Maersk Oil, the principal upstream division of Danish super-conglomerate Maersk Group, made a profit of US$2.4 billion and a ROIC of 36.6% for the full year 2012. The company, which operates the Al Shaheen Field offshore Qatar with QP, said its result was positively affected by the one-off tax income of $899m from the settlement of an Algerian tax dispute and a $91m gain from a partial divestment of interests in Brazil.
This was partly offset by a 23% decline in the Group’s share of oil and gas production to 257,000 boepd (down from 333,000 boepd in 2011), primarily due to a lower share of production in Qatar and Denmark.
Development of the portfolio included maturation of the significant projects Chissonga in Angola and Johan Sverdrup in Norway, and an agreement of further development of the Al Shaheen field in Qatar and start-up of Dunga Phase II production in Kazakhstan. Exploration expenses were US$1.1bn, stable and in line with 2011 spending.
Cash flow from operating activities was $3.9bn, down slightly from $4.3bn the year before. Cash flow used for capital expenditure was $2.0bn.
Maersk Drilling recorded a profit of $359m. The result was negatively impacted by delayed start-up and maintenance yard stays of two units.
During 2012, Maersk Drilling entered into three new major contracts and has now secured contracts for five out of seven newbuildings to be delivered in 2013-2015.
The revenue backlog increased to $7.0bn, and the one-year forward coverage by the end of 2012 was 98%. Operational uptime averaged 92.1%. Cash flow from operating activities was $651m and cash flow used for capital expenditure was $589m.
Maersk FPSOs and Maersk LNG made a profit of $336m, positively affected by divestment gains of $245m.
“We are satisfied with our result for the year,” said  Group CEO Nils Andersen.Â
“We continued our push towards building our four strategic core businesses with investments and improved results in terminals, a high level of oil exploration in Maersk Oil, securing long term contracts for five of our seven new drilling rigs and significantly improved earnings in Maersk Line.”
Â
Â
