Equinor first quarter 2024 results - Seite 2

In the first quarter, Equinor produced 774 GWh from renewables, up 48% from the same quarter last year. The growth came primarily from onshore power plants in Brazil, in which Rio Energy was the key contributor. Higher production from the offshore windfarms also supported the increased power production.

Strategic progress

The activity level on the NCS was high throughout the quarter. The plan for development of the Eirin field, a subsea tieback to Gina Krog, was approved in the quarter and the field is expected to contribute with gas volumes from next year. In April, Equinor announced the start-up of electrification of the Sleipner field centre, along with the Gudrun platform and other associated fields, which is expected to further reduce emissions from the operations.

Equinor continued to optimise its oil and gas portfolio with the recent swap transaction in the US onshore business, exiting the operated position in Ohio and increasing its position in partner-operated assets in Northern Marcellus in Pennsylvania. Equinor will pay a cash consideration of USD 500 million to balance the overall transaction.

In the quarter, Equinor completed nine exploration wells offshore with two commercial discoveries. Three wells were ongoing at the quarter end. The company was awarded 39 new production licenses on the NCS.

During the quarter Equinor secured a significantly improved offtake price for its Empire Wind 1 project on the US East Coast. Planned next steps include final investment decision, project financing and farm down to a new partner. In Brazil, production started at the 531 MW Mendubim solar plants, where Equinor has a 30% ownership share.

Solid financial results and cash flow

Equinor realised a price for piped gas to Europe of USD 9.41 per MMbtu and realised an average liquids price of USD 76.0 per bbl, down 50% and up 3% respectively, compared to the first quarter 2023.

Equinor delivered solid adjusted operating income* of USD 7.53 billion and USD 2.57 billion after tax. This is down from the same quarter last year due to lower gas prices but partially offset by production growth and increased liquids prices.

In this quarter, the company introduced two new performance measures, namely adjusted net income* and adjusted earnings per share*, with the purpose to provide additional transparency to Equinor’s underlying financial performance. In addition, effective as of this quarter, the adjustment for over- and underlift has been removed from adjusted operating income* (previously named "adjusted earnings").