Enquest PLC (AIM:ENQ) told investors it remains committed to the UK despite the recently extended and expanded windfall tax which the North Sea producer described as “particularly disappointing”.
Chief executive Amjad Bseisu, in a statement, said the UK government's move to increase the levy to 35% from 25% (taking the effective rate to 75% of UK profits) and stretch the scheme out to 2028 threatens the delivery of UK's twin objectives of long-term energy security and decarbonisation.
In terms of its own operations, EnQuest announced it expects full-year production to land around the mid-point of its guidance range, which was pitched at 44,000 to 51,000 barrels oil equivalent per day.
Looking to 2023, the North Sea firm said it would continue to look at “low-cost and quick payback organic opportunities” whilst detailing plans within its existing portfolio, including programmes for the Magnus, PM8/Seligi and Golden Eagle assets.
Magnus has in recent months been a focus with the company successfully completing the North Magnus well, which it said has so far delivered a strong performance. A necessary and planned shutdown of Magnus meant lost production days, but nevertheless resulted in additional gas capacity, rising up to 20mln cubic feet per day from the field.
EnQuest reported net production rates of 46,593 boepd for the 10 months to the end of October, marking a 5.2% increase on the corresponding months of 2021. The company, meanwhile, noted that production from the Kraken field is seen at the upper end of its guidance, which was 22,000 to 26,000 boepd.