Equinor 3Q Net Loss Widens on Impairments

   By Dominic Chopping 
 

Equinor ASA said Thursday its third-quarter net loss widened after seeing lower oil and gas prices and booking $2.93 billion of impairments.

The company, which is 67%-owned by the Norwegian state, reported a net loss of $2.13 billion from a loss of $1.11 billion a year earlier, as revenue fell 23% to $11.25 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected a net profit of $283 million on revenue of $10.94 billion.

Adjusted earnings fell to $780 million against expectations of $1.02 billion.

"Our financial results are impacted by weak prices as regions across the world are still severely affected by the pandemic," Chief Executive Eldar Saetre said.

"Net impairments in the quarter are mainly due to reduced price assumptions. Significant uncertainty remains around the future commodity price development underlining the importance of increased competitiveness and financial resilience."

Equinor delivered total equity production of 1.994 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the quarter, up from 1.909 million barrels a day the prior year.

It still expects to deliver average annual production growth of around 3% from 2019 to 2026.

It backed previous guidance of 2020 organic capital expenditure to $8.5 billion and exploration activity of $1.1 billion. Capital expenditure for 2021 is still seen at around $10 billion and at $12 billion annual average for 2022-23.

Equinor declared a third-quarter dividend of $0.11.

Write to Dominic Chopping at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2020 02:56 ET (06:56 GMT)

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