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i3 Energy PLC on Wednesday said it was confident of further progress in its Canadian portfolio after seeing record corporate production, while its UK assets failed to deliver results.
i3 Energy is a Hampshire, England-based oil and gas company, with assets and operations in the UK and Canada.
For the third quarter, the company reported average production of 20,571 barrels of oil equivalent per day, comprised of 64.2 million standard cubic feet per day, 5,038 barrels per day of natural gas liquids, 4,396 barrels of oil & condensate, and 440 barrels equivalent of royalty interest production.
Notably, i3 Energy also reported record levels of corporate production in October, exceeding 23,000 boepd, with forecasts in line to reach 24,000 boepd prior to year-end.
It attributed this to the organic growth of its drilling campaign in Canada.
During the quarter, the company brought nine wells onto production. In Central Alberta, it successfully drilled two operated wells targeting the Falher zone in Willesden Green, and two targeting the Belly River formation in Leedale.
Operations have continued post quarter-end, with five gross operated wells and five non-operated gross wells due to be brought on stream by the end of the year.
The growth realised in the third quarter marks the fifth consecutive quarter-on-quarter production increase for i3 Energy. The company said costs for this year's drilling programme have remained in line with its set budget.
In the UK, the 13/23c-12 Serenity appraisal well was drilled in October, but produced lower volumes than anticipated. i3 Energy said the well was plugged and abandoned after target sand intervals were found not to be present.
Moving forwards, data from the well will be incorporated into an updated mapping of the field around the 13/23-10 discovery well, which has the potential for a single well development.
"The benefits of this drilling success [in Canada] will be largely realised in 2023 as most of the production growth commenced in the second half of the year. Whilst the Serenity appraisal well in the UK didn't prove up the anticipated volumes hoped for, we remain confident in our ability to commercialise value from the discovery," said Chief Executive Officer Majid Shafiq.
Based on current strip pricing, i3 Energy expects 2022 net operating income of $172 million, up sharply from £48.8 million in 2021.
The company declared a monthly dividend of 0.1425 pence per share, totalling £1.7 million.
i3 shares were trading 6.2% lower at 23.50 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
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