Harbour Energy narrows full-year production outlook

(Reuters) - Harbour Energy, the largest British North Sea oil and gas producer, narrowed its full-year 2024 outlook for total production on Thursday, citing good progress on its capital projects and planned maintenance shutdowns.

The company also reported a net profit for the first half of the year from a year-ago loss when the UK's windfall tax for energy companies wiped out most of the largest British North Sea oil and gas producers' pretax profit.

Following the spike in energy prices in 2022, Britain imposed an energy profit levy (EPL) on oil and gas producers, which raised the tax rate to 75%.

The company expects 2024 production to be between 155 and 165 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd), the mid-point of which is higher than a previous forecast of 150 to 165 kboepd.

Harbour posted profit after taxation of $57 million for the six months ended June 30, compared with a loss of $8 million last year.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)