level. So we're already doing very well, but our aim is to reduce our emissions further. And in addition to emissions reductions, Var Energi aims to become carbon neutral in our net equity operational emissions by 2030 through removals in the voluntary carbon market. And we continue to be recognized for our ESG leadership, ranked by both Sustainalytics and S&P Global in the top 15% of global oil and gas industry. I think this is leveraging to how the company is viewed, and you'll hear more from all of this later today from Ellen. And now looking at the business. Var Energi has a high quality diversified asset base in all areas of the NCS. And you can see we have interest in around 50% of all producing assets and the associated infrastructure and with a large exploration footprint. Only Equinor has a bigger and more diverse portfolio than we do. And we also have a balanced commodity mix with gas being around 1/3 of our production volumes, making us one of the largest gas exporters from Norway. And we stepped up the pace to maximize the value from our portfolio. With our major projects completed, the outlook for the company is derisked. And what is ahead of us is a series of low-risk, high-value predictable tieback projects with short time to market. We will invest more to deliver higher production for longer from our material resource base, which is opportunity-rich. And we continue to incrementally improve the outlook for the company, making it better and better. And we're increasing resilience and flexibility, which is important for navigating this period of lower prices. And we're investing in high-return projects, delivering higher value creation and ensuring long-term attractive dividends. So this is how we will deliver more value for longer. So now let us look at the highlights for 2025. I'm pleased to report to you that strong results for 2025, having delivered transformational growth in the year. We delivered record high production in the fourth quarter of 397,000 barrels per oil equivalent per day and 332,000 barrels per day for the year. Our major projects, Johan Castberg and Boulder X were completed on schedule. And in total, 9 new growth projects started up during the year as planned, adding around 180,000 barrels per day at peak. And we're making good progress unlocking the future value of our portfolio. And you can see we sanctioned 10 high-value projects in 2025. These are developing around 160 million barrels of net reserves with average breakeven price of $30 per barrel. And we continue to create value from exploration with 6 commercial successes in the year, and we're already turning this into value. And this -- bringing this together, we increased reserves with 2P reserve replacement of 185%. And we delivered strong financial performance last year with cash flow from operations post tax of $4.6 billion for the full year. Production costs for the year were at $11.1 per barrel at the lower end of our guidance range. And for the fourth quarter, we reduced further to $10 per barrel as we had guided. And we have strong available liquidity of $3.5 billion, and we maintain a strong investment-grade balance sheet. And lastly, we continue to provide attractive dividends. We will pay a dividend of $300 million for the fourth quarter of last year. This will be distributed in February. This means total 2025 dividend payout is $1.2 billion, which is 26% of CFFO post tax. So in summary, we delivered strong results in 2025, in line with expectations. And now looking forward to 2026, and we're set for record production levels with 2026 production expected in the range of 390,000 to 410,000 barrels per day, in line with how we've previously guided. And you'll see we're accelerating the pace of new growth opportunities that will support higher production for longer. We have 13 projects in execution. These are developing 210 million barrels of net reserves with low operating costs and breakevens on average around $30 a barrel. And we expect to sanction up to 8 new projects this year, targeting around 140 million barrels net of net reserves. And we're continuing to drill out our exciting exploration portfolio with 12 wells planned, targeting approximately 75 million barrels of net risk resources. And we continue to drive efficiency, delivering incremental improvements across the whole value chain, and you'll see many examples of this today. 2026 production costs will be around $10 per barrel, and we aim to sustain at this level long term. And we continue to reduce emissions with the long-term aim to be carbon neutral in our operations by 2030. And the key focus of management is to deliver long-term attractive dividends to our shareholders as our track record demonstrates. We're seeing increased volatility and significant uncertainties in the world, and this can lead to a lower for longer price scenario. And so we will take a prudent approach, guiding dividends on a quarterly basis. And we continue the attractive dividend level and provide guidance for the first quarter of 2026 of $300 million. This is the same run rate as we had for 2025. And for the full year 2026, we will continue guiding on a quarterly basis, in line with our long-term dividend policy of 25% to 30% of CFFO after tax over the cycles. And now let us look at how we will deliver higher production and value for longer. And Var Energi has an amazing portfolio with lots of optionality and growth opportunities. I think you will see that. We have a track record of continually growing reserves and resources organically. And you can see here that our 2P reserves stand at 1.3 billion barrels. This underpins our current production levels. But as a company, we are much, much more than that. We have 2C contingent resources of around 900 million barrels. These resources are undeveloped. And we're moving forward around 30 early phase projects to develop around 2/3 of these volumes. And we also have an exciting exploration portfolio of about 1 billion barrels of net risk resources. So when you put this together, we have around 3 billion barrels of resource potential. with around 1.7 billion barrels or 60% yet to be developed. Delivering this opportunity is how we will deliver higher production for longer. And as I said earlier, Var Energi has delivered transformational production growth in 2025. And you can see we doubled production from just 2 years ago. And in 2026, we expect to produce between 390,000 and 410,000 barrels per day. During the year, we will bring online a material program of infill wells and some new project start-ups that will keep production at current levels beyond the end of this year. And long term, we're targeting over 400,000 barrels per day, a step up from the 350,000 to 400,000 barrels per day towards 2030 that we guided at last year's CMU. And these are the levers that will drive higher production for longer. Firstly, it's through maximizing recovery from our high-quality producing assets. We see a continuous infill drilling program, developing net resources of more than 300 million barrels over time. And these are the best barrels we can develop with breakevens of well less than $30 per barrel. And secondly, as I've mentioned already, we have 13 high-value projects in execution, developing net 2P reserves of 210 million barrels. And this portfolio has average breakevens of around $30 a barrel. And thirdly, we're progressing around 30 early phase projects. These are all tieback developments with short time to market, targeting net resources of 550 million barrels. This portfolio will create material value with average breakevens of less than $35 a barrel, and our aim is to do better than that. And finally, we're unlocking more value with our focused exploration program. And we have a strong track record of creating value from our exploration, as you'll see later. And we plan to drill 50 to 60 wells over the next 5 years. This program is targeting net risk resources of around 500 million barrels. And when you put all this together, we're progressing activity to create value from around 70% or 1.2 billion barrels of the 1.7 billion barrels undeveloped upside in our portfolio. So we're after and developing a material part of the upside opportunity. And development of this portfolio of high-value, low-risk short-cycle projects will increase returns from our business, with return on capital employed projected to increase from the current level of around 20% to up to 25% to 30% by 2030. This adds significant value, and Carlo will come back to this later. And additionally, we continue to take an opportunistic approach to further M&A, where there is a strategic fit and we can create value. It is top of mind to seek the next step change in the company's outlook. We're also targeting to optimize our portfolio where we have some high working interest and can reduce our capital requirements for new growth projects. What we have in mind will have limited short-term production impact, and we will move this process forward during the first half of the year. And this program delivers higher production for longer, targeting over 400,000 barrels per day long term. It's driven by material long-life resource base, which, as you can see, is opportunity-rich. And we will invest more over a longer time horizon into a series of high-value, low-risk short-cycle projects. And we are using this lower price environment to improve the economic resilience of our investments. And importantly, we have the people, the equipment and contracts in place to deliver this improved outlook for the company. Now Var Energi's high-quality business provides a strong foundation to deliver attractive long-term value to shareholders. As outlined, we will deliver higher production for longer, targeting over 400,000 barrels per day long term. And our high-margin barrels means that the business is free cash flow neutral at around $40 per barrel over the period 2026 to 2032. This means that above $40, we generate cash to pay dividends or to pay down debt, and we're covering all of our costs. And this means we generate strong free cash flow in the range of $5 billion to $10 billion over the same period. And we have a strong investment-grade balance sheet and a lot of flexibility with 60% of our capital uncommitted means that we can manage through the lower commodity price cycles with a lot of flexibility. And this combines to allow us to pay attractive dividends within our long-term dividend policy of 25% to 30% of cash flow from operations post tax over the cycles. And it is the key focus of management to maintain long-term attractive shareholder returns, and we have a resilient and flexible business that will allow us to navigate this lower price environment. And to summarize, I want to leave you with the following messages. First of all, Var Energi is a stronger derisked company positioned to generate more value for longer. Our material resource base of around 3 billion barrels is the foundation for this. And we have increased the outlook with higher production for longer, targeting over 400,000 barrels per day long term. And we're opportunity-rich. We're increasing investments in a series of high-value, low-risk short-cycle projects that will increase returns. This adds significant value. And we continue to incrementally improve the business for increased resilience and flexibility with a low free cash flow breakeven of around $40 a barrel. And we will generate more value for longer, supporting long-term attractive returns, in line with our dividend policy of 25% to 30% of CFFO post tax over the cycles. I think these are the reasons to be invested in Var Energi. And with that, I'm going to hand over to my colleagues, who will provide further details on how we will deliver this exciting outlook for the company, with first up being Torger. But before Torger comes to the stage, please enjoy this film on the further development of the Boulder area. Thank you very much. [Presentation]

Good afternoon all. it's really good to be here and what a fantastic movie. These kind of movies always gives me goose bumps and it makes me really proud of the industry and my colleagues. Also here, you see a fantastic photo, Johan Castberg at location, the cathedral of the Barents Sea as the Energy Minister, [ Terry Olson ] likes to call it. On this slide, you see my main topics for today. 2025 was a really good year, and Var Energi has never been in a better position. We have delivered transformational growth, doubling production since 2023, and based on our growing resource base, we are becoming opportunity rich, essentially moving from 2 mega projects to a large portfolio of high-value subsea tieback projects. Through continuous improvement and enhanced capabilities, we are improving all parts of our business. This by improving our ways of working and developing better solutions. The bottom line here is that we have the basis to deliver more than 400,000 barrels per day long term, creating more value for longer, becoming bigger and better. 2025 Transformational Growth delivered. We reached the milestone of above 400,000 barrels per day in August. And we met the full year production guidance of 332,000 barrels. During Q3 and Q4, we saw a record production level for the company. And all projects promised during last Capital Market update were brought on stream during the year. Also, our operated assets performed very well. And with maintenance included, ending on 92% production efficiency, a really strong number. So let's have a look on the key elements to this transformational growth, Jotun and Johan Castberg. Here, you see Jotun application. I think this is the clearest symbol you can have of our derisked Var Energi. The Balder field [indiscernible] Jotun is really ticking all the boxes, transformational growth, opportunity-rich and continuously improving. So you might ask, how is Jotun doing? I'm happy to say it's very well, producing as expected, being around 80,000 barrels gross per day, and we have a plan to keep feeding Jotun for the long term. Balder Phase V was sanctioned and had first -- or had first oil in December '25. Balder Phase VI will be brought online Q4 this year. And the next phases for the Balder field in Jotun constitutes our 3 main elements, named Balder Next. The first one is Jotun debottlenecking. It is already sanctioned that happened late last year. And this is to increase the production capacity, which will accelerate production and then enable for the next step being the removal of the Balder [ FU ] to reduce OpEx and emissions, which is planned to happen in 2028. The third step is to drill more wells or new wells in the area, which is planned to be sanctioned this year, 2026, and this is to increase the recovery and feed the Jotun FPSO. So that means that Jotun is a model hub for the future, expected to produce to 2050. Then we are moving north to Johan Castberg. As you know, started up Q1 2025, and it reached plateau in June 2025. Also, the Johan Castberg FPSO is currently producing stable and as expected with a really robust well potential. Today, 22 wells are completed and the remaining 8 wells will be concluded within the beginning of 2026. And together with Equinor, we target to maintain plateau production at Johan Castberg beyond 2030. This through infill program, new tieback developments and further exploration. End 2025, we sanctioned the increased oil recovery wells and the [ Eastlack ] subsea tieback. And there is more to come for Johan Castberg. The Snofonn/Skavl subsea tieback might be sanctioned already by end of this year. So that means summarized, Johan Castberg has a large area of prospectivity, estimated to have around 1 billion barrels, meaning production for decades to come. With Jotun and Johan Castberg at location and producing as expected, this gives us a fantastic derisked foundation for our 2026 production. Around 30% of current production are coming from Jotun and Johan Castberg. 2026 is really set up to deliver record high production. We saw a production average of January of 416,000 barrels per day. And in February, so far, it's 423,000 barrels. Actually, we saw a company record 23rd of January this year, a production of 443,000 barrels. You might ask what is the potential? I will say that the potential for -- in a perfect production day is around 450,000 barrels. This year, we are going to have less new projects starting up, 4 in total compared to -- and that is, of course, a lot less compared to 2025. And these 4 projects are contributing with an average of 15,000 barrels net the next 2 years. Also, we have a significant infill program, which I will return to later in my presentation. And then you see a small and a smaller dip in Q2, Q3. This is the turnaround and planned maintenance season. And this year, that will have a limited impact on the full year production. Here, we're talking about 9,000 barrels per day in average. This means that we have a derisked outlook for 2026, and that constitutes a production guidance for the year of 390,000 to 410,000 barrels. Of all the slides today I'm going to present, I think this one is my favorite, and you will soon hear why. Because Var Energi is oil and gas and what it makes for a living is our resources and reserves. Whilst producing more than ever in 2025, we exit the year with a bigger bank account than we entered the year, 2,200 million barrels of reserves and resources. I get dry in my mouth, fantastic. This is a very strong replacement. That represents a very strong replacement performance in 2025. Just listen, reserve replacement ratio of 185%, resource replacement of 136%. This means that for each barrel produced, we moved 1.85 barrels into our reserve base. And the result, that means that we have a resource pool that will sustain the production for 70 years based on the 2025 production level. And of course, this is not including any exploration success going forward. So that means it's not very likely. So not only does the company have an impressive resource base, but also it's well distributed across our hubs. And this means that we are adding resilience and flexibility. All hubs have a very solid 2P base, which based on the 2025 production levels will ensure production for the next 10 years. But also, we see that we have a large portfolio of 2C volumes that are currently being matured, meaning that we are opportunity-rich. And all hubs have increased their combined 2P and 2C resources since last capital market update 1 year ago. And this really makes it possible for us to target a production in the range of 90,000 to 110,000 barrels per hub and combined, this gives us above 400,000 barrels per day long term. But a huge number of resources is not enough. You also need to have the right assets. And ours are future fit, high-performing assets, really recognized by low cost and low emissions and high uptime. Several of our assets are electrified and also all our assets, which is important, have ongoing early phase projects that will ensure production and continued value creation for decades. We here see an average lifetime to 2050 and beyond. And in addition, through our large high-quality portfolio, Var Energi holds equity in around 50% of all the Norwegian continental shelf fields, which ensure tieback opportunities and close collaboration in strong partnerships. We are, as Nick also said, improving the company. You see it through exploration of projects, drilling and well subsurface and operations. But status quo is not an option. So we have set new ambitious long-term targets for our core business, enabled by value-driven technology implementation and the use of artificial intelligence. Why? It is really about finding more improving recovery, better development and running our operations safe and efficient through improved ways of working and our solutions, really enabling more value with less. This has already yielded a lot of value creation. Example given is the Balder area. By combining this through the subsurface drilling and well and product development, we have doubled the recovery reserves for the ongoing projects, Balder Phase V and Balder VI. Really, as you heard on the film from [indiscernible], she talked about combining artificial intelligence and seismic. What did she say? We are doing things faster, better and cheaper. That means more recovery, higher value. So really, the result here is unlocking value we earlier did not believe was possible. So to conclude, our ambition is clear. It is to become the best in running our core business, driven by forceful implementation of technology and artificial intelligence. We have seen improved results regarding our operated cost basis. We have talked about it and we have reported and we have achieved, and we got to USD 10 per barrel for Q4 2025. We have reduced the unit operating cost by 30% during the last 3 years. And we will maintain around USD 10 per barrel for the long term. And actually, since last capital market update 1 year ago, we have incorporated USD 400 million net of cost reductions for the period 2026 to 2030. And we are targeting further reductions in the years to come. The drive for this, high production for longer, 2032 and beyond, subsea tiebacks, which is really utilizing existing infrastructure, that means margin incremental cost and low emissions. Further, we are working relentlessly to improve our operational model, driving down costs, optimizing production and improving the production efficiency. And we are working hard to create economy of scale through collaboration with our partners, particularly here Equinor, when it comes to logistics, infrastructure and assets. That means bases, rigs, helicopters and supply bases. We have done this in the Balder area. We are doing it in Balder area, and we're going to continue to do this. Then you might think, okay, so what is the sum of the story so far, Torger? If I'm going to summarize it in one word, competitiveness. And when it comes to our case for Var Energi, it means improved competitiveness. This gives more opportunities for value creation and higher activity. And I think you will see this very clear when we are coming to our infill program and our product portfolio. Let's start with our infill wells. Nick also talked to this and said, this is the most effective and profitable wells to be had. And we will participate in a large number every year between now and 2032, targeting 30 to 40 wells a year. And this year, we will be building up the production with an end year contribution of around 40,000 barrels. What you will recognize in the infill wells is that they have a very strong economy, less than [ 330 ], a lot less for some and a payback time less than 1 year. So I hope you think the same as me. This is really the perfect match for Var Energi with a high-quality portfolio. Big fields are getting bigger. It is good resource management and really high value creation. Then our high-value projects in execution. We have [ 3 ] projects in execution, representing 210 million barrels of reserves. Last year, we had 9 start-ups and 10 projects sanctioned. This really proves our ability to replenish the portfolio with new production. And here, we have our value-driven approach. We are working very closely and hard with our suppliers to find the best solutions for value creation. And this results in highly competitive portfolio with a breakeven of around $30 per barrel and $3 per barrel in average unit operational cost. And for those that remember well, that means that we have improved this since last CMU, really through our maturation phase, making better solutions, finding more value in our projects. Then to our large early phase portfolio. I have done quite a few projects in my life. But when I look at this slide and these projects, I have to say what our portfolio. It is opportunity rich, it's high value, it's flexible, it's derisked, and it is really ensuring high production for longer. Last year, we had 25 projects in the early phase, addressing 500 million barrels. And even though 10 projects were sanctioned in 2025, we still have around 30 projects, targeting now 550 million barrels net to develop. That really means that we have been stepping up and growing our early phase portfolio. These are high-return projects with a breakeven of around $35. So that means that we have been growing our portfolio while maintaining attractive returns. And here, we can ensure you all, we are going to stay disciplined, ensuring sanction high-quality projects. And this year, we are targeting up to 8 sanctions. So -- and now I'm coming to a really important slide. Now you have to keep your attention because the message here is that we are going to produce more for longer. The reason for this is that we have an improved outlook of our business. Today's production forecast for 2030 is 40%, 4-0 percent higher than the outlook that we presented to you in 2023. And actually, it's more than 20% higher than we presented for the Capital Market update last year. The recipe, we are improving the recovery, continuous focus on maturing and drilling infill wells. As you have seen, we have a big product portfolio, proving our ability to mature and accelerate new opportunities, which I would like to summarize in 2 words, opportunity-rich. And very soon, you will hear [ Odgir ] explain more about this. And of course, we also have a consistent exploration success, and Luka will address this a bit later today. M&A. As you heard Nick say, it is really part of the DNA in Var Energi. There would have been no more energy without it, but it must be value accretive. And we have been good at it, the value-accretive part, I mean, realizing a lot of value, both based on the Neptune acquisition and more recently, the [ Ecofisk PPF ]. [ Ecofis ] produced fields -- previous produced field that means. So then I'm coming to my last slide. And to conclude, our value proposition is clear. Transformational growth has been delivered, and we are targeting above 400,000 barrels long term. That means higher for longer. We are derisked and opportunity-rich based on a significant reserve and resource basis of 2,200 million barrels, more than 40 projects under development, our large infill program and really an exciting exploration portfolio. And we will continue improving our capability with the ambition to be best. We are getting bigger and better. So with that, thanks a lot for your attention. And then [ Olger ] will hand over to you, but first, there's a film. Thank you so much. [Presentation]

So 2025 was a transformational year for Var Energi. We delivered 9 out of 9 planned project start-ups, including the 2 major projects, Johan Castberg and Jotun FPSO. These two projects has constituted 60% of the total project portfolio the last years. They have been complex and long-duration greenfield and refurbishment projects. Now that they are completed, they will serve as important hubs for future value creation. Our projects have transitioned together with the company. And our current and future portfolio will be close to 100% focused on subsea tiebacks with low breakevens, higher flexibility, short paybacks and fast execution with lower risk. To ensure success from initiation to start-up, a key focus area has been to implement -- to ensure we implement a project factory way of working. We have, while delivering the start-up, built capability and capacity for the subsea project factory. And we have put all the building blocks in place. With a portfolio approach of around 30 early phase projects, we have flexibility to choose the most attractive projects first and improve and arrange the rest before moving into execution. It is a disciplined approach to ensure robustness in our portfolio. And then through simplification, standardization and running parallel activities, we capture economy of scale and enable faster development and execution of our project portfolio. Our strategic partnership ensure early engagement and provide us competence and capacity at the right time. And enabled by these points, we can also pre-commit long lead items. And we, in fact, see this as derisking the portfolio, and I will come back with tangible examples from our projects. Altogether, this changes the way we work and improve the solutions. This is the factory project way of working, and it will enable us to get higher production for longer and create more value. So let me first start with the portfolio. We have demonstrated our ability to mature and develop our resources through the later years. The project portfolio has grown significantly over time, doubling number of early phase projects, including volumes from 2023 to today. This is why we delivered 10 project sanctions in '25, outperforming the target of 8, and moving 160 million barrels into execution. Which means combined with the projects in execution, we now have more than 40 projects in the portfolio. And our projects, they are evenly distributed both in time and across all the hubs. And it is a strong and healthy funnel. We have been able to pull project start up closer in time, combined with increasing the activity, so the majority of the project is starting up before 2030. The entrepreneurial culture and proactive mindset, then supported by continued commitment from the company, it has really enabled us to step up the pace and deliver faster than also for the future opportunities to refill the portfolio. A prime example of our project factory is the Balder Phase VI project. It is a project reshaped from a rather complex solution with several wells to a first off for Var Energi, a trilateral well, which means it's a single top hole with 3 branches into the reservoir with a very slim and efficient subsea production system. And this is true value creation and the entire team solving for totality. We started the project 2 years back and among others, due to pre-commitments, we will achieve first oil in Q4, only 18 months after sanctioning. The project will deliver around 17 million barrels and has excellent economics, with payback in less than 1 year. The factory approach enables learning from this project to be replicated across the portfolio, making us always searching for improvements to optimize value. And this brings me into the Balder Next project. It is a true [ Kinderg ] 3-in-1, where we continue to develop Balder area through 3 parts. First, we are increasing the topside processing capacity to accelerate and take on more volumes on Jotun FPSO via the Jotun debottlenecking project. It was sanctioned in '25. It is in full execution, and will achieve start-up this year in '26. Second, we will unlock around 75 million barrels through Balder Next new wells, contributing to maintain [ 70,000 to 80,000 barrels ] per day towards 2030. And third, we reduced OpEx by $130 million annually and removed 70,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions through the Balder FPU decommissioning, where the Balder FPU production volumes are maintained through sidetracks from the new wells. This shows the deliverables obtained by the subsea project factory. The pace and value creation is supported by way of working and enabled by pre-commitments. Balder Next was initiated last year, beginning of '25. We will deliver first part in '26, first oil from new wells in '27 and take Balder to shore in '28. Balder Next will further position Jotun as one of our core assets ready for the future. This is only the first of many similar early phase projects that will feed the Jotun FPSO with volumes towards 2030 and beyond. With the Goliat Ridge discovery, a new phase for value creation has begun with an ambition to sanction more than double what Goliat has produced since start-up 10 years ago. The Goliat Gas project ready to be sanctioned in '26 will provide a gas export solution for Goliat, prolonging lifetime towards 2050 and increasing oil production by optimizing reservoir management. It reduces unit OpEx and paves the way for further projects to increase production over Goliat, with the first being the Goliat Ridge project. Together with Goliat Gas, the Goliat Ridge project has the potential to secure more than 300 million barrels of production in the years to come. The Goliat Ridge is what you may call in the backyard and with discoveries of hydrocarbons in all wells drilled. The extensive appraisal and data acquisition on the Goliat Ridge has proven the potential, and the project team is aiming towards start-up in '29, utilizing available capacity in the high-performing Goliat platform. As Luca will cover later, it doesn't stop with these 2 projects. The Goliat Ridge discovery has unlocked further prospectivity around Goliat that will be matured fast. And we will continue the active infill program in the years to come, building on the previous year's successful volume additions. And then we have Gjoa, our efficient asset in the North Sea. It's also situated in a very prolific area with 4 discoveries in recent years. These are now combined into 1 project to maximize synergies and enhance the value. We anticipate to sanction the project this year and achieve first oil in '27 for Cerisa and '28 for the rest, meaning less than 2 years between sanctioning and production start-up. In addition to Gjoa subsea projects, Var Energi will drill the first infill well since field start-up this year. And we are here also looking for more. And Luca will come back to our exploration plans with a number of wells already this year. So let me summarize in 4 points. Var Energi is opportunity-rich. We took 10 sanctions last year, expect up to 8 this year. We keep growing the early phase portfolio, now containing around 30 projects with more than 0.5 billion barrels of contingent resources. The projects have strong economics, low breakevens and with an ambition to improve. With the size of our portfolio, we have the flexibility and optionality in terms of speed and also prioritizing high-value creation. And the subsea projects provide a fast execution with lower risk, and it will enable value -- to create more value for longer, the subsea project factory way. Thank you for your attention, and I will hand the word over to Luca.

Thank you, Oddgeir, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great pleasure to be back on stage and talk about exploration and the future of the company. But it's even more impressive to feel lagging behind because you just introduced names of projects that are already delivering in your pipeline that last year were just -- were still in my to-do list. So this is how fast we can go. This is literally delivering seamlessly in Var Energi. So it's something that we are experiencing altogether, transforming the company and of course, transforming it in the NCS. The NCS remains the excellent playground with a lot of undiscovered resources. We can put numbers, but these are the ones that are widely known. And we believe we are in an excellent position to take advantage of it from an industrial point of view, of course. We have a portfolio of prospects that is hovering around 200. We believe they are distributed, well distributed and harmonized in a portfolio that include infrastructure-led, so near-field opportunities as well as high impact. The number, of course, of appraisals depends a little bit on the results of the discoveries, on the results of where they are, how they are. So it fluctuates a bit. But the share 80-20 remains representative definitely for our type of activity in terms of drilling. All this contains roughly 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent net resources, which is a substantial and material basket from which to draw. And 60% of it is oil or at least estimated at the moment. So the portfolio is a very nice thing to have. We have it, and we draw from it using creativity and data. We use expertise and of course, integration of our technology, passion, all these elements are the part of the recipe that take us to take the commitments and drill the ultimate wells. Selectiveness. We need to select -- we need to be disciplined. And all this has been recorded in the last 4, 5 years. We are looking at track record between '21 and '25. That shows how we added 280 million barrels of oil equivalent in terms of resources. Well, let's have a look. We were talking about how fast we can be in bringing them online, and this is exactly what we were talking about. 70% of it is either producing, therefore, produced, or in their way to be produced. Success rate speaks for itself. It's substantially higher than the average. And we managed to keep the costs down with a post-tax around $1 per barrel. It's, I would say, a very good introduction. But then what do we do? Well, in 2025, we had a very intense in terms of activity year. We will see later, I will get back to it. Anyway, Oddgeir already mentioned how much it has been done on the ridge on the Goliat Ridge. It is important to remember that these are not -- the ridge is not the only place in which we have discoveries. We made 6 discoveries, and at least 2 of them account for a substantial additional potential. And you see them recorded on the map, 300 million barrels between the Goliat Ridge and the Vidsyn Ridge as additional and follow-up. It's substantial. The number of barrels that we added simply last year are in the range of 45 million to 75 million net. And of course, not only the long term, but also results in terms of immediate cash flow have been recorded with Smorbukk Midt. I'm sorry, my pronunciation. This is one of those that I can't pronounce at all, I'm sorry. But it's still -- it still represents a landmark because we were -- we literally were on target during Q2. And in Q3, we started production. This means that we had 16,000 gross, 16,000 barrels per day produced throughout the year, an incredibly short payout time. It's what we are looking forward to. We need long term or midterm because 2029 is just around the corner, and we will see the production from the Goliat Ridge. So let's say, mid to long term, to sustain our production, but also we need immediate results, cash, and we have the portfolio to do so. The portfolio, of course, needs to be fed, and we have the results of the [ APA round ] with 14 new licenses. We mentioned Vidsyn, and Vidsyn was part of a very, very long story. It's how we managed to integrate legacy exploration with, of course, expertise, subsurface capacities and integration. Imagine the first discovery -- or at least, a well was drilled some 30 years ago. So we were in the previous century with different technologies and results remained doubtful to say the least. So we've been capable of going back, study the data, reintegrate the data with new technologies, new capacities, new seismic imaging. We decided that, that was the way to go and look at the result. We unlocked the potential of the full reach, and we opened up for more opportunities where absolutely close to one of our core area, the Fenja platform, where, of course, we can, I would say easily, nothing is easy, of course, but we can have a subsea tieback, which means, of course, many advantages in terms of operations, but monetization that is much better and simplified. It's not enough. That's not enough. A new reprocessed seismic has been delivered just a few weeks ago. We are reworking again the whole area, and we will add more opportunities. And the activity follows up. A well is already in our drilling string for 2026, and we are planning to add more in order, of course, to improve the discoveries. It's -- it's what I -- I mean, I'm Italian, so it could be easy to make a recipe. And this time, I'll go botanic, and it's more like a garden. This is another very, very, very nice garden that has been mentioned earlier on. It's the Gjoa area. And okay, there is no weed because nothing grows by itself. We need to make it grow. So how do we make it grow? Well, we use our capacities. We use our creativeness. We use our technology, and we leverage on all the discoveries that we made, all the wells that we drill, all the data that we gather. Everything is put together, blended into something that is called exploration because we need to see beyond. And we need, of course, to be capable of producing the results that have been recorded in the area in the last few years with multiple discoveries like Cerisa, Gjoa, Ofelia, Gjoa North. Follow up. Follow up because now there are more things that we can see because there is better and improved seismic and additional technology. And we can go further. This is what we will try this year with 2 wells already in our plan, Anabelle and Sava. And the idea is to continue. You see a lot of blobs there. Of course, the light blue ones are the prospects, the ones that are not yet matured. But we expect to bring them all into this stage where we will finally put a well on it -- on them. The number itself is impressive. We are talking about more than 200 million barrels recoverable still there for us. So this is the constant gardening activity that we are called upon doing. And where it all comes together, I believe, has been already shown by Oddgeir, it is the Goliat Ridge. The Goliat Ridge saw intensive activity last year. We drilled 3 wells, 2 of them were appraisals. So this is flexibility, capacity to act, to have a vision and be ready to drill in case of success. Seismic, seismic that will and is already delivering great results because we are substituting something that was shot 25 years ago. It has been stretched. And now we are moving into a completely different environment with the capacity to pinpoint details that were not visible earlier on. Still on that seismic, on the legacy seismic, we located most of the wells, and we made a fantastic discovery in [ Rhodette ]. That was the one that allowed us to understand the migration path and opened up a story that is not finished. We tested at the end of last year, the appraisal well with over 4,000 barrels of oil per day from 2 levels. There are quite a few other prospects that are following this incredible result of the test because now we know that we can produce from more levels than we expected before. It's unlocking the future, but it's actually extending the life of this fantastic facility. The same, we are doing on Gjoa, and absolutely the same is happening on Fenya. What is next? Next will be a disciplined and selective approach to high-quality prospects. Coming, of course, from the basket that you saw at the beginning, the $1 billion that is continuously worked on and rejuvenated. We are looking at 12 wells in 2026 for a total investment that is expected to stay around $250 million and $300 million in 2026. For the coming years, you see that we have in mind to drill 10 to 15 wells per year with a reduced investment based on our capacity to improve and be more efficient in our selection and in our spending. So all in all, a bright and harmonized approach to a portfolio that is full -- that is really rich. It's a focused exploration program. It's focused on our capacity to create new ideas. So it's based on our creativity. It's fueled by our technology that is capable of transforming our vision in objectives that we can drill next year and in the years to come. Thank you.

Thank you, Luca. We will now have a short break, if I can please ask everyone to be back in the room at half past 3. We'll have the two last presentations and the Q&A. Thank you. [Break]

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back. I am very pleased to be here today and excited to tell you about our deliveries and our progress since last year. As you heard from Nick earlier today, safe and responsible operations are integral part of our strategy and our company values. And we will continue to provide reliable and affordable oil and gas in a safe and responsible way with low emissions and low operating cost. And to deliver this, we have the perfect toolbox. We have a high-performing organization. What you've heard from Nick and Torger, Luca and Oddgeir today are the ambitions and the achievements from our entrepreneurial One Team culture. This enables us to think differently, embrace new ways of working and to continuously improve. Our strategies and values define who we are, and they give us a shared direction as one team. And we believe that a safe, inclusive and responsible workplace is the foundation for the results that we achieve. And this is reflected in low turnover and the strong employee engagement that we continue to see across the organization. Strong partnerships are also key to deliver great results. And by working closely with our strategic suppliers, partners and regulators, we deliver safer and more efficient operations with leading ESG performance. This is the team that will deliver more value for longer. And our ambition is clear. Var Energi will be the safest operator on the Norwegian continental shelf. Because safety is not just a priority, it's a prerequisite for everything we do. It's embedded in our strategy, in our values and in the personal responsibility that each of us take when we come to work to work safely and responsibly every day. And since becoming a listed company in 2022, we have continued to improve our performance. We see a positive trend in dropped objects and a continued reduction in sick leave. And this is by far industry-leading and 1/3 of the Norwegian average. And we believe this is a testimony to our highly motivated colleagues and a thriving working environment. When it comes to incidents with serious potential, we saw a positive development from 2022 to 2024. However, 2025 results are not where we want to be, and we are working hard to turn that trend. But let me be clear on the most important thing. In 2025, no one got seriously injured working for Var Energi. We had no serious process safety events, and we had no serious accidental spills to sea. And this is something we value, and it shows that we are moving in the right direction on our journey to become the safest operator. We are convinced that low emissions and low cost will have a competitive advantage, so we continue to decarbonize our operations and to deliver on our ambitions towards early 2030s. When it comes to emission reductions, our plan consists of 3 main levers: it's electrification, portfolio optimization and energy management. And as for everything we do, we have a value-driven approach, meaning we shall not only see -- achieve emission reductions, but also see benefits from either increased gas sales, higher production efficiency or reduced operating costs. Portfolio optimization, which includes the retiring of noncore assets such as the Balder FPU and Statfjord A, will continue -- contribute significantly in reducing emissions of over 100,000 net tonnes annually and, of course, improve our operating costs. Through energy management, we target to materialize approximately 10% of our emission reductions towards 2030. As an example, in 2025, we managed to reduce emissions on our operated assets by around 30,000 tonnes. And this is a good example of that entrepreneurial mindset, finding new ways to save energy that in turn reduces emissions and costs. And the emissions we can't reduce, we will offset. We will do it with nature-based quality carbon credits, which is key to deliver on our ambition to become carbon neutral in our operational emissions in 2030. In addition, we are using certified renewable electricity for the equity share of our operated assets and carbon credits from reforestation projects here in Norway to offset emissions in our value chain. Own emissions in the value chain. And we continue to develop future solutions. We are progressing on our project on developing blue carbon credits through kelp restoration here in Norway. And we are leveraging our core E&P competence. And together with license partners and European emitters, we are progressing on CCS. However, the market is developing with a slow pace and with an immature value chain and regulation. And therefore, we are maintaining a disciplined and value-driven approach in developing CCS in Var Energi. And lastly, once again, we proudly received the badge ESG Top Rated in the industry from Sustainalytics. At Var Energi, we have a clear and credible path forward. We are on track to reduce emissions by around 35% from today towards early 2030s. Currently in our portfolio, Goliat, [ Yera ], [ Omelania ], [ Tum ], [ Snova ] and Sleipner are already fully or partially electrified. Future reductions will be delivered through the already sanctioned electrification of [ Njord ] and [ Snoviit ] through portfolio optimizations that I talked about. And combined, these -- combined -- sorry, these steps materially lower our emissions while strengthening the long-term resilience of our portfolio. At the same time, we are bringing more of our future production into electrified hubs. And this means we're not only reducing emissions, we also sustain production volumes in a responsible way. By doing this, we expect that around 40% of our production will be electrified in the early 2030s. And more than half of our new projects will be tied back to already electrified assets. As I'm rounding off, I think this picture highlights why Var Energi is well positioned for the future, combining low cost with low emissions and an industry that is strongly aligned to continue to drive down emissions. And this is yet an example of Var Energi's commitment to long-term value creation. Var Energi is already performing at top quartile level. In 2025, our CO2 emissions intensity was 9.5 kilos per barrel, placing us in the top 15% of the global oil and gas producer with a trajectory of further reductions going forward. Our methane intensity is near 0, significantly better than the global average and among the very best in the industry. And I'm also proud to say that our efforts have been recognized. We recently received the Gold Standard Pathway certification from the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership, confirming both the credibility of our reporting and the strength of our plans to continue minimizing methane emissions going forward. So to conclude, our strategy remains consistent and clear. And our ambition to be the safest operator, to deliver responsibly with low emission, low cost and leading ESG performance remains. By fostering a high-performing organization with an entrepreneurial mindset, we continue to create value for longer. And with that, I say thank you for the attention. And please now let me pass the floor to our CFO, Carlo.

Okay. Thank you, Ellen, and good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. I would like to start by recapping 2025, a year characterized by transformational growth. The company has delivered a record high production, substantially above 100% reserves [ rep ] ratio and a strong financial performance. Actualized for the year, we generated $4.6 billion of cash flow from operation after tax, a 35% increase from 2024 despite a lower price environment. We have delivered on our promises to reduce operating costs down to $10 in Q4 with a 25% reduction year-on-year. We continue to have a strong financial position. The leverage ratio is stable year-over-year and down from Q3 level as anticipated. We successfully refinanced the company last year at reduced cost. And as a result, we have high available liquidity at $3.5 billion, up from $13 billion at the end of last year. We continue to deliver attractive returns to our shareholders, distributing a total of $1.2 billion for 2025. For 2026, we continue with a quarterly dividend level of $300 million for Q1 to be paid in June. Our long-term dividend policy of 25% to 30% of CFFO after tax over the cycle remains intact. We achieved robust realized prices in 2025. We generated nearly $2.2 billion in revenues in Q4 and around $8 billion for the year. Despite lower prices, this is 8% up compared to the previous year on the back of higher production. For the full year, the average realized price is $69 per BOE, and this represents a 6% premium to spot, adding 1 more year of additional revenues above market up to our track record. Looking at the fourth quarter, realized price for oil was $63 per BOE, and the same goes for gas, which represents $4 above the spot reference price. Looking forward, we have locked in 14% of our gas volumes till September at around $75 per BOE, and we continue to have a robust gas sales strategy with access to several markets while retaining the flexibility in the contracts to decide the split between month ahead, day ahead and fixed price. We have a balanced commodity mix and a strong gas position, being one of the largest exporters of gas from Norway to Europe. Around 30% of our 2025 production is gas, and most of this is [ PE ] gas to Europe. 70% of these volumes are sold under long-term offtake agreements with established and solid industrial customers in Europe. Some of these contracts are running until 2026. Our flexible gas sales strategy continues to yield the results. We can optimize around pricing points in Europe and nominate volumes on various indexes to capture upside. Since our listing in 2022, we have on average beaten the spot price by 11%. And in the past 3 years, we have generated additional revenue above spot pricing of $1.4 billion. We entered 2026 with a solid liquidity and financial position with a healthy cash balance of $700 million and a total available liquidity of $3.5 billion. We have a diversified long-term capital structure with an average debt maturity of around 5 years, which aligns with the strategic needs of the business. Looking at the development of our cash position from Q3 to Q4. We generated above $1.8 billion before tax and working capital movements, and this is up compared to the previous quarter. Tax payments amounted to $811 million, up compared to the previous quarter, given that we paid 3 tax installments in Q4. We had a cash outflow of $970 million in investments in our high-value projects and for the purchase of interest in [ Eco PPF ]. Also in November, we distributed as planned, $300 million in dividend related to our Q3 2025 results. Our value-driven capital allocation framework remains unchanged, with focus on high-value investments to support higher production, returning attractive dividends to our shareholders and ensuring resilience through the cycle. We are set for delivering higher production for longer. We have more growth opportunities, and we keep a disciplined CapEx policy with an average portfolio breakeven below $35 per barrel for the new projects. We are committed to maintain an investment-grade balance sheet and a robust credit profile while paying dividends according to our guidance. Additional free cash flow will be used for extra shareholder distribution and deleveraging. We also have clear criteria for any M&A activity with a selective and disciplined approach designed to capture growth opportunities and exploit synergies. The most important thing for us is drive value for our shareholders over time. As you heard from all my colleagues earlier, we have a strong foundation for delivering long-term value. We're improving our outlook, and we will deliver more production for longer with more than 400,000 barrels per day long term, and this is a material step-up compared to the previous outlook. Through this period, we will deliver high-margin barrels with a free cash flow breakeven of around $40. High production, short time to market and lower cost is the perfect combination to deliver a very strong and resilient free cash flow, in a range between $5 billion to $10 billion in the plan, underpinned also by high CapEx flexibility, with around 60% of CapEx towards 2032 uncommitted. And all of this with an investment-grade balance sheet. We remain committed to attractive and predictable shareholder returns. And predicated on strong profits and free cash flow generation, we maintain the long-term dividend policy of distributing 25% to 30% of CFFO after tax over the cycle in dividends to our shareholders. Looking at the next 7 years, we are well positioned to continue to generate material free cash flow while we continue to invest in high-value barrels. In the period 2026-2032, we're expecting to generate a cumulative free cash flow in the range of $5 billion to $10 billion, assuming a Brent of plus/minus $10 on our F&S case, which will be available for shareholder distribution and deleveraging. As you can see in the waterfall, the cash flow estimates include uncommitted investments and exploration CapEx, but exclude the potential future value generation associated with successful exploration discoveries, hence representing an upside. We have significant cash flow resilience and flexibility. As you can see here, we have a robust cash flow generation across various price scenarios and a material dividend capacity going forward. We are free cash flow neutral at just $40 per barrel in the period 2026-2032, including all investments and cost of financing. We also have a high degree of flexibility with regards to CapEx spending as we mature our portfolio on new development projects. We have a low leverage ratio and a solid balance sheet. And all this underpins our resilient dividend capacity in the short, medium and longer term, leaving also headroom for deleveraging and strategic flexibility across various price scenarios. We are freeing up resources to be deployed where we generate more value. We are streamlining our exploration program to make it even more focused and value-oriented, optimizing the long-term annual exploration spend down to around $200 million per year from $200 million to $300 million per year previously. This represents a reduction of up to $100 million per year. We're also improving our operating expenses compared to our previous forecast, with savings around $400 million over the period of 2026-2030, driven by significant cost reduction across the board. At the same time, we have more investment opportunities in high-value projects to create more value for longer. We are investing in a high-value portfolio with strong economics, short time to market and quick payback time. This results in an increase of our long-term production target to more than 400,000 barrels per day in the long term compared to 350,000 to 400,000 barrels per day in the previous year, while investing an average of approximately $2.5 billion per year over the plan, which is within our previous guidance. We are opportunity rich, and we will continue investing in higher production for longer. We are moving from a highly complex into a less complex standardized and short time-to-market investment phase. This will allow us to develop our reserves and resources in a much faster way, resulting in a significant value creation while maintaining capital discipline. In 2026, we are expecting development CapEx in the range of $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion. This is broadly flat from last year, notwithstanding increased activity in our early phase project portfolio, including Balder Next, and increased ownership in the [ Ecofys PPF ] projects. In the period 2027-2032, we are expecting to invest on average, around $2.5 billion per year, with high execution activity concentrated in 2027 and 2028, resulting in slightly higher CapEx than average during these 2 years. We continue to be disciplined in selecting what we bring to investment decision, and we maintain our return and breakeven requirements for the portfolio, IRR above 25% and breakeven below $35 per barrel. One important feature of operating on the NCS is the fiscal framework. The tax system allows for immediate deduction of capital spending against the special petroleum tax, and this makes it an investment supportive regime, as you can clearly see in the graph. We have improved our long-term outlook with higher production for longer and many profitable investment opportunities. But even more important, we are set to incrementally generate more value. The combination of cost discipline, investments in projects with low breakeven, short time to market and quick payback, together with a supportive tax regime, allow us to sustain the long-term returns and significantly increase the return on capital employed towards 2030 and beyond. It's all about value, but it's also about being resilient in a volatile macro environment. We have a strong balance sheet with a low leverage ratio and a target of staying below 1.3x net debt to EBITDAX threshold over the cycle. Our leverage ratio currently is 0.8x, which is well below our threshold and provides the company with ample financial flexibility. In this slide, we illustrate how our leverage ratio develops across different oil price scenarios. And what we see is that even in extended low price environment, we remain below our 1.3x threshold. And this is after dividends are paid according to our policy. And while we continue investing in our highly profitable project portfolio. This is another result of the perfect combination of cost discipline, low breakeven, short term to market, quick pay back time and supportive tax regime. We have a viable rating from Moody's and a BBB rating from Simple and Poor, both with a stable outlook. We are committed to maintaining this. Var Energi is a strong [indiscernible] company, investment opportunity reach with higher production and value creation for longer. We remain committed to deliver long-term attractive dividends to our shareholders as our track record demonstrates. We are seeing increased volatility and significant uncertainties in the world. And this can lead to a lower-for-longer price scenario. But the key focus of the management is to protect the dividends, and we will take thoughtful measures to protect this, while maintaining an investment-grade balance sheet and preserve a strong outlook. We are taking a prudent approach. And for 2026, we will guide the dividend on a quarterly basis. For the first quarter of 2026, we plan to maintain the current dividend level of $300 million, which is the same run rate as for 2025. The dividend is planned to be paid in June and will be based on the distributable equity at year-end and expected Q1 2026 profit generation. And for the full year 2026, we we will continue guiding on a quarterly basis in line with our long-term dividend policy of 25% to 30% of CFFO after tax over the cycles. We are reconfirming our long-term dividend policy of 25% to 30% of CFFO after tax over the cycle. Var Energi has an impressive track record of delivering value to our shareholders. Since we listed back in February 2022, we have delivered approximately 115% in total shareholder return. And in total, we have returned around $4.4 billion in dividends to our shareholders. Finally, I will summarize our 2026 guidance. Production guidance is 390,000 to 400,000 barrels per day. Production costs will be around $10 per barrel and we're able to sustain this level for the long term. Development CapEx will be at $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion. Exploration expenses and OpEx will be around $250 million to $300 million and $200 million, respectively. Last but not least, we are maintaining a dividend level of $300 million for Q1 2026 and we're keeping the long-term dividend policy of 25% to 30% of CFFO post tax over the cycles. With that, I hand it back to Nick for concluding remarks. Thank you.

Well, thank you, Carlo. I just -- one final slide to wrap up and emphasize our key messages again. I hope you've seen that Var Energi is a stronger derisked company positioned to generate more value for longer. Our material resource base of around 3 billion barrels is the foundation for this. As I said earlier, we've increased the outlook with higher production for longer, targeting over 400,000 barrels per day long term. As we've tried to get across today, we're opportunity rich, and we're increasing investments in a series of high-value, low-risk, short-cycle projects that will increase returns, adding, I think, significant value. And we continue to incrementally improve the business for increased resilience and flexibility with below free cash flow breakeven of around $40 per barrel. And we will generate more value for longer, supporting long-term attractive returns in line with our dividend policy of 25% to 30% of CFFO post-tax over the cycles. And as I said earlier, I believe these are the reasons to be invested in Var Energi. And with that, I'm going to hand over to Ida to lead our Q&A session. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Nick. Can I invite [ Thorhild ] and Carlo back to the state as well. We'll address questions in the room first. [Operator Instructions] And then we'll take the questions from the call afterwards. Can we start with [indiscernible] here in the middle?

This is [indiscernible] like from Jefferies. I had two questions. The first was regarding the production profile that you've highlighted in Slide 34 and 35. You've talked about improving the outlook. Of course, last year, you presented production declining to around 350. Now we see growth coming in '28 to '30. You've highlighted a lot of projects, but I just wanted to understand if you were to isolate two or three key projects that we should be looking at, that has improved that outlook. That would be interesting. The second one was regarding capital allocation. Especially, I just wanted to understand your thinking behind -- between dividends and debt reductions on leverage. Just wondering if you are penciling in any debt reductions at all at an absolute level during the -- in between 2026 and 2032? How would you be -- or otherwise, would you be open to actually increasing your net debt levels as well to support the distributions?

Yes, I can start on the first one. Actually, the message today is that we have improved all of our projects. And really, that means also an improved outlook. And I think for this year and the [ product ] that we have been working a lot and actually accelerating and bringing closer is like [ Oddgeir ] talked about, he talked about the [indiscernible] so that one is coming [indiscernible] sanctioning there. Of course, we talked about the Goliat reach and the maturation there as well as, of course, the [indiscernible] subsea projects that is also soon to come in. And on top of this is the I would say, the icing on the cake being the [indiscernible] program. So everything is being improved. Everything is seeing a better outlook today than it did one year ago.

And I think also our acquisition of a bigger interest in the [indiscernible].

Yes. Important.

Important aspect. But I think the key thing here is that what we've done is accelerate a number of projects from what we had a year ago, and we've matured them to accelerate them and really, it's a lot of things that drive this, not just -- you can't pick one or two things. It's multiple activities that drive this. And I think when you see the 40-plus projects on the chart, I think you get the sense of that acceleration and the level of activity.

Really being the prime portfolio that makes answer.

Carlo, do you want to deal with the allocation?

Yes. With the allocation, of course, it's actually a good question. The way we worked out the outlook is basically based on Thorhild was mentioning, accelerating projects and projects are very quick time to market. So going to your point, we have a leverage ratio that we're quite comfortable with it. And investing more with a very short time to market is where we continue to share [ for our ] capital to create more value and sustainable dividend while increasing the debt. So we don't want to, of course, increase the leverage. We have flexibility. We are well below our threshold, but we want to have a sustainable business over time and the kind of portfolio that is why we're exactly doing this. So it's addressing investments and very quick time to market to reshuffle capital and get the money back and sustaining the dividend. So we think the two things will really go together, attractive returns over time and reasonable and prudent leverage position.

And if you think about it, if we keep building the resource base and investing into it, we don't need to reduce debt actually, we just need to keep.

We can actually generate [ Phase 4 ]. Again, what is very important in this plan, I'm probably going [indiscernible] the question is the quick time we can invest and get the funds back somewhat. This is really a peculiarity of our investment proposition.

Teodor Sveen-Nilsen, SB1 Markets. Thank you for the detailed presentation as always. So two questions. [indiscernible], you said that M&A is top of your mind. Just wonder if you could just discuss the type of assets or any particular characteristic -- asset characteristic areas that you are keen on? And second question that is on balance sheet, by end of Q4, you had like a 2% equity ratio approximately $560 million equity. Quarterly dividend of $300 million and you earn around $100 million per quarter. So over time, unless, of course, oil and gas price increases significantly, most likely it will be lower. So the question is, are you willing to run the company with a negative book value of equity?

Good. They are two good questions, and I'll let Carl take the second one in a moment. But in terms of [ A&D ], I mean, this company has been created by putting four companies together and some other asset acquisitions. And we have the capacity and capability to do more. Now that we've delivered transformational growth, I think it's time to think about the next steps. We're not going to talk about the type of assets. But fundamentally, what we're looking at doing is acquiring opportunities where we can create a strategic for us, and we can do it at a price that we can create value, and we will maintain that discipline. But of course, we continue to look to build the business and grow it over time. And I think we have an ambition -- we set out more than 400,000 barrels a day long term. We have an ambition to make that bigger and longer. And I think we've got the capacity and capability to do it. But we'll, of course, not talk about specific opportunities or anything until we do them.

When it comes to the [indiscernible] question also we had last year. As a big company, we do an assessment, and we don't turn into negative equity, it's not something that we are clearly considering. The dividend are predicated on the base of the expected profit generation. We are entering the year. This year is going to be the highest production year. On the market, it's going to be -- might be a bit soft, but let's say, today is probably a bit different. And the levers that we have, there are several levers to sustain it. What is important is [ constant ] for the management is key to the dividend level, they're really committed to it. And there are levers that we can use in improving the business case or in optimizing our portfolio and all these things will add on to our balance sheet, and we strengthened the balance sheet to sustain the dividend. So it's not a matter of negative equity. We won't turn into negative equity, but we are confident that it's sustainable according to the profit we are going to generate.

And one thing just to stress this, I mean, the key focus of management of course, is to run the business responsibly and deliver the targets that we've set, but its key focus is to deliver and protect dividends long term. And we will take thoughtful measures to manage that. And I think this -- I'm confident we will manage this issue, Teodor, I think we have quite a number of options to do that. Of course, the first step is to generate the profit to cover it. But I think there's various levers we can use to manage this issue and I'm confident we'll deal with the challenge.

Next question from [ John ], and then we'll take Victoria afterwards.

Yes. Sorry for following up on the dividend side. But in -- when you delivered Q3, you said comfortably -- you say you're very comfortable that you will keep dividends at $1.2 billion for 2026 too and actually, I think you promised that. And now it seems like we abandoned the $1.2 billion. You're only guiding on the first quarter. Is that correct? And I wonder what kind of oil price do you need to sustain the $1.2 billion in dividend? And Carlo, you showed the chart on Slide #8 where you show that you are cash neutral about $40. The chart seems to imply that at $80, you have about $10 billion in free cash flow accumulated over the next 7 years. If you divide [ plus 7 ], that's about $1.4 billion per year. So does that seem to indicate that you need almost $80 to have a free cash flow that supports the current dividend with a little bit of deleveraging?

Well, I'll take this. When it comes to the $5 billion to $10 billion and the $10 billion that you just mentioned, I don't -- I think you have to look this on over the plan basis, so it does not imply [indiscernible] is the same. Clearly -- but as you mentioned, $80 is more than $1.2 billion, that is actually -- it's higher than that. So it's not what -- sorry?

$1.4 billion.

Yes, exactly. It's more than that. So we're putting ourselves in a higher level. When it comes to what we said in Q3, which was $1.2 billion, and we say we are confident in $1.2 billion. We have a bit different environment. It was around $70 [indiscernible] a lot of discussion about what is going to be 2026. The assessment we did is driven from the -- where we are now, not today because [ whether ] is a lot of premium for geopolitical and on this, we can't debate how long -- what is going to remain or not. But what we see a lot of volatility, a lot of significant volatilities. Look at the gas price, you have plus and minus 10% on a daily basis, it's extremely volatile. The assessment we did was a little bit more on the prudent side and say, let's assess the business, how it's going, let's assess how the market is going [indiscernible] the entire -- making the right choice for today and for tomorrow. Now we are confident in Q1, we have a visibility, $300 million, and as [indiscernible] was mentioning his top priority for the company for the management to protect the dividend level. But that's what we're including our assessment on being guiding for a quarterly basis, Q1, $300 million and then keeping the 25% to 30% guidance applicable the following quarters.

And my second question is regarding the long list of early phase projects. Is it possible to highlight like two, three key important ones in terms of volume and value that we should keep an eye on, please?

But before we do that, I'd like to just cover a little bit more on this. I mean, on the dividend, I mean the key focus of management is to deliver long-term attractive dividends to shareholders. And I think it's quite simplistic to look at our projections on various oil prices because the low prices, the business can get better. I think we can make it better. I also think we have various options to do different things. And so I think the message we tried to get across today, we have a resilient business that's got lots of optionality and flexibility and that we can use that optionality and flexibility to create different outcomes. So fundamentally, we are focused on delivering long-term attractive dividends, but we are concerned about the volatility and predictability of the market, which changes regularly. And I think our investor base would want us to be prudent about how we think about that, and that's the approach we've taken looking at this. And so we have guided for the first quarter, same run rate as for last year. And we haven't changed our long-term dividend guidance, it's 25% to 30% of CFFO over the cycles. And our aim is to continue to deliver on that through the year. recognizing the uncertainty that's out there. And that's how we've chosen to manage this going forward. I think, as I say, I think looking at our projections, they're a guide. The reality is if we have low prices for longer, we all make this business better. But I'm confident Thorhild showed a chart showing how we've changed the production chart's outlook. And I am absolutely confident that when we come back next year, that's going to look even better. And we're going to deliver even better projects. And so I think we can continue to create more of this. We've set things like $10 per barrel OpEx, I think we can drive that down further. So I think we can continue to make this company much better and that's what will allow us to long term, deliver sustainable and attractive dividends. With that [indiscernible], you can figure out which of the projects you'd like to pick out.

Yes, but it is a bit of a repeat to the earlier question. I think number one is the -- really the order of magnitude we have in this portfolio. It's fantastic, and we have been able to -- so is this [ Foreign Language ] in Norwegian, A lot of the smaller creeks make a big river directly translated, so that is one. But then also what -- I talked about our hubs. You know that we actually have early phase projects in the vicinity to all our operator hubs. I think that is really good. So then we're talking about Goliat. We are talking about [indiscernible] and Fenja which [indiscernible] talked about -- we have the U.S. subsea projects close to [ UA ]. And then don't -- in the [ Boulder ] area, we have the [indiscernible], which is a really exciting project, which constitutes the Kinder Egg as [indiscernible] renamed it, very good. And then of course, also, we mentioned the previous produced field, which is really are exciting products. So actually, you're restarting previous produced field from the late '90s, which is going to give a lot of barrels. And then, of course, also what we like is all the subsea buybacks that is coming in and around [indiscernible], where we talk about this 1 billion barrels and decades of production. So as I understand, impossible to really choose a few, it is -- the order of magnitude that is exciting. So -- and also, I think what is exciting is this -- actually that we improved the projects and execution from around 35 last year to around 30 of this year. So I think that is something to follow.

And part of the nature is we're in 50% of the producing fields in Norway, and we pretty well have investment activity into all of those and so it's sort of difficult to pick out any particular item in all of this.

Got the next question from Victoria and then we'll do [ Amish ] afterwards.

Victoria McCulloch at RBC. Firstly, on production within Slide 35 of your production, you show a 3P reserves upside, is any of that within your $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion CapEx forecast and the longer term $2.5 billion guide that you provided? Then a second question would be on the projects, the breakeven, I guess, has gone up from last year and from your projects underway from $35 a barrel to $35. Can you give us an understanding, is that project mix? Is that inflation? How do you see that characterized in the, I guess, the creep on breakeven?

Well, I didn't really get your last -- second question because I think the story is opposite, but just -- could you just repeat the second question?

Yes. So on the slide, you show $30 a barrel breakeven for the projects underway, but $35 a barrel breakeven or less than $35 a barrel breakeven for the projects that you're looking to sanction in 2026. Have you seen inflation in the market or higher costs? Or is it in project mix?

The projects that we sanctioned have a breakeven of around $30. So the power is in execution as a breakeven of around $30. Then the projects in the early phase, we see, on average a breakeven around $35. And that is what Nick just talked about, that we feel confident that we're going to work hard to improve. And I think that is also really the red thread true here is that all the projects that we have been working, we have been able to improve and that is really true better solutions. We talked about the new ways of working on -- ways of working and distribution. Yes, we are making more efficient concepts that get more barrels out of the ground for less, simply said. So I think -- and that we're going to continue working. And so when Carlos showed the CapEx, this is not inflation driven. This is activity-driven and the fact that it is driven by our ability to improve the business cases. That means that you actually [indiscernible] on to us and make them ready for sanction. So that's what we are working.

Maybe I could [ fix ] that. What we haven't done is change our targets. Actually, a year ago, we said we want to do projects at less than $35 breakeven and we've been incredibly disciplined. In fact, we've recycled a number of projects to drive this down. And I think we've maintained a less than $35 breakeven, but our focus is not that. It's much lower. And we've been able to do some projects quite a lot lower. And I think this environment will actually deflate some costs, and we're already seeing that and allow us to to make our projects better.

Yes. And then to your question about the 3C, those are not included. What is covered in our CapEx is the development of the 2P and the 2C.

[ So it was written ] to the 3P on the production schedule. Is any of that an upside that you could get without additional CapEx being added?

Now that is really to utilize the potential and opportunities in the existing. So we have not allocated CapEx to that.

No, but we could, Victoria, get some of that because of better performance. So I mean there's a bit of two things around this. Does it need more investment, but also can we get it for nothing, which is the nature of 3P resource a lot at the time.

[indiscernible] In your impairment note in the quarterly report, you give the price assumptions, which you use when you do impairment testing. And those prices are well above your price deck in the presentation material. So I was just wondering, why don't you use the same prices in your price deck in the presentation material as you do in your impairment testing? That's my first question. I would assume that's a reasonable assessment. Second question is on CapEx. Could you please provide some sort of guidance or indication what kind of investment you're incurring per, I don't know, 100 million barrels of resources developed. So we have some sort of a figure to think about your CapEx going forward, given the mix of the portfolio, I presume it's low CapEx as it's a lot of [indiscernible], et cetera?

Yes, I can take the one for impairment. You mentioned the -- I suppose you are referring to the, what was that, $79 from 2028, for instance?

Yes.

Just for consideration. Those are nominal and what we're showing here is the [indiscernible]. So the $75 we are showing in 2028 in the deck of the [indiscernible] to be inflated 2% basically. So it won't be that different honestly. It's just a different shape.

But aren't your figures in the presentation nominal figures?

No. Those are [ EF ] terms.

Okay. So all the figures that you refer to when it comes to CFFO, et cetera, are [indiscernible] terms?

Sorry, those are nominal figures. $5 billion to $10 billion is not going [indiscernible] so we apply the deck that we have presented, and this deck is just inflated with the base inflation, 2% as we've always done. So the two figures we are looking at are actually quite [ single ] on a nominal basis.

Okay. I can revert that later. And the CapEx question?

Yes, the CapEx question I'm still thinking on. No, I think it -- at least I think it will be difficult to give you a number, dollar per barrel what we communicated is the breakevens of our portfolio. And as we also said, we are staying very disciplined. That means that we are maintaining the sanctioning of $35 internal rate of return above '25. And we see for the projects in execution, as I said, around $30 and then for the early phase, around $35. And then also, of course, Carlo talked to the CapEx guidance going forward for being in the range, $2.5 billion post 2026. I think that is what we have to relate to in this regard. I think it's a bit difficult to -- because it's various equity and all these kind of things. But I think the message and you had it, right, because the subsea tiebacks, they are lower risk, they are standardized, and they are really, let's say, CapEx efficient. So it brings a lot of value per dollar invested. And also, as I think Carlo said a few times, really this short payback time and really also the short cycle time, which makes it very would say, cash generative.

But you have depreciation of -- in the low 20s per barrel. And if you spend -- if you have breakeven of below 35, I would assume that you would push it out further down in your communication if it was much lower and an OpEx of 10, that kind of suggests CapEx of $20 to $25 per barrel of new investments, would that be fair?

Yes. But I think you have to -- I mean, you have to look at it slightly differently. I mean all our tieback -- all our developments are tiebacks, so they come with very low OpEx per barrel. They're not $10.

I said in my presentation, I said $3 per average in operational costs. So that is really the beauty with these projects. They are utilizing existing infrastructure. So really, it's very low incremental operational cost. -- and of course, also the low emission that helps both on -- say, the operational cost and the tax side of things. So that is the beauty of this project.

We're going to cover a couple of questions from the call before we round up with some final questions from the room. We have Nash from Barclays on the line.

It's Nash Barclays. Thanks for the detailed presentation. Two questions, if that's okay. The first one I want to ask about Slide 35. I thought it's an interesting slide, but I wonder, [indiscernible] assets drive the quick production decline post 2030 and should we think roughly $2.5 billion is the CapEx you need to keep production flat? And then my second question is, it's nice to hear that you guys adopting better technologies, including AI to save cost and improve efficiency. Would you be able to quantify some of the impact over there? And could there be any upside given how quickly that AI is evolving?

So Nash, good afternoon. Page 35 is the question that you had to the start -- the first question. Maybe you could just repeat it.

Yes. Sorry, Nick. My question is, what drives the production decline after 2030? There's a big -- if I look at the dark blue section, there's a big sharp decline after 2030. I wonder what's your assumption over there? And then is $2.5 billion CapEx roughly as a run rate to keep production flat?

I think the way to look at this is that our investments start to run out at that point because what we've put in the hopper here is the development of 2/3 of our 2C contingent resources. And naturally, the activity starts to drop off. In reality, as we move forward, we've got quite a lot of discovered resource that we haven't put projects to. I would expect us to find ways to do that. And secondly, Luca is going to find us lots more oil and gas. And I would expect that we're going to create new projects as we've demonstrated. So the reality is this should get better over time. And I think we wanted to show you an outlook that shows where we can see today and where we see the certainty. But the reality is our capital drops off at the end of this time frame, and that's what drives that.

It is really the lead time, as Nick is saying. And also as we said earlier, we don't include any exploration here. talk about the technology and artificial intelligence. Number one, I think it's difficult to quantify a number. And -- but we see a significant -- you know, the potential is immense. And that is also what we communicate or try to communicate at least is that we are setting very tough ambitions how we are going to drive improvements in our core business from subsurface, drilling and well production development and operations. And really where we see this is, what you say, skyrocketing or amplifying is when we are able to combine it. And that is we are seeing big results already on this particular -- and I think you -- my favorite movie today, she showed it very well because in the [ Boulder ] area, where we have been producing for a long, long, long time. Able to combine the new seismic OBN ocean bottom node seismic with artificial intelligence then suddenly, we are able to develop more, for instance, infill wells. So this is really, I will say, paying off fast, and we see a big, big potential and looking forward to come back and talk more about and present more about this going forward and next year, for sure. But as I said, we want to be best on this, and we have big ambitions that is shown on the slide here. So more to come.

I've also got a question from Christian at Citi.

Tianhong Bi from Citi. I've got a few questions, please. The first one is on your new production forecast. So in the past, you emphasized a phrase of organically sustaining production through 2030 but you've not used stuff wording this time. So should we assume that achieving the new 400,000 barrel per day production outlook now definitely requires some inorganic M&A. And in the medium term, it looks like you'll need contributions from the 3P volumes to reach the 400,000 barrel per day. I understand these are largely linked to the upside in reservoir performance you have any past success cases where 3P volumes have actually contributed? And lastly, I want to follow up on the book value of equity. You talked about balance sheet with sufficient free equity in the footnote. Is there a threshold level that you're required to maintain? And given that your book equity is already running quite slim can we assume from a modeling perspective that you may need to issue more hybrid capital to keep your book equity above a certain threshold?

Maybe if I get the first one and Carlo does the second one. In terms of our production outlook, what we've set out there is continued production out of our 2P reserve base, which includes developed resource and and the 13 projects in development, and it includes development of the 30 early phase projects that we set out, which were -- which are based on discovered resource. We don't need exploration to deliver that outlook. We don't need acquisitions to deliver that outlook. Those things would create more value and upside on that. But I look at the diversity of our portfolio. And I think there's opportunity and upside opportunity in many, many places. I think there's the opportunity for 3P reserves in some places. I think there's opportunity to develop the other part of our 2C continued resources, which are not included in the the developed volume that we're looking at, which is about 2/3 of -- or 300 million barrels, close to of the 900 million barrels, which we can move forward. And I'm confident that we will generate more exploration opportunities. We've made 6 discoveries last year. One is already in production. Three , one is already committed development and the other four are moving in the right direction to be developed. And we would expect to continue to do that. And I think what you should expect is that over time, the trajectory that Thorhild showed is that we've been able to progressively show an improvement in the outlook for the company and organically grow resources, which is what we're based on. I think we can continue to do that over many years.

Yes, I'll take this so when it comes to the hybrid you mentioned. So as we say, the dividends are predicated on the basis of the profit generation and predicated also based on the various levers that we have that we were discussing before, when it comes specific to the hybrid is a tool to strengthen the balance sheet, which is available. You know that you already have issued one back in '23. So we know the product. There is a very active market. So it's a tool that -- is in the toolbox to consider it.

I've got two more questions in writing, one from Matt Smith of Bank of America. Does the CapEx outlook already take into account the potential to reduce high project equity stakes?

The answer to that is no. So we -- if we sell some of our assets, then we would reduce the capital in the outlook.

It's based on equity as of today.

And then the question -- second question from Vidar at Danske Bank. I believe you mentioned production hit 443,000 barrels on the 23rd of January, while it has averaged 2 out of 423 in the first week of February. And from Slide 25, it looks like you expect Q1 to average further below this. Could you provide some color on what drives the decline in production through the latter part of Q1?

Well, I don't think we should call it a decline in production. It is -- really won't say there is, let's say, planned regularity on this installation that reflects the PAM production as such. And of course, also, we we have some startups that is coming in and adds to this. So I think that what we have been showing and what have been producing is very much in accordance to plan. But then, of course, you have some days whenever thing is sticking which was the 23rd of January. That then showed the potential as such when you have the, let's say, simultaneous uptime. And you don't -- I said we are planning with our production efficiency is never 100% as such.

So I've got one question from Stefan here, DNB.

Thank you. Steffen Evjen from DNB Carnegie. Two questions. On the Goliat gas export. Just wondered, since it's now 5% of your 2P reserves, when should we expect those gas opts to hit your volumes, your production? And what kind of revenues could we expect for -- on your side from those volumes? And my second question is on the Jotun FPSO debottlenecking there as well. How much more production capacity can you get out of that FPSO once that project is finished?

Do you want to get those, Thorhild?

Yes, I'll try, I just have to wait on the -- so I remember. The Goliat gas is really what constituting of elements. One is the gas and then it's, I would say, the -- including the oil. But really what that is going to help us with is that, that is one. It's going to let say, be an exit for the gas, and that is also going to optimize the drainage strategy, meaning that we are able to produce more oil so that is, of course, our value equation that we are going to realize immediately when that project is started up. And then it is the gas. And there we will have -- unless we go to [indiscernible] and then we will have our gas redelivery from Snovhit and there is available capacity at Snovhit. So really, it's two ways of monetizing this. It's the additional oil and then following the improved drainage strategy and then is the gas when the gas capacity is available at Snovhit.

So yes, just a follow-up on that, isn't Snovhit sort of actual capacity for quite some time?

Yes. Snovhit, we have -- yes, that's correct. Snovhit have our full capacity into the 2040s. So really, the value question, the immediate value creation of the startup here is related to the oil part, and then later, it's related to the gas part. But this is a good project. And as also [ Olga ] said, it's -- we will be ready for sanction during this year.

And I think it's worth saying, this is quite a simple project. I mean, it's a very short pipeline length for us to connect this up. And then the other side of this is if when we develop Goliat Ridge, we need to do something with the gas. We can't put it back into the reservoir, and this is the cheapest way of dealing with that. So not only is the project stand-alone on its own and create value, good value, it's leveraging when we look at the Goliat reach development.

And then the Jotun debottlenecking. And that is also -- is really serving two or three purpose. One, it is about debottlenecking the gas and water capacity at Jotun so that will then lead to two things: our ability to accelerate production that we can take more oil to the FPSO. And then secondly, which is having a big impact is, of course, that we then can take [indiscernible] because then we don't need the capacity [indiscernible] so we can take that to shore and then reduce the OpEx, reduce emission. And also, as I will say, a benefit there is that we then are drilling new wells that is both draining the old remaining reserves at -- related to the [indiscernible] and then increasing the recovery in the area. So that is really the see [indiscernible] talked about there.

I think we have room for one more question from -- Oh yes, sorry, I couldn't see you there. Alejandra, JPMorgan.

Alejandra, from JPMorgan. Given the higher investment level outlined today to support your stronger production outlook, where should we expect dividends to fall within the 25% to 30% range in the near term? And my second question is on the $500 million cost reduction program you announced last year for '25 and '26, could you update us on progress so far and how much of that benefit is now reflected in your cost and cash flow guidance?

Could Carlo...

Yes, sure. May I ask you to repeat, please, the first part of the question. If you don't mind, if you can repeat.

The first question?

Yes, the first question, please. Yes.

So where within the 25% to 30% range should we expect the payouts in the near term given the higher investment level for your stronger production outlook?

Sure. We are confirming 25% to 30%. And actually, the increase in CapEx, again, is to be seen in the contrast of which kind of investment we are doing. We're doing investment at a very short time to market and very quick in terms of payback. So we are shuffling the capital very quickly. Every [indiscernible] basically you'll start getting the money back, 2 to 3 [indiscernible]. And this is what is sustaining the dividend long term and the 25% to 30% then still works. So we have to put together, I believe, a few elements that we have to consider are quick time to market, continued sustaining of profit and cash generation for the dividend. And at the same time, the leverage that, as we've shown, is well below where we want to be. We have a lot of flexibility. You have seen [indiscernible] presented at even lower price, we still remain very well within -- so you're going to have -- there's an ample flexibility when it comes to investing and sustaining the dividend. So there's no sort of contradiction of competition. It's actually an enhancing circle where you invest quick time to market, quick returns and continued shuffling capital and the cash generation. That's the model.

And then to the $500 million. I think we have really, let's say, net what we said, but it's -- and I will try to explain it. We talked about exploration and look at it, that we are then reducing the exploration expenditures. We were around 400 for last year. We are 250 to 300 this year and then for the longer term, around 200 following the improvement in efficiency and the focus on quality. So that's one. I also talked about the OpEx where we are taking out USD 400 million over the period '26 to '30 which comes in addition to the [indiscernible] and then comes to CapEx. And this is where it comes a little bit complicated because really, we have been able to improve all our projects and that includes that we are improving the income side and reducing the cost side. But that also means that we are able to move products closer to us. So really, we've taken out a lot of cost, but you don't see it in the sense that we are, in a way, self-funding our projects. In addition to that, comes also the previous produced fields where we increased our equity so that is also coming in there. So all in all, we have been really prudent on taking down and out cost but that is also meaning that we have an ability to improve our -- and accelerate our value equation through the early phase projects and the projects that we're going to sanction this year.

Any further questions? One here from Teodor here at the front. Thank you.

Thank you. We saw high gas prices in January, have you been able to take [indiscernible] either selling gas to high prices or looking in some of the price? And if I may, one -- a second question also the status of the [indiscernible] gas pipeline?

Okay. I'll just take the first one.

And then I'll get the second then.

As [indiscernible] we are doing [indiscernible] we are, as usual, quite active when it comes to -- in regards to trading our gas. So we are -- 14% of our production has already been locked at $75 is the result of the Gas [indiscernible] previous year. We are taking some position also leveraging on the high gas price that we saw in January. As you see, this is an example of the volatility. There's been a few days very high, then 10% less, then 5% up. So we are anyway taking active position already locking some interesting sale of [ express ] transaction, yes.

And then on the balance to Gas, I mean, I think everyone knows we spent some money together with others, Equinor and [indiscernible] exploring over recent years with the aim to try and move the understanding of the gas resource forward. I mean there's -- clearly, there's a lot of gas there, but not quite enough for about half and as much as enough needed to develop a new export route. And I think we've drilled a few wells last year. And then I think we need to sit back, we've got reduced activity there this year, but I think next year, we'll have some more wells and I think we just need to see how this progresses over time. It's clear today we don't have enough gas to develop an export route. But let's see where it progresses over time. And I think there's still some big prospects there, and we have one or two prospects that could be, themselves, be big enough, and we need to work them up for...

One final question here.

You said in the presentation that the CapEx will be slightly higher in '27 and '28. And now you gave a figure from '27 to '32, which is a pretty long period. So could you give some more clarity on the '27, '28 figure? Is it 50% above or 100% above?

It's not 100%.

Yes, you can assume around 15% to 20% above the average for a couple of years. It's still a preliminary figure. We're working on the plan and the number of activities here.

[indiscernible] me and the CFO is fighting a little bit because this is what -- as it stands today, slightly bigger. But of course, we are going to work to make things better. And maybe we will see it back to the numbers.

But yes but in the context of CapEx [indiscernible].

Not. It's 10% to 15%.

This is really immaterial in the overall scheme of things given the tax system here.

Thank you. That concludes the Q&A and the Capital Markets update. Thank you all for joining, and we wish you a good rest of your day.