i3 Energy PLC (AIM:I3E, TSX:ITE, OTC:ITEEF) reported £86.8mln of net revenues and £48.8mln of net operating income for 2021, after the acquisition of producing assets in Canada transformed the business.
Production from the assets, located in Alberta, Canada, averaged 12,442 barrels oil equivalent per day and reached 18,229 boepd through the fourth quarter as integration of the assets continued.
Cashflow from operations for the year totalled £24.4mln. The company paid to shareholders some 0.36p per share of dividends during the year – and in December, it announced £11.8mln or 1.05p per share will be paid in dividends over 2022. Some US$66mln of forecast unencumbered cash could support additional distributions, it added, as the company aims to return around 30% of free cash flow.
"2021 was another truly transformational year for i3 which saw very significant growth for the company across all factors which drive shareholder value - production, cashflow, reserves and portfolio scale and scope,” said chief executive Majid Shafiq.
He added: “We are transformed into a strong, diversified production company with significant near-term growth catalysts over which we have operational control.”
Shafiq, meanwhile, highlighted the company’s significant progression through the year. “We entered the year having completed two acquisitions in late January 2020 which saw our entry to the Canadian E&P market with circa 9,000 boepd of production.
“We have just exited Q1 2022 producing in excess of 20,000 boepd with year-end audited 2P reserves of 154mln barrels oil equivalent with a valuation of US$775mln and forecast net operating income for the year of US$192mln.”
The company expects efforts with the drill bit will play a part in its growth through 2022, after it recently greenlighted a programme of well drilling and reactivations, with a capital budget of US$47mln forecast to deliver a further 20,000 boepd of additional production from the company’s existing asset base.
Elsewhere, i3 noted that it retains plans to drill an appraisal well at the Serenity project in the UK North Sea where it recently signed up farm-in partner Europa Oil & Gas which will earn a 25% stake in the project by paying 46.25% of the well drilling costs.
In March, i3 noted that it had held talks with a number of other interested parties and that those talks were ongoing and may result in the farm-out of further stakes in the project.