Oil Search has cut its final dividend after reporting an 8.4% fall in full-year profit to $US312.4 million ($A472.7 million).
Directors largely blamed the fall in global energy prices, especially LNG towards the end of the year.
A final dividend of 4.5 US cents a share, unfranked, will be paid, sharply down from 8.5 US cents a year ago.
That took the total for 2019 to 9.5 US cents a share, down from 10.5 US cents in 2018.
The shares fell 2.2% to $6.01, reacting more to the slide in global oil prices on Monday than the weak earnings which had been well telegraphed to the market.
The lower result came despite production rising 11% to 27.9 million barrels of oil equivalent as operations rebounded from the February 2018 Papua New Guinea earthquake.
Revenue for the 12 months to December 31 rose 3.2% to $US1.58 billion compared with 2018.
“Clearly, the last six months have been challenging for all of us,” the company’s new managing director, Keiran Wulff, said in Sydney on Tuesday.
Mr. Wulff said Oil Search was conducting a comprehensive strategic review in conjunction with Bain & Co and Goldman Sachs that would examine its PNG assets, its long-term vision and how the company positioned itself as the energy industry transitioned from fossil fuels.
That report will be revealed to shareholders in September.
“It’s our intention to be a model for social and environmental responsibility,” Mr. Wulff promised.
Oil Search also announced its total resources nearly doubled during the year, increasing to 497 million barrels of oil equivalent reserves following appraisal drilling at its Pikka prospect on the North Slope of Alaska bought by Oil Search in 2018 and 2019 for a total of $US950 million.
It expects to make a final investment decision in the second half of 2020 on its Alaska operations. It’s planning to sell off 15% interest of its 51% stake in the Pikka Unit to bolster its liquidity.
If the project goes ahead Oil Search could be producing up to 30,000 barrels of oil a day in Alaska from late 2022, reaching full production of 135,000 barrels per day from 2025.
Oil Search repeated that it expects to produce 27.5 million to 29.5 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2020.
