Norway's state-controlled Equinor more than tripled its full year profit in 2022, although it slipped in the final three months of the year as gas and oil prices slid comparatively lower.
Equinor posted a profit of $7.90bn for the October-December period, a drop of 16pc on the quarter. It made a profit of $28.74bn for 2022, up from $8.58bn in 2021.
Equinor's output fell year on year in the fourth quarter, with equity production of 2.05mn b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) down by 5pc from the same period of 2021. Production was affected by "turnarounds in the US offshore, the exit from Russian assets and deferral of gas production from the Norwegian continental shelf to periods with higher demand", the company said. Equinor's liquids output declined by 6pc on the year in 2022. Its gas production rose by 2pc, underpinned by an 8pc rise in European output. This led to an overall fall in equity production for 2022 of 1.9pc to 2.04mn boe/d.
Equinor has "no plans to significantly ramp [gas output] up", chief executive Anders Opedal said today, although he pointed to continued steady supply. It is "a little bit of a nervous market", he said, noting that gas demand will need to drop for storage to be refilled.
The company expects production growth of around 3pc in 2023, compared with 2022.
It realised an average liquids price of $94.1/bl in 2022 — an increase of 42pc on the year. The average liquids price in the October-December period, at $80.4/bl, slipped on the quarter by 14pc but was still 6pc higher than a year earlier. Equinor brought online several projects in the fourth quarter, including Peregrino phase 2 in Brazil and Johan Sverdrup phase 2 offshore Norway.
Equinor realised a European gas price of $27.22/mn Btu in October-December — down by 36pc on the quarter and by 5pc on the year. But its average realised European gas prices for 2022 more than doubled, to $31.22/mn Btu.
Equinor's power output was 2.7TWh in 2022, up by 70pc on the year. Of this, 1.65TWh was renewable generation — an increase of 5.6pc on the year. Equinor's floating offshore wind 88MW Hywind Tampen project generated first power in the fourth quarter of 2022 and its under-construction 3.6GW Dogger Bank wind farm will start up this year. Equinor has a goal of 12-16GW of installed renewable capacity by 2030 and expects "project base returns" of 4-8pc.
"Our ambition is to be a leading company in the energy transition", chief executive Anders Opedal said. The company has accessed 30mn t/yr of CO2 storage, as part of its ambitions on carbon capture and storage (CCS) — despite pulling out of the Polaris CO2 storage site earlier this month.
The company kept its organic capital expenditure (capex) broadly steady, at $10bn-11bn for this year and an annual average of around $13bn for 2024-26. "Inflation is baked in" to those estimates, Opedal said. It has proposed an increase of 50pc in its ordinary cash dividend, to $0.30/share.
Equinor will pay close to $47bn in tax for 2022 when all payments are complete, Opedal said, adding it is "a record to be proud of".
