The largest UK-listed independent oil and gas company has turned around large losses in 2020 to be strongly in the black last year.
Harbour Energy’s results out this morning showed pre-tax profits of £239million last year against a deficit of £742million previously.
Revenue and other income in 2021 hit £2.745billion compared to £1.850billion in the year before.
Production in 2021 edged up to 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 173,000 in 2020.
Scottish-based Harbour has four offices in the UK - three of them in Aberdeen – and 1,500 employees worldwide.
Chief executive Linda Cook said today that 2021 was a transformational year with completion of the merger of Chrysaor with Premier Oil to create Harbour.
She added that it was the company’s third significant transaction since 2017. As a result, Harbour had become a public company with a global footprint.
The CEO went on: “With our scale, our commitment to producing safely and responsibly, our robust balance sheet and track record of successful M&A, I believe we are well placed to deliver value creation, growth and shareholder returns. I am proud of all we accomplished in our first year as a listed company and excited for our future.”
As regards the outlook for Harbour, the company said its balance sheet is strong.
It went on: “The importance of this has perhaps never been more evident than it is today with the triple impacts of a global pandemic, an uneven path towards a lower carbon economy and, more recently, the conflict in Ukraine.
“Against this backdrop, and with volatile commodity prices, we are generating material and resilient free cash flow, underpinned by our high quality, diverse UK asset base.
“At $100 a barrel and 200p per therm average prices for 2022, we expect to generate between $1.5billion (£1.14billion) and $1.7billion (£1.29billion) of free cash flow - after tax and the $200million (£151million) dividend payment - with the potential to be debt-free in 2023. As a result, we have significant optionality over our future capital allocation, including for meaningful value-accretive transactions and additional shareholder returns.
Harbour was founded by private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners in 2014 with a strategy to acquire conventional, cash-generative, producing assets outside of North America.
In 2017, Harbour made its first acquisition - backing Chrysaor Holdings to acquire a package of UK North Sea assets from Shell for $3billion (£2.28billion) and, in 2019, it acquired ConocoPhillips UK North Sea for $2.7billion (£2.05billion).
Then last year, through a reverse takeover, Chrysaor merged with Premier to create Harbour.
Its UK offshore operated positions include Greater Britannia, J-Area, the AELE Hub, Solan, Catcher, the East Irish Sea and Tolmount area in the southern North Sea.
It also has non-operated stakes in numerous long-life assets including Clair, Buzzard, Beryl, Elgin/Franklin and Schiehallion.
Onshore, it owns the Rivers terminal at Barrow-in-Furness and has interests in the Sullom Voe oil terminal in Shetland.
Its UK pipeline system interests include the Central Area Transmission System (CATS), European Transmission System (ETS), the Shearwater Elgin Area Line (SEAL), the Graben Area Export Line (GAEL), the West of Shetland Pipeline System (WoSPS) and the Brent Pipeline System.