* Keeps dividend policy unchanged despite rising prices
* Repeats full-year production guidance
* Exploration costs rise driven by new project expenses
* Shares down 3%, in line with broader European index
(Adds exploration costs, share price, CFO quote)
OSLO, July 15 (Reuters) - Norway's Aker BP
missed second-quarter operating profit expectations as field
maintenance hit output and exploration costs rose, the
independent oil and gas firm's results showed on Thursday.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for April-June
jumped to $614 million from $178.5 million a year earlier but
were below the $668 million expected by analysts polled by
Refinitiv.
Its quarterly oil and gas output fell to 199,000 barrels of
oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 210,000 boepd a year ago due
to field maintenance activities.
Output was also down on a quarter-on-quarter basis, with the
average unit production cost rising to $9.0 per barrel of oil
equivalent (boe) from $8.6 per boe in the first quarter, it
added.
However, the company, which has an 11.6% stake in
Equinor-operated Sverdrup, western Europe's largest
oilfield, kept its full-year production guidance unchanged at
210,000-220,000 boepd.
It planned to decide on a concept for its NOAKA development,
the largest oil and gas project in the North Sea after Sverdrup,
in the third quarter, and to submit a plan for its Frosk
development in the same quarter.
Analysts at DNB said earnings were weighed by exploration
expenses, including higher than expected field evaluation costs,
such as the preparation of development concepts.
Aker BP said field evaluation costs stood at $62 million in
the quarter, up from $6.8 million a year ago, with NOAKA
accounting for about two-thirds of the total.
Aker BP, controlled by Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge
Roekke and partly owned by BP, also kept its quarterly
dividend unchanged at $0.3124 per share, despite higher oil and
gas prices boosting its cashflow.
"We have a heavy investment program going forward and we
want to maintain the company's financial robustness through the
various price scenarios," Chief Financial Officer David Toenne
said.
Aker BP shares had dropped 3.2% by 0745 GMT, in line with
the broader European oil and gas index which was down
2.9%.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Rashmi Aich,
Kirsten Donovan)
BP (BP.)