By Nerijus Adomaitis and Nora Buli
OSLO (Reuters) -Equinor reported a sharper-than-expected 13% decline in third-quarter profit on Thursday, hit by weaker oil prices and lower production, and cut its full-year outlook for capital expenditure and renewable energy production growth.
The Norwegian oil and gas producer’s adjusted earnings before tax for the July-September period fell to $6.89 billion from $7.93 billion a year earlier, lagging the $7.08 billion seen in a poll of 25 analysts compiled by Equinor.
“With solid operational performance and results, we are well on track to deliver strong cashflow from operations in line with what we said at the capital markets update in February,” CEO Anders Opedal said in a statement.
Organic capital expenditure in 2024 is now seen at between $12 billion and $13 billion, down from a previous forecast of $13 billion.
The company maintained that its oil and gas output would be unchanged in 2024 from the previous year.
Equinor now expects its annual renewable energy output to grow by 50% in 2024, down from a previous view of 70% growth, due to slower-than-expected progress at the Dogger Bank A wind project off the British coast, it said in a statement.
Equinor in the third quarter pumped 1.98 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), in line with expectations in the analyst poll, down from 2.01 million boed a year ago.
However, its Norwegian production was up by 2%, mostly due to high gas production from the North Sea Troll field, Equinor said, adding that gas prices had risen due to continued geopolitical risks and supply disruptions.
The European benchmark front month gas price on the Dutch TTF hub averaged 35.60 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) in the third quarter, up from an average of 33.81 euros/MWh for the same period in 2023.