SUMMARY

The company's carbon intensity now stands at 18 kg/barrel of oil equivalent.

By Joseph Murphy

Mediterranean-focused Energean cut the carbon intensity of its operations by 19% in the first half versus the level in 2020, the company reported on September 2 in its financial results.

Energean became one of the first oil and gas companies to pledge to bring its emissions to net zero by 2050 in December 2019. It estimated its Scope 1 and 2 carbon intensity at 18 kg/barrel of oil equivalent in the first half, which also marked a 73% drop from the level in 2019, and 15% below its full-year guidance for 2021.

Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy in January estimated the average carbon intensity of upstream players that had reported their emissions at around 17 kg/boe in 2019, and the average for all operators at 18-19 kg/boe.

Energean noted it had signed agreements this year to buy all electricity for its operated sites in Italy from renewable sources, and the same policy is in place for its operations in Croatia, Greece and Israel, it said. The company has also achieved zero routine flaring at all its operated sites, and is working on a plan to convert the mature Prinos oilfield in Greece into a carbon capture and storage facility.

Energean earned $205.5mn in revenues in the first half, up from only $2.1mn a year earlier, reflecting its purchase of the upstream arm of Italy's Edison in December 2020. Adjusted Ebitdax came in at $74.7mn, versus a $8.9mn loss a year before, while net debt nearly doubled to $1.69bn. The company produced 44,000 boe/day in the six-month period, up from 2,100 boe/d in H1 2020.

Energean reiterated that its Karish field off Israel was on track to deliver its first gas in mid-2022. The field's launch had been scheduled for earlier next year, but there were delays due to coronavirus restrictions in Singapore, where the project's floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit is under construction.

Together with Karish North, Karish will establish Energean as a major regional producer. The two fields are expected to flow up to 8bn m3/year of gas at full capacity.