Lower Oil Prices Drag Equinor’s Q3 Earnings Below Estimates

(oilprice.com) Lower oil prices and production volumes failed to offset rising natural gas prices and output at Equinor, which reported on Thursday lower-than-expected adjusted operating income, its key earnings metric, for the third quarter.

The Norwegian energy giant booked an adjusted operating income of $6.89 billion for Q3, down by 13% compared to the same period of 2023, and lower than the company-compiled analyst consensus expecting $7.01 billion.

Revenues fell by 2%, amid lower liquids prices which couldn’t be offset by rising natural gas prices.

Equinor’s adjusted net income of $2.191 billion “was supported by an increase in gas prices, however this was more than offset by the impact of lower production levels, liquids prices and increased costs when compared to the same quarter in the prior year,” the company said.

Equinor’s total oil and gas production averaged 1.984 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the third quarter, down from 2.007 million boepd in the same quarter last year, as international production was impacted by turnarounds and hurricanes in the United States.

In Norway, however, the company raised its production by 2% year-over-year, thanks to record natural gas output at the Troll field and a production record at the Johan Sverdrup oilfield.

In its renewables business, Equinor touted continued investments in assets and the development of low-carbon value chains. Equinor’s renewable power generation jumped by 82% year-on-year.

However, the progress at Dogger Bank A, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, is slower than expected, Equinor said. Due to the delay of the Dogger Bank A startup to the second half of 2025, Equinor has now revised down the expected growth in power production from renewable assets in 2024 to around 50%, compared to a previous projection of a 70% annual surge in renewable power production this year.

Despite some setbacks in its renewables business, which continues to post losses, Equinor has doubled down on the sector by acquiring this month 9.8% in Ørsted, the world’s biggest offshore wind farm developer. Equinor is now Ørsted’s second-largest shareholder after the Danish government.

The acquisition “gives exposure to premium offshore wind assets in operation and a solid project pipeline,” Equinor said in the results release today.