ITHACA ENERGY PLC
(“Ithaca Energy”, the "Company" or the “Group”)
Robust 2024 operational and financial performance at the top end of management guidance Strong Q4 production and EBITDAX, supporting delivery of total 2024 dividend of $500m
Ithaca Energy, a leading UK independent production and growth company, today announces its audited full year results for the year ended 31 December 2024. Actuals to 31 December 2024 reflect the completion of the Group’s business combination with substantially all of Eni S.p.A’s (“Eni”) UK upstream oil and gas assets (“Business Combination”) on 3 October 2024 and include approximately three months contribution from Eni UK’s assets. Pro forma 2024 reflects a full year of operations for the enlarged Group.
Yaniv Friedman, Executive Chairman, commented: “2024 was a transformational year for Ithaca Energy, having made material progress across our strategic objectives creating value organically and inorganically. We enter our Next Era of growth, with a proven strategy and a range of strategic options for growth. Yesterday’s announcement of our acquisition of JAPEX UK, increasing our stake in the high-quality, long-life Seagull field demonstrates continued execution of our inorganic growth strategy, building further scale in our core UKCS market. Our focus in 2025 will continue to be on high-grading investment across our range of growth opportunities, executing in line with our strategy as a value-led investor, to maximise long-term sustainable shareholder value through growth and distributions.”
Summary of key financial metrics
2024 |
2023 |
|
Adjusted EBITDAX2, 3 ($m) |
1,405.0 |
1,722.7 |
Net cash flow from operating activities3 ($m) |
853.3 |
1,290.8 |
Available liquidity2, 3 ($m) |
1,015.1 |
1,028.2 |
Profit after tax3 ($m) |
153.2 |
292.6 |
Basic EPS3 (Cents) |
13.2 |
29.1 |
Unit operating expenditure2, 3 ($/boe) |
22.4 |
20.5 |
Other KPIs
Total production (boe/d)4 |
80,177 |
70,239 |
Tier 1 and Tier 2 process safety events3 |
- |
1 |
Serious injury and fatality frequency3 |
- |
- |
Scope 1 and 2 emissions (tCO2e)4 |
448,190 |
435,792 |
Greenhouse gas intensity (kgCO2e/boe)4 |
23.9 |
25.0 |
Strong Q4 production performance, with positive production trend continuing into 2025
Strong financial performance against guidance for enlarged group, with materially enhanced Q4 2024 results. Key financial highlights in-line with estimated results provided in FY 2024 Trading Update on 20 February 2025:
Management guidance is inclusive of the acquisition of JUK (announced 25 March), assuming a completion date of the transaction of 30 June 2025.
In addition to a presentation of its Full Year 2024 results, Ithaca Energy will today provide an investor update outlining its strategy to deliver long-term value creation following the recent Business Combination with Eni UK. The presentation will be hosted in person at 09:00 (GMT) today, 26 March 2025, and will be available via a live webcast, accessible via our website: https://investors.ithacaenergy.com/
A replay will be available on Ithaca Energy’s investor relations website following the event.
3. Contributions from Eni UK assets from the completion date of 3 October 2024
4.Contributions from Eni UK assets from economic effective date of 1 July 2024
2024 has been a transformational year for the Group, having made material progress across our strategic objectives. The Group’s Business Combination with substantially all of the upstream assets of Eni SpA in the UK brings together highly complementary portfolios, offering significant scale, balance and optionality, creating a powerful platform to deliver material cash flow generation, organic and inorganic growth and value creation.
The Combination has established Ithaca Energy as a dynamic growth player with the single largest resource base in the UKCS and the underlying un-risked growth potential to become the largest producer in the basin by 2030. Through our Combination and the Group’s ongoing investment in key long-life assets, we have materially grown our 2P Reserves and 2C Resources base to 657 mmboe as at 31 December 2024 (2023: 544 mmboe).
As we enter our Next Era of growth, we do so with a proven strategy and an enhanced platform for organic and inorganic value creation, drawing on the agility of an independent, the capabilities of a Major and the support of its committed majority shareholders.
Leveraging our enhanced operational and technical capabilities, we aim to be the highest-performing operator in the basin, focused on sustaining production and optimising performance to support our short to medium-term production outlook and investing in our material organic resource base to generate long-term sustainable growth and value creation.
With a proven track record for value-accretive M&A, the Group is well positioned to play a pivotal role in further North Sea consolidation, taking an agile response to continued market dislocation, while expanding its inorganic growth strategy internationally. We remain confident that material opportunity for consolidation exists in the Group’s core UKCS market, with the potential for basin exits and portfolio rationalisation as a result of UK fiscal policy. Capitalising on our agility and operational robustness, we are in an ideal position to extract even further value from these opportunities.
By augmenting our proven track record for M&A with our shareholders’ global credentials and relationships, Ithaca Energy now has a credible platform to broaden its M&A strategy internationally, establishing an additional option for value creation. The Group will take a disciplined and targeted approach to its international expansion strategy, focusing on investing in regions that offer the potential for scale, further M&A opportunities, and stable fiscal regimes.
With significant organic and inorganic investment optionality, the Group’s focus remains on being a disciplined, value-driven investor, targeting growth opportunities that maximise value creation for our shareholders.
During the year, the Group has continued to prioritise targeted investment in high-quality assets across its diverse UK North Sea portfolio.
The Rosebank project, in its first full year of construction activity, continued to make solid progress against its multi-year development timeline towards first production in 2026/27, delivering against the Group’s strategy to invest in long-life, low carbon intensity assets supporting long-term production growth. The development achieved a key milestone in July, completing the first major subsea campaign ahead of schedule with installation of all planned structures on the seabed of the field. The Petrojarl Rosebank FPSO engineering and modification scopes continue to progress and remain critical to delivering on the targeted first production date.
The Rosebank JV partnership welcomed the court ruling in relation to the Rosebank Judicial Review in January 2025. The ruling allows the project to continue in its development phase while the partnership gets ready to apply for and obtain the new consent based on the expected new regulatory guidance. We will continue to support Equinor (Operator) as we work closely with the Regulators and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to progress the Rosebank project, including submitting a downstream end user combustion emissions (Scope 3) assessment in full compliance with the Government’s new environmental guidance, which is targeted to be published in spring 2025.
The Group is progressing its pre-FID projects including Cambo, Fotla, Tornado and K2 by implementing a fast- track approach in project maturation and delivery. Following the Business Combination and the Autumn review of the UK Government’s fiscal strategy, we have revitalised the Cambo project, looking to further enhance the technical and operational features of the project, leveraging the experience of our shareholders. In the second half of the year, the Group completed its development concept selection for Fotla, in support of a FID for the tie-back opportunity.
Farm-down processes remain live for Cambo and Fotla with the processes experiencing a temporary pause as the industry awaited the outcome of the new Labour Government’s fiscal and regulatory review. The Group has made representations to the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) to remove the licence milestone in relation to achieving a farm-down prior to 31 March 2025, to reflect the Group’s enhanced strength following the Business Combination with Eni UK, and to grant an extension of the Cambo licence to 30 September 2027 from 31 March 2026. Engagement with the NSTA in relation to this matter remains ongoing.
The successful completion of the EOR Phase II project, on schedule and within budget, at the Group’s flagship Captain field, represented a significant milestone in 2024. The multi-year project builds on the success of the platform-based EOR Phase I project, with an expansion to the subsea area of the field. With first polymer injection in the subsea wells achieved in May 2024, the field is already experiencing its first enhanced oil response, which is exceeding expectations with water cuts reducing by over 10% in four producers and increasing oil production by over 2,500 kboe/d, relative to the business plan. The phased response of EOR patterns through 2025 and 2026, together with the 13th drilling campaign, that extends over a two-year duration and targets four new production wells, a pilot well and the workover of two wells, supports Captain’s life extension and a strong medium-term production outlook.
In parallel, the Captain asset is focused on delivering stronger levels of uptime performance with a flotel secured for a six-month period in support of optimisation projects and backlog reduction, with an additional 150 Person on Board (POB) capacity reflecting the scale of ongoing activity at the field.
Across the Group’s operated portfolio, a successful well workover reinstated the fifth production well at the Erskine field and following scheduled turnaround activity and remediation of compressor issues at the host Lomond field, the field returned to full production in the second half of the year.
The benefits of our Business Combination became immediately evident as the Group’s increased non- operated stakes and asset additions in the J Area unlocked near-term value catalysts. In the final quarter, we commenced first production from the Talbot field, adding high-value barrels to the portfolio. In addition, the partnership enjoyed exploration success at Jocelyn South, offering near-term high-value production potential with the field tied back to existing facilities with first production achieved in March 2025, aligning with our strategy to invest in high-return tie-back opportunities close to existing infrastructure to maximise reserve recovery.
The Group is proud to report that it continued to deliver a positive trend in its safety performance in 2024, with zero Tier 1 and Tier 2 process safety events recorded in the year (2023: recorded one Tier 1 event, 2022: recorded two Tier 2 events) and a 30% improvement in our Total Recordable Injury Rate, reducing from 3.31 in 2023 to 2.30 per million hours worked in 2024 (2022: 3.38). In recognition of the need for continued improvement across major accident prevention we continue to focus on embedding our process safety fundamentals (supporting greater visibility of our major accident hazard risks), process safety KPIs and the use of our barrier model.
The Group recorded strong operational performance in the final quarter of the year with the enlarged group achieving average production of 116 kboe/d in Q4, reaching peak production rates in the period of 138 kboe/d. A strong final quarter, with all operational issues across our non-operated joint venture (NOJV) portfolio and non-operated infrastructure substantially resolved, supported average 2024 production of 80.2 kboe/d (including six months production from the Eni UK assets reflecting an economic effective date for the combination of 1 July 2024). Improved performance in Q4, allowed the Group to close the year towards the upper end of its revised production guidance range of 76-81 kboe/d for the enlarged Group. Production was split 60% liquids and 40% gas with the Group’s operated assets accounting for 43% of total 2024 production. On a full year pro-forma basis, the enlarged portfolio achieved average 2024 production of 105.5 kboe/d (2023: 70.2 kboe/d).
Adjusted net operating costs in 2024 from the effective economic date of 1 July 2024 of $649 million (including six months of ENI UK related operating costs) (2023: $524 million), representing an adjusted net unit opex cost from the effective economic date of 1 July 2024 of $22.1/boe (2023: $20.5/boe), came in marginally below management guidance of $650 million to $730 million for the enlarged Group. Our aim is to maintain opex per boe in the low $20s to deliver high net back production, that remains resilient in all commodity environments.
Total net producing asset capital expenditure (excluding decommissioning) of $448 million (including six months of ENI UK capital costs) (2023: $393 million), came in at the mid-point of the Group’s management guidance range of $410 million to $480 million. Net capital expenditure on the progression of the Rosebank development totalled $198 million, compared to management guidance of $170 million to $195 million reflecting the material scopes of project activity completed in the year in line with the multi-year development timeline.
Group cash tax paid in the year of $351 million was below the Group’s management guidance range of $390 million to $410 million due primarily to cash tax payments made by the acquired Eni UK business prior to the economic effective date of the Business Combination that will be offset in the final deal working capital settlement. The significant majority of tax payments related to the Energy Profits Levy, including all of the Ithaca Energy legacy business cash tax payments.
In the first half of the year, and in preparation for the Combination, the Group made several changes to its Board of Directors and Executive Management team to enhance its leadership and operational capabilities. These appointments, including a new Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, reflect the Group’s growth ambitions and the operational expertise and rigour required to deliver its next phase of growth. Post completion, the Leadership Team was further augmented by new senior leaders, bringing together a diverse range of experiences and backgrounds, reflecting both our agility and strength.
Having completed the Combination in October 2024, integration activities are now well-advanced, recognising the significant benefits a swift and well-executed integration process provides. The respective workforces of Ithaca Energy and Eni UK have been consolidated into two main offices, primarily at our Aberdeen headquarters, with the migration of all main IT systems completed in early January. The Group has initiated a restructuring process aimed at creating an optimised organisation to support its next phase of growth. The restructuring exercise is expected to impact a small portion of our workforce, with the intention to complete this process by 1 July 2025.
Our commitment to ESG serves as our licence to operate. We balance the need to supply reliable long-term hydrocarbons, critical to delivering domestic energy security and affordability for the end user, with the necessity to lower our emissions footprint, while doing so safely, creating value for our people, shareholders, partners and communities.
With a clear focus and commitment to value-led decarbonisation, we have embedded a strong ESG mindset across our operations. Our ambitions are supported by a well-defined ESG strategy to acquire assets that benefit the emissions profile of our portfolio, invest in low emission intensity assets that have the ability to materially transition our portfolio in the long-term, and deliver meaningful optimisation activities across our current portfolio in the short term that are economically viable.
Through the addition of Eni UK assets, we have lowered the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission intensity of our operated portfolio, bringing our gross operated emissions intensity to 23.9 kgCO2e/boe from 25.0 kgCO2e/boe in 2023 and an exit rate below 20 kgCO2e/boe reflecting the full benefit of the combination to our emissions profile. Whilst our gross operated absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions have increased to 448,190 tCO2e in 2024 (2023: 435,792 tCO2e), reflecting a greater number of contributing assets, the carbon intensity of our operated portfolio has been reduced.
Since 2020, we have held a target of 25% emissions reduction by 2025 from our 2019 levels, on a gross operated basis. This was an industry leading ambition, set before the NSTD was signed, to drive emissions reduction and a GHG conscience in the business. This target has led to a significant reduction from our 2019 baseline and the initiation of several meaningful emission reduction projects, reducing our Scope 1 operated emissions by 23% between 2019 and 2023.
The Group has changed significantly since 2020, including our recent Business Combination with Eni UK in 2024. As a result of portfolio changes, the target no longer has the same impact and benefit as it once did and is not representative of where we are today. The Group now operates the Cygnus field and considerable increased non-operated production, therefore it is more representative for us to track and report on net equity emissions reduction, in alignment with the UK government through the NSTD. As we enter 2025, we have retired our original target and now focus on a net equity absolute emissions target of 25% reduction from 2018 levels by 2027, as set out by the NSTD. In 2024, we re-baselined our Scope 1 absolute emissions and emissions intensity to include the combined business portfolio as it was in 2018. This allows us to track progress towards the targets outlined above. In 2024, our net equity emissions intensity was 20.7 kgCO2e/boe. From 2025, we will report on percentage change from the baseline year, 2018.
Our enlarged portfolio benefits from low intensity assets such as Cygnus and Seagull. As the single largest producing gas field in the UK, Cygnus is a key contributor to UK energy security operating as a low intensity asset, emitting approx. 7 kgCO2e/boe, meaningfully below the current UK average of 24 kgCO2e/boe and significantly below the average emission intensity of importing LNG at 79 kgCO2e/boe.
Across our portfolio, we continued to make material progress with notable emissions reduction projects completed at FPF-1 (single train operation), Alba (gas compressor) and Cygnus (TEG system) and ongoing progress made to deliver flare gas recovery projects at Captain and Cygnus and pump replacement projects and export compressor projects at Captain in the year.
Work on the Captain electrification FEED study was completed in the second half of the year, however continued fiscal and regulatory uncertainty in the year meant that the project did not mature to a final investment decision in 2024. Work continues to be progressed to support the project, however the project risks, increasing abatement costs and continued coupling of the decarbonisation allowance to the Energy Profits Levy regime creates significant economic uncertainty to the project. The Board will determine in 2025 if there is sufficient certainty on the availability of allowances to determine investment viability, with the project also competing for capital across our portfolio.
We remain disciplined in our capital allocation priorities, investing to sustain our base production, protecting our financial position through maintaining a low leverage position, proactively hedging and optimising our tax positions and delivering material returns to shareholders, while retaining the financial flexibility to evolve our business through investing in organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
Maintaining a robust Balance Sheet, with significant available liquidity and financial flexibility remains of critical importance to the Group as we continue to pursue our growth aspirations. Our recent Business Combination with Eni UK has strengthened the Group’s financial position, with increased scale and diversification and the addition of Eni UK’s unlevered asset creating additional debt capacity.
The immediate benefits of the Combination were reflected in the Group’s successful $2.25 billion refinancing and credit rating upgrades. The refinancing, including $750 million Senior Notes and $1.5 billion amended and restated floating rate Reserve Based Lending (RBL), including $500 million letters of credit facility, has been further enhanced by a RBL accordion facility of over $700 million and a new $400 million unsecured letter of credit facility secured in November.
The successful refinancing has unlocked significant financial synergies, including lengthening the Group’s debt maturity profile, reducing the Group’s cost of capital and increasing the Group’s liquidity position. With a low pro forma 2024 leverage position of 0.45x (2023: 0.33x) and a robust available liquidity position of over $1 billion at 31 December 2024 (2023: $1 billion), the Group has material financial firepower and flexibility to support further investment in growth.
The Group’s net current liability position has increased from $226 million at 31 December 2023 to $467 million at 31 December 2024, largely as a result of the deferred consideration payable on the business combination. The Group expects that the net current liability position will be addressed through a combination of operating cash flows, available liquidity and the realisation of out-of-the-money commodity hedges.
Once again, the importance of our robust hedging policy has been highlighted in the year, recording $135 million of hedging gains. The Group’s pro-active approach to hedging recognises the importance of balancing upside exposure to commodity prices while managing downside protection of our cash flows, protecting shareholder returns. The Group has generated over $400 million of hedging gains in respect of financial years 2023 and 2024, the equivalent of our 2023 dividend of $400 million. Following a material build to our hedge book post completion of our Business Combination, the Group ended the year with a hedged position of 21.65 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) (25% oil) from 2025 into 2026 at an average price floor of $77/bbl and average ceiling of $85 for oil and an average price floor of 88p/therm and average collar ceiling of 102p/therm and average wide cost collar ceiling of 132p/therm for gas.
The Group’s cash flows continue to be protected by our tax efficient structure, supplemented by the Business Combination, with a material ring fence corporate tax and supplementary charge tax loss position of $5.4 billion and $4.7 billion respectively at year-end. The current tax charge for 2024, representing mainly Energy Profits Levy (EPL) of circa $210 million is payable in October 2025. In addition, following the further amendments to the EPL regime in October 2024, that included a rate increase to 38% and the removal of EPL Investment Allowances, the Group incurred a tax charge of $58 million. Profit after tax for the year of $153.2 million (2023: $292.6 million), was further impacted by a $263.0 million (2023: 557.9 million) pre-tax impairment charge, post-tax $102.7 million (2023: $154.0 million), principally in relation to the Greater Stella Area and Pierce. Profit for the year was lower than 2023 principally due to a higher tax charge in 2024 due to the enactment of the increase in EPL from 35% to 38% and a reduction in Ring Fenced Expenditure Supplement due to some Group tax loss positions reaching their claim limit in 2023.
In 2024, our enlarged portfolio delivered adjusted EBITDAX of $1.4 billion (2023: $1.7 billion), representing contributions from Eni UK assets from the completion date of 3 October onwards. 2024 adjusted EBITDAX was impacted by lower production volumes and realised prices in comparison to 2023.
EBITDAX performance of $646.5 million in the final quarter, reflects the truly transformational nature of our Combination, when compared to the previous quarter EBITDAX of $225.5 million. In fact, Q4 2024 represents the highest quarterly EBITDAX performance since the Group’s listing in November 2022, during a significantly more advantageous commodity price environment.
Our robust operating cash flow generation in the year of $0.9 billion (2023: $1.3 billion), supported material shareholder distributions in line with the Group’s capital allocation policy, returning a total of $433 million to shareholders during the year, $300 million declared in relation to Financial Year 2024. The Board has today declared an interim dividend of $200 million in respect of the 2024 financial year to be paid in April 2025, bringing our total 2024 dividends declared to $500 million. Since our IPO in November 2022, we have built a strong track record of delivering material returns to shareholders with $900 million of dividends declared and returned to shareholders in respect of 2023 and 2024 calendar years.
We enter 2025 in a position of greater strength, strategically, operationally and financially. The transformational Business Combination with Eni UK has solidified Ithaca Energy’s position as a leading UKCS operator and highlights our ongoing commitment to value-driven growth.
With a portfolio of scale, balance and optionality and material financial firepower, following the Group’s successful refinancing, the Group has an enhanced strategic platform to unlock both organic and inorganic growth through the execution of our strategy. Our focus remains on high-grading investment in our diverse range of growth opportunities to maximise sustainable shareholder value.
Management provides the following guidance for the year, inclusive of the acquisition of Japex UK E&P Limited (announced 25 March), assuming a completion date of the transaction of 30 June 2025, and medium-term outlook:
Our 2025 production guidance of 105-115 kboe/d reflects a full year’s contribution from the enlarged portfolio and increasing production from the Captain field as we begin to see the early benefits of our Captain EOR Phase II project.
Beyond 2025, the Group expects to maintain production above 100 kboe/d in the medium-term from its existing producing asset base and the start-up of the Rosebank development.
Our operating cost guidance for 2025 of $770-850 million reflects high netback capability of enlarged portfolio with opex/boe estimated to reduce. We expect to maintain a relatively flat unit operating cost per barrel in the low $20/boe range in the short to medium-term, reflecting our stringent focus on cost control.
Our producing asset capital cost guidance of $560-620 million (excluding capital investment for projects awaiting Final Investment Decision and Rosebank), reflects our continued high levels of activity at Captain, J- Area, Elgin Franklin and Cygnus in support of sustaining our medium-term outlook.
Rosebank development to be in the range of $190-230 million reflecting significant project activity in line with the multi-year development timeline.
Estimated 2025 cash tax payments of $235-265million, primarily EPL related.
The Group continues to proactively hedge in the first quarter of the year, securing attractive gas hedge positions during a period of escalating prices with a hedged position of 32.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) (29% oil) from 2025 into 2027 at an average price floor of $75/bbl, and average collar ceiling of
$82/bbl, and average wide cost collar ceiling of $91/bbl for oil, and an average price floor of 90p/therm and average collar ceiling of 104p/therm and average wide cost collar ceiling of 133p/therm for gas as at 20 March 2025.
The Group retains its target for 2025 dividends of $500 million, in line with our capital allocation policy of 15 – 30% post-tax cash flow from operations (CFFO), and our commitment to distributing 30% post-tax CFFO in 2025.
Strong cash flow generation over the next five years (2025 to 2029) with a potential for over $9bn of total pre-tax cash flow from operations from 2P Reserves at $80/bbl and 85p/therm.
Enquiries
Ithaca Energy |
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Kathryn Reid – Head of Investor Relations, Corporate Affairs & Communications |
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FTI Consulting (PR Advisers to Ithaca Energy) |
+44 (0)203 727 1000 |
Ben Brewerton / Nick Hennis |
Ithaca Energy is a leading UK independent exploration and production company focused on the UK North Sea with a strong track record of material value creation. In recent years, the Company has been focused on growing its portfolio of assets through both organic investment programmes and acquisitions and has seen a period of significant M&A driven growth centred upon three transformational acquisitions in recent years, including the recent Business Combination with Eni UK. Today, Ithaca Energy is one of the largest independent oil and gas companies in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (the “UKCS”), ranking second largest independent by production with the largest resource base.
With stakes in six of the ten largest fields in the UKCS and two of UKCS’s largest pre-development fields, and with energy security currently being a key focus of the UK Government, the Group believes it can utilise its significant reserves and operational capabilities to play a key role in delivering security of domestic energy supply from the UKCS.
Ithaca Energy serves today’s needs for domestic energy through operating sustainably. The Group achieves this by harnessing Ithaca Energy’s deep operational expertise and innovative minds to collectively challenge the norm, continually seeking better ways to meet evolving demands.
Ithaca Energy’s commitment to delivering attractive and sustainable returns is supported by a well-defined emissions-reduction strategy with a target of achieving net zero ahead of targets set out in the North Sea Transition Deal.
Ithaca Energy plc was admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange (LON: ITH) on 14 November 2022.
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