Equinor Earnings Weighed by Impairments, Writedowns -- Earnings Review

By Dominic Chopping

Equinor ASA reported results for the fourth quarter on Wednesday. Here's what we watched:

NET INCOME: Equinor reported a net loss of $2.42 billion compared with a loss of $236 million a year earlier and a $512 million profit expected in a FactSet poll.

Earnings for the quarter were weighed by impairments of $1.30 billion related to U.S. assets held for sale and a previously announced writedown of $982 million at its Tanzania LNG project.

REVENUE: Revenue fell 20% to $11.88 billion versus $12.74 billion expected.

WHAT WE WATCHED:

ASSET SALE: Equinor said it is selling U.S. onshore assets for $900 million. The company said it has agreed to divest its interests in the Bakken field in North Dakota and Montana to Grayson Mill Energy, backed by EnCap Investments.

PRODUCTION: Equinor delivered total equity production of 2.043 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the quarter, down from 2.198 million barrels a day for the same quarter of the prior year.

GUIDANCE: Organic capital expenditure is estimated at an annual average of $9 billion-$10 billion for 2021-22 while production for 2021 is estimated to be around 2% above 2020 levels.

Exploration activity in 2021 is seen at around $0.9 billion and it still expects to deliver average annual production growth of around 3% from 2019 to 2026.

Write to Dominic Chopping at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2021 09:18 ET (14:18 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.