Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has posted its first profit in two years of Dh77 million ($21 million) compared to a net loss of Dh608 million ($165 million) for the same period last year owing to higher commodity prices and lower costs.

Announcing its results for the first three months, Taqa said its total revenues for the period surged to Dh4.1 billion, up six per cent over Dh3.9 billion the previous year driven primarily by the impact of higher realised oil and gas prices.

The Ebitda rose 23 per cent to hit Dh2.4 billion compared to Dh2 billion last year boosted by the higher realised commodity prices and sustained cash cost savings.

Taqa's total liquidity remains strong at Dh12.8 billion, including Dh3.7 billion in cash and cash equivalents and Dh9.1 billion of undrawn credit facilities. Total debt was reduced by Dh675 million during the period while interest paid reduced by Dh174 million.

On its operational highlights for Q1, Taqa said the global power generation stood at 16,413 GWh compared to 17,022 GWh in Q1 2016. Global technical availability was at 84.3 per cent compared to 87.1 per cent in Q1 2016.

UAE operations produced 12,336 GWh of electricity and 57,216 million imperial gallons of desalinated water, stable compared to Q1 2016 and continuing to deliver the vast majority of water and electricity requirements of Abu Dhabi.

Commenting on the results, Saeed Al Dhaheri, the acting chief operating officer, said: "After the completion of our two-year transformation programme, I am pleased to announce a return to profit for the first quarter."

"The transformative cost reduction initiatives are now sustainably embedded across the organisation and with the balance sheet stabilised, we are now well positioned to secure future growth as market conditions stabilise and improve. Moving forward, we plan to maintain discipline in cost and operational efficiency while focusing investment to our most profitable assets to maximise cash flow," stated Al Dhaheri.

The production volumes of 132,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), down 14 per cent on Q1 2016 (153,700 boed) impacted by the 70 per cent reduction in oil & gas capital expenditure compared to 2014 levels, prior to the transformation programme, said the top official.

Iraq project progressing with export pipeline nearing completion. The Taqa-operated 30,000 boed (gross) Atrush production facility in Kurdistan, completed in 2016 and first oil is expected in 2017, he added.-TradeArabia News Service