(Alliance News) - President Energy PLC on Monday said it expects its earnings to decline in 2019 amid a challenging trading environment in Argentina.
The oil & gas company said revenue declined to USD41 million in 2019 from USD47 million in 2018, amid reduced average realised commodity prices in Argentina. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to USD12 million from USD17 million year-on-year.
President Energy said it has faced a number of challenges during the year, unplanned downtime in key producing wells and electricity supply outages in Rio Negro, Argentina, and a three-month shutdown of production in Louisiana.
As a result, the company said it has prudently suspended planned drilling activity in Argentina.
More positively, average production of 2,414 barrels of oil equivalent a day is 6% up on the previous year, President Energy highlighted.
"With all key performance indicators improving, significantly lower debt levels, an expanded asset base and exploration upside through our asset base, we look forward to a year of growth and tangible improvement," said Chair Peter Levine.
Looking ahead, the company said 2020 has got off to a "good and profitable" start with January showing a "material" improvement from the second half of 2019. President Energy said it is "cautiously optimistic that the macro environment in Argentina has calmed and that it may well see beneficial developments during the year.
The company repeated its guidance for 2020 of average production in excess of 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
President Energy shares were trading 2.7% lower in London on Monday at 4.09 pence each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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