Serinus Energy plc (LON:SENX, WSE:SEN), has announced its interim results for the six months ended 30th June 2022.
Financial
· Revenue for the six months ended 30 June 2022 was $29.3 million (30 June 2021 – $15.9 million)
· Funds from operations for the six months ended 30 June 2022 were $8.2 million (30 June 2021 – $5.3 million)
· EBITDA for the six months ended 30 June 2022 was $8.1 million (30 June 2021 – $5.5 million)
· Gross profit for the six months ended 30 June 2022 was $8.0 million (30 June 2021 – $2.1 million)
· The Company realised a net price of $154.83/boe for the six months ended 30 June 2022 comprising:
o Realised oil price – $101.63/bbl
o Realised natural gas price – $33.80/Mcf
· The Group’s operating netback remained strong for the six months ended 30 June 2022 and was $113.38/boe (30 June 2021 – $26.72/boe), comprising:
o Romania operating netback – $171.01/boe (30 June 2021 – $28.73/boe)
o Tunisia operating netback – $63.49/boe (30 June 2021 – $21.85/boe)
· Capital expenditures of $4.2 million (30 June 2021 – $5.9 million), comprising:
o Romania – $3.5 million
o Tunisia – $0.7 million
· Working capital improved to $2.8 million (31 December 2021 – $0.6 million)
· Cash balance as at 30 June 2022 was $7.2 million (31 December 2022 – $8.4 million)
Operational
· Canar-1 exploration well commenced drilling on 4 August 2022
· Canar-1 will be drilled to 1,600 metres, targeting three prospective hydrocarbon zones and with success will be connected to the Moftinu gas plant, utilising current plant capacity
· Immediately upon completion of the drilling of Canar-1, the rig will be moved to the Moftinu Nord-1 location and will commence drilling of the Moftinu Nord-1 exploration well
· Moftinu Nord-1 will be drilled to a depth of 1,000 metres and will target a field similar to the Moftinu gas field. Moftinu Nord-1 is approximately five kilometres to the north of the Moftinu gas development project
· Management estimates 181 million barrels of mean unrisked resource are present within the Satu Mare concession area
· The Company has initiated a geological and geophysical review of the Satu Mare concession to high rank the 181 million barrels of oil equivalent prospects
· In Tunisia, production has remained stable in the first half of 2022. All material and consumables for the artificial lift programme at the Sabria W-1 well have been received in-field and the Company is awaiting mobilisation of the rig
· Workover at the CS-9 well at Chouech Es Saida is ongoing
· Production for the period averaged 1,006 boe/d, comprising:
o Romania – 485 boe/d
o Tunisia – 521 boe/d
· In April 2022, the Company performed a lifting of 42,000 bbls of Tunisian crude oil at a price of $104.79/bbl
· The Company has scheduled the next lifting and expects to perform this lifting in August 2022
OPERATIONAL UPDATE AND OUTLOOK
Serinus Energy plc and its subsidiaries is an oil and gas exploration, appraisal and development company. The Group is the operator of all its assets and has operations in two business units: Romania and Tunisia.
ROMANIA
The Group’s Romanian operating subsidiary holds the licence to the Satu Mare concession area, covering approximately 3,000 km2 in the north-west of Romania. The Moftinu Gas Development project began production in 2019. The development project includes the Moftinu gas plant, and currently operates four gas wells – Moftinu-1003, Moftinu-1004, Moftinu-1007 and Moftinu-1008 with a second compressor installed and commissioned on Moftinu-1007 in February 2022. During the six months ended 30 June 2022, the Company’s Romanian operations produced a total of 524 MMcf of gas and 501 barrels of condensate, equating to an average daily production of 485 boe/day. Production continues to reflect the natural decline profile of shallow gas fields. The installation of compression has stabilised production from those wells with compression. The Company is reviewing the production performance versus the prognosed production as determined by the Company’s technical staff and the Company’s independent reserve engineers and is considering additional production wells on the Moftinu structure to maximise reservoir drainage.
The Company has commenced drilling of the first of two exploration wells scheduled in the second half of 2022 in Romania to find additional gas resources that can be produced and processed through the existing capacity available at the Moftinu gas plant. Canar-1 is a 1,600 metre exploration well targeting multi-stacked sands located approximately four kilometres from the Moftinu gas plant. Immediately upon completion of the drilling of Canar-1 the Company will move the rig to the Moftinu Nord-1 location and begin drilling this well. Moftinu Nord-1 is a 1,000 metre deep exploration well located approximately five kilometres to the north of the Moftinu gas plant. Upon success both wells may be tied into existing gas plant manifold points.
Serinus conducted a thorough review of the Satu Mare exploration portfolio and high-graded the area, and prospects to the immediate north and east of the Moftinu field. In February 2022, the 112km 2D seismic acquisition programme over high-ranked prospects was executed over this area and compliments reprocessed legacy 2D seismic and the existing Moftinu 3D dataset. The 2D seismic data was processed and AVO analysis and interpretation confirmed the recoverable resource potential of the highly ranked prospects. From this interpretation, the Company determined optimal drilling locations for the 2022 drilling programme. Additional interpretation work is also being conducted on the Santau 3D area with a view to confirming drilling locations on prospects that will form the basis for future multi-well drilling campaigns.
Serinus has also initiated a block-wide geological and geophysical study to verify and enhance our understanding of the exploration portfolio beyond the Moftinu area. Management has estimated the exploration potential of the block to be 181 million barrels of oil equivalent, on a mean unrisked recoverable resource. These additional studies will look to high rank future exploration prospects.
Gas pricing in Romania remained at high levels through the first half of 2022, with an average realised price of $36.67/mcf. Gas prices on the Romanian Commodity Exchange continue to remain strong over the third quarter of 2022 to date.
TUNISIA
The Company currently operates two concession areas within Tunisia, Sabria and Chouech Es Saida, which have discovered oil and gas reserves and are currently producing. The Ech Chouech licence, which can only be produced through the Chouech Es Saida facilities, expired in May 2022. The Company has followed the regulatory process to seek an extension of this licence with the Tunisian authorities, but no progress has been forthcoming to date. The largest asset is the Sabria field; a large, conventional oilfield which the Company’s independent reservoir engineers have estimated to have approximately 445 million barrels of oil-originally-in-place. Of this oil-in-place only 1.0% has been produced to date due to a low rate of development on the field.
The Company is in position to immediately begin workover operations on the Sabria W-1 well as soon as La Compagnie Tunisienne de Forage (“CTF”), the monopoly national drilling company, is able to comply with the terms of the agreed rig contract. The Sabria W-1 wellsite has been prepared for the intervention which will install the first submersible pump for the Artificial Lift programme in the Sabria field. All materials required for this intervention are in our in-country warehouse. The Company has signed a rig contract for the CTF 006 rig and is awaiting mobilization from another operator and the workover and pump installation at the Sabria W-1 well will commence as soon as the rig is available. CTF has notified the Company that it is now unable to deliver the CTF 006 rig as contractually agreed. The Company is working with CTF, its partner, ETAP, and the Ministry of Energy to procure an alternative rig as per the terms of the previously agreed CTF rig contract.
Upon completion of the workover and pump installation at Sabria W-1, the rig will move to the Sabria N-2 well to perform a workover to recomplete the well. This well was drilled in 1980 but was damaged during completion and, although in proximity to producing wells, was not able to flow oil to surface due to damage during completion. The workover program will re-complete the well and remove any wellbore restrictions.
Additional pumps and long-lead items for the Sabria field artificial lift programme have been ordered.
Production remains stable at the Chouech Es Saida field as a result of the Company’s programme of pump installation and maintenance.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
LIQUIDITY, DEBT AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
During the six months ended 30 June 2022, the Company invested a total of $4.2 million (2021 – $5.9 million) on capital expenditures before working capital adjustments. In Romania, the Group invested $3.5 million (2021 – $5.2 million) on compression on the Moftinu-1007 well, the completion of the 2D seismic acquisition programme and expenditure ahead of the drilling campaign on the exploration wells. In Tunisia, the Company invested $0.7 million (2021 – $0.7 million) for workovers on wells.
The Company’s funds from operations for the six months ended 30 June 2022 were $8.2 million (2021 – $5.3 million). Including changes in non-cash working capital, the cash flow generated from operating activities in 2022 was $3.4 million (2021 – $5.9 million). The Company continues to be in a strong position to expand and continue growing production within our existing resource base. The Company is debt-free and has adequate resources available to deploy capital into both operating segments to deliver growth and shareholder returns.
| ($000) | 30 June | 31 December |
| Working Capital | 2022 | 2021 |
| Current assets | 19,490 | 17,625 |
| Current liabilities | (16,674) | (16,994) |
| Working Capital | 2,816 | 631 |
Working capital at 30 June 2022 has improved to $2.8 million (31 December 2021 – $0.6 million). The increase in working capital is primarily due to an increase in Trade and other receivables as a result of strong cash flows.
Current assets as at 30 June 2022 were $19.5 million (31 December 2021 – $17.6 million), an increase of $1.9 million. Current assets consist of:
· Cash and cash equivalents of $7.2 million (31 December 2021 – $8.4 million)
· Restricted cash of $1.2 million (31 December 2021 – $1.1 million)
· Trade and other receivables of $10.4 million (31 December 2021 – $7.4 million)
· Product inventory of $0.7 million (31 December 2021 – $0.6 million)
Current liabilities as at 30 June 2022 were $16.7 million (31 December 2021 – $17.0 million), a decrease of $0.2 million. Current liabilities consist of:
· Accounts payable of $8.7 million (31 December 2021 – $9.7 million)
· Decommissioning provision of $6.6 million (31 December 2021 – $6.6 million)
o Brunei – $1.6 million (31 December 2021 – $1.6 million)
o Canada – $1.0 million (31 December 2021 – $1.0 million) which is offset by restricted cash in the amount of $1.2 million (31 December 2021 – $1.1 million) in current assets
o Romania – $nil million (31 December 2021 – $0.3 million)
o Tunisia – $4.0 million (31 December 2021 – $3.7 million)
· Income taxes payable of $1.0 million (31 December 2021 – $0.5 million)
· Current portion of lease obligations of $0.3 million (31 December 2021 – $0.2 million)
NON-CURRENT ASSETS
Property, plant and equipment (“PP&E”) decreased to $63.9 million (31 December 2021 – $71.7 million), primarily due to depletion in the period of $3.5 million as well as a change in decommissioning estimates of $4.2 million which decreased due to the higher discount rates applied to the calculation during the period, partially offset by capital expenditures in PP&E of $1.2 million. Exploration and evaluation assets (“E&E”) increased to $7.6 million (31 December 2021 – $5.0 million), primarily due to expenditures incurred on the 2D seismic acquisition programme and preparations for the drilling programme in Romania. Right-of-use assets increased to $0.5 million (31 December 2021 – $0.3 million) due to expenditures incurred on corporate assets.
