The UK’s biggest onshore gas producer has reported an annual loss of more than £4m, down more than 100% on the profit in the year before.

Annual accounts for Angus Energy, which operates the Saltfleetby gasfield in Lincolnshire, recorded a loss of £4.301m for the year to 30 September 2024. This compared with a profit of £117.810m for the same period to 2023.

The loss included a derivative profit of £10.822m, which compared with a derivative profit of £136.966m in 2023.

The accounts show the volume of the company’s gas, condensate and crude oil production were all up in 2024, compared with the year before.

But revenue from oil and gas production was down 23%, at £21.802m, compared with the year before (£28.208m).

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), a measure of profitability to net income, fell 37% to £10.803m, from £17.022m in 2023.

The annual loss included an impairment charge of £4.77m for lower than expected production at Angus’s Brockham oilfield in Surrey.

Historic hedges, set at less than 50% of the current spot gas prices, end in June 2025 and will lead to “a substantial improvement” in cashflow and overall profits going forwards, Angus said.

Site updates

The accounts also included details from Angus Energy’s sites.

Saltfleetby

• Installed booster compressor – commissioning expected late in first quarter of 2025
• Completed geological remapping of the Westphalian Sandstone and Namurian reservoir, enabling updated reservoir model and to select best targets for infill drilling opportunities
• Gas storage potential – identified as best hydrogen storage reservoir candidate onshore in the UK
• Evaluating drilling a fourth producer well with a target drilling date of late 2025 and production by early 2026

Brockham

• Modelled performance of reservoir and three producing wells
• Optimised well performance to meet quarterly production targets
• Brought back BRX2Y well into production
• The well’s water cut has ranged from 60%-80%, with 20-25 barrels of oil per day from 90 barrels per day of fluid
• Assessment underway to determine if BRX4Z, a suspended well, can be brought back into production
• Planning application submitted to allow transport of water from Lidsey to Brockham

Balcombe

• Decision of appeal court hearing in January 2025 on well test planning permission is expected in April of May 2025

Lidsey

• Remains shut-in because of the high cost of water disposal

Key figures

Revenue from oil and gas production: £21.802m (2023 £28.208m)

Annual loss: £4.301m (2023 £117.81 profit)

Impairment charge: £4.77m for Brockham oil field due to lower than expected production rate

Derivative profit: £10.822m (£2023 136.966m)

Adjusted operating loss: £15.123m (2023: £19.156m)

Total assets: £81.961m (2023 £91.078m)

Total liabilities: £43.273m (2023 £53.819m)

Gas production (Saltfleetby): 26.5m therms (2023 25m)

Condensate production (Saltfleetby): 44 mbbls (2023 32kbbls)

Crude oil production (Brockham): 2.6kbbls (2023 nil)

Sale of gas: £20.081m (2023 £28.208m)

Sale of oil: £1.721m (2023 £1.371m)

EBITDA: £10.803m (2023 £17.022m)

Admin costs: £0.347m (2023 £2.906m)

Cash balance: £2.172m at 30 September 2023 and £2.163 at end of reporting year

Company interests: Brockham 80% (PL235), Lidsey 80% (PL241), Balcombe 25% (PEDL244), Saltfleetby 100% (PEDL005)

Employees: 27 (2023 28)

Wages and salaries: £1.895m (2023 £1.426m)

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