ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 9 (UPI) — TAQA, an energy company controlled by the Abu Dhabi government, said its revenue was down 17 percent for the third quarter because of the drop in oil prices.
The company, formally known as the Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., reported a 17 percent loss in revenue from one year ago and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization that were 15 percent lower than last year.
In a statement, the company said the losses came in large part from the 31 percent drop in realized oil and gas prices.
“Despite the challenging environment, we maintained a strong liquidity position and increased our free cash flow by 25 percent compared to the same period last year,” acting Chief Operating Officer Saeed al-Dhaheri said.
Crude oil prices are relatively the same as they were last year, but off about 40 percent from the same time in 2014. TAQA has followed its peers by streamlining its portfolio and cutting back on spending plans for the interim.
TAQA last year reduced spending by 52 percent, but has remained relatively active in some of the larger areas of the North Sea. The company extended a contract for oilfield services company Wood Group for operations in the North Sea in early April, near the bottom of the 2016 downturn in the energy market.
In its latest statement, the company said net oil and natural gas production was down about 2 percent from last year. TAQA nevertheless said it cut its per-barrel cost of doing business by 22 percent in Europe and 13 percent in North America compared with the first nine months of 2015.
