reports
- Steffen Evjen
Varying dividend sustainability
With oil prices approaching USD60/bbl, we believe investors will be looking for E&P exposure with the least risk of cuts to shareholder distributions. We continue to prefer Aker BP, as we consider its dividend safe despite prospects of muted near-term cash flow, and believe it has the most flexibility to adjust capex to protect cash flow and dividends medium-term.
- Steffen Evjen
- Steffen Evjen
Weekly news, topics & discussion
This week, Equinor reported Q1 results in line with expectations. However, we continue to see valuation downside due to Empire Wind risks and a likely sharp YOY drop in 2026e buybacks. OKEA also reported in-line Q1 results. In other news, Equinor announced it agreed to sell its 60% Peregrino stake at a solid price, although we believe the proceeds would have to support near-term shareholder returns to drive a positive share price reaction.
- Steffen Evjen
- Steffen Evjen
Weekly news, topics & discussion
This week, Vår Energi reported Q1 results very much in line with expectations. The company also reaffirmed its 2025 guidance and maintained its dividend. Also, OKEA reported a solid Q1, with production and prices slightly above our estimates. While a technical goodwill impairment reduces its dividend basket for 2025, we view this as non-material, as we do not expect any dividends before 2027. Meanwhile, we are 5% below consensus on Q1e EBIT ahead of Equinor’s Q1 results on 30 April (07:00 CET), ...
- Steffen Evjen
Solid NCS production in March
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate’s (NOD) preliminary NCS figures for March showed liquids production of 1,972kboed (1.6% above its forecast) and gas production of 351mcm/d (0.4% above its forecast). Overall, production was 4.18mmboed (1.1% above its forecast), flat MOM, but down 4.9% YOY. Company-wise, the February production figures should be well known as most companies have already reported their production figures for Q1.
- Steffen Evjen
- Steffen Evjen
Stress testing
We have stress-tested our coverage universe at a USD60/bbl oil price, concluding that most names remain dependent on rising oil prices to warrant upside potential from current share prices. Moreover, unless oil prices move higher, we see increasing risk of cuts in shareholder distributions for Vår Energi and Equinor, while the risk appears lower for Aker BP. Overall, we remain cautious as macro risks remain tilted to the downside. We continue to prefer Aker BP as it screens best on valuation and...
- Steffen Evjen
Weekly news, topics & discussion
This week, Equinor, Aker BP, and Vår Energi released their Q1 trading updates. Equinor’s realised liquids prices were broadly in line with consensus across all segments. Aker BP reported a modest production beat, 2% above consensus, with realised liquids and gas prices largely as expected. Vår Energi’s Q1 production was 2% below our estimate and consensus, while realised liquids prices met expectations and gas prices exceeded them by 4–11%.
- Steffen Evjen
- Steffen Evjen
Weekly news, topics & discussion
This week, we published previews for most of our coverage universe. For Aker BP, we estimate solid Q1 production of 450kboed, with our EBITDA forecast 12% above consensus, ahead of the trading update on 7 April. For Vår Energi, we expect a slow start to the year, with Q1e production of 277kboed, leaving our EBITDA c7% below consensus, ahead of the trading update on 11 April. In other news, Johan Castberg reached first oil this week, with ramp-up expected through Q2 2025.
- Steffen Evjen
- Steffen Evjen
Vår Energi (Hold, TP: NOK35.00) - Guidance looks like a stretch
We expect a slow start to the year for Vår Energi, with Q1e production of 277kboed, leaving our EBITDA c7% below consensus. Moreover, our 2025e production of 327kboed is below guidance of 330–360kboed and 6% below consensus. Ultimately, we believe even the low end of the production guidance hinges on a successful and on-time ramp-up of Johan Castberg and Balder X. We reiterate our HOLD and have reduced our target price to NOK35 (36) due to estimate cuts and a lower NAV.
- Steffen Evjen
Weekly news, topics & discussion
This week, we published a note on the harsh reality of USD70/bbl for our coverage. While investors appear to be positioning for lower oil prices, we believe consensus FCF estimates for NCS large caps remain overly aggressive. Meanwhile, DNO announced a discovery at the Kjøttkake prospect, north-west of Troll, adding ~NOK0.8/share (~4%) to DNO’s NAV and ~NOK1/share to Aker BP’s (
- Steffen Evjen
The harsh reality of USD70/bbl
Investors are positioning for lower oil prices, and the perception seems to be that cash flows are set to remain healthy and valuations attractive. We are concerned that overly aggressive consensus FCF facilitates this, as our USD70/bbl calculations imply a normalised FCF yield of only 6–8% for our coverage. With the European majors trading at a 2025–2027e FCF yield of c12%, we struggle to find an attractive risk/reward in large-cap NCS stocks, as the implied returns are negative c10–25% at peer...
- Steffen Evjen
- Steffen Evjen
Weekly news, topics and discussion
This week, NCS February production was broadly in line with the NOD’s expectations, with total output flat MOM but down 2.4% YOY. Aker BP showed solid January production, while Equinor, Vår Energi, OKEA and DNO showed declines MOM. Halten East is now on stream, but its slow ramp-up limits Vår Energi’s 2025 uplift to ~5kboed, reinforcing the downside risk to its 330–360kboed guidance. Also, DNO successfully placed a new USD600m bond (8.5% coupon) to refinance DNO04 and for general corporate purpo...
- Steffen Evjen
NCS February production in line
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate’s (NOD) preliminary NCS figures for February showed liquids production of 1,938kboed (in line with its forecast) and gas production of 355mcm/d (3.8% above its estimate). Overall production was 4.17mmboed, flat MOM (1.8% above its forecast), but down 2.4% YOY. Company-wise, Aker BP reported solid production in January, while Equinor, Vår Energi, OKEA and DNO all reported production down MOM.
- Steffen Evjen
- Steffen Evjen
Weekly news, topics & discussion
This week, BlueNord cut its Q1 production guidance by ~25% due to a breaker failure at Tyra, implying a 5% hit to 2025 guidance and likely delaying the first dividend from March to May. Following DNO’s Sval Energi acquisition, we upgraded OKEA to BUY (HOLD) and raised our target price to NOK23 (20). We believe historical NCS transaction multiples provide valuation support for OKEA. Meanwhile, the sector is down 10–20% since Brent peaked at USD82/bbl in mid-January, with scarce oil macro support ...
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