Equinor profits soar on high gas price

Norway's Equinor reported on October 27 a surge in earnings during the third quarter on the back of higher gas prices.

The state-owned company booked $9.77bn in adjusted earnings for the three-month period, up from $780mn a year earlier, as revenues more than doubled to $23.3bn. Net income came in at $1.41bn, contrasting with a loss of $2.12bn.

Production was in line with the level a year earlier, at an average of just under 2mn barrels of oil equivalent/day.

"The global economy is in recovery, but we are still prepared for volatility related to the impact of the pandemic," CEO Anders Opedal commented. "The current unprecedented level and volatility in European gas prices underlines the uncertainty in the market. Equinor has an important role as a reliable energy provider to Europe and we have taken steps to increase our gas exports to respond to the high demand."

Equinor announced a plan to fast-track its transition to cleaner energy in mid-June, stating it would invest $23bn in renewables over the next five years, in order to expand its clean power generation capacity to 12-16 GW by the end of the decade.

However, the company's renewables segment performed poorly in the third quarter of this year, earning only $7mn in revenues versus $65mn a year earlier. It blamed this decline on lower output at offshore wind farms.