Savannah Energy PLC, the British independent energy company focused around activities in Nigeria and Niger, is pleased to announce its unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2019, which include approximately six weeks of operations in Nigeria, following the Company’s successful acquisition of the Nigerian Assets in November 2019, together with a financial and operational update for H1 2020 and outlook for the FY 2020.
Key Highlights
FY 2019 Highlights
- FY 2019 maiden Revenues of US$17.8m comprising US$16.9m of gas sales and US$0.9m of liquids sales;
- Average realised gas price of US$3.64/Mscf and an average realised liquids price of US$64.0/bbl;
- Average gross daily production for the post Nigerian Asset acquisition period of 17.7 Kboepd. On a full year basis production from the Nigerian Assets for 2019 rose 32% to 17.2 Kboepd from 13.0 Kboepd in FY 2018;
- Adjusted EBITDA1 of US$1.8m (2018: negative US$13.4m), Pro-forma FY 2019 adjusted EBITDA of US$91.6m;
- Contract liabilities (or “Deferred Revenue”) recognised in the Statement of Financial Position and related to invoiced sales in 2019 of US$13.3m, Pro-forma FY 2019 Deferred Revenue of US$59.8m;
- Loss after tax of US$96.8m (2018: US$24.6m)
- Net cash inflow of US$44.5m (2018: Outflow US$13.0m);
- Year-end cash balance of US$48.1m (2018: US$1.8m);
- Year-end net debt of US$484.0m (2018: US$13.1m); and
- Total Group assets amounted to US$1,145.0m at year-end (2018: US$266.0m).
H1 2020 Operational Update
Nigeria
- H1 2020 cash collections from the Nigerian Assets of US$82.1m compared to US$55.3m in H1 2019;
- Average gross daily production, of which 89% was gas, increased 18% during H1 2020 to 21.3 Kboepd (H1 2019: 18.1 Kboepd). This includes a 22% increase in production from the Uquo gas field compared to the same period last year, from 92.7 MMscfpd (15.4 Kboepd) to 113.5 MMscfpd (18.9 Kboepd);
- Achievement of an all-time Nigerian Assets gas production record of 177 MMscfpd on 30 May 2020;
- Accugas’ customers achieved an all-time record peak contribution of 11.5% of Nigeria’s electricity generation or 486MW on 23 May 2020, with the contributed electricity being exclusively generated from Accugas sales gas;
- As announced on 31 January 2020, Accugas entered into the first new gas sales agreement for the business in over five years with First Independent Power Limited (“FIPL”), an affiliate company of the Sahara Group, for the provision of gas to the FIPL Afam power plant (“FIPL Afam”). Accugas is in the process of working with FIPL to validate the third-party infrastructure required to enable the commencement of gas sales under this contract;
- In June 2020, Accugas signed a term sheet with a significant new industrial gas sales customer, a subsidiary of a well-respected international company, for an initial quantity of up to 5 MMscfpd of gas for an initial five-year period; and
- In addition, Accugas is progressing a project which could see the addition of multiple new gas sales customers located within an industrial hub area in close proximity to our existing pipeline network.
Niger
- Updated Competent Person’s Report for the Niger assets compiled by CGG Services (UK) Ltd was published on 1 May 2020, certifying 35MMstb of Gross 2C Resources for the R3 East discoveries with an additional 90MMstb of Gross Unrisked Prospective Resources (Best case) within tie-in distance to the planned R3 East facilities, and a 2C case economic break-even oil price estimated at US$26/bbl;
- As previously announced, an agreement was reached with the Niger Ministry of Petroleum to combine the R4 area with the R1/R2 PSC Area into a new R1/R2/R4 PSC, extending the licences for a further 10 years and retaining the full acreage position previously covered by the R1/R2 PSC and the R3/R4 PSC, and that the R3 PSC area will continue as a stand-alone PSC area. Ratification of these changes is subject to Council of Minister approval and payment of the associated fee;
- Plans for delivering the R3 East development continue to progress with the intention to commence installation of an Early Production System (“EPS”) within the next 18 months, market conditions and financing permitting; and
- Significant further potential on the Savannah PSC areas remains, with 146 further potential exploration targets having been identified for future drilling consideration.
H1 2020 Financial Update and Guidance for FY 2020
- Group cash balance of US$54m as at 30 June 2020;
- Group net debt position of US$457m as at 30 June 2020; and
- Financial and operational guidance for FY 2020 as follows:
o Total Revenues
2 of greater than US$200m;
o Gross Production of 21 Kboepd to 23 Kboepd;
o Group Administrative and Operating Costs3 of US$68m to US$72m;
o Group Depreciation, Depletion and Amortisation of US$25m fixed for infrastructure assets plus US$2.6/boe, i.e. US$43m – US$45m based on production guidance; and
o Capital expenditure of up to US$45m.
Andrew Knott, CEO of Savannah Energy, said:
“2019 was a pivotal year for our Company. We completed the Nigerian Asset acquisition in November 2019, which transformed Savannah into a highly cash flow generative full cycle energy company. Since acquiring the Nigerian Assets, we have made significant strides in terms of operational and financial progress, as seen with the strong production figures and robust cash collections in H1 2020, further strengthened our leadership team and stand poised to capitalise on the numerous opportunities that our asset portfolio in Nigeria and Niger presents us with.
This is an exciting time for our business. In Nigeria, via Accugas, Savannah currently supplies more than 10% of Nigeria’s power sector. We generated strong cash collections in-country, of US$82.1m in H1 2020 and remain on track to sign further gas sales agreements in 2020. In Niger, we aim to implement an EPS on R3 East for near term first production and cash flow within the next 18 months, subject to market conditions and financing, and consider future drilling in our bank of 146 exploration targets over the course of the coming years.
