EnQuest shares fall as company narrows 2026 output guidance

EnQuest shares declined after the North Sea oil producer reduced its annual production outlook for 2026, citing a five-week outage at the Magnus field due to a third-party infrastructure disruption. The company now anticipates 2026 production between 41,000 and 43,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a narrower range than the previous 41,000 to 45,000 boepd.

Consequently, EnQuest's shares dropped over 4% in early London trading. CEO Amjad Bseisu stated that the company enters the second half of 2026 in a strong position, with 2027 heralding a new era for the Group. Despite the production reduction, EnQuest reported a first-half adjusted pretax profit of $54.6 million, up from a loss of $5.3 million a year earlier.

Output increased by 9% year-over-year to 41,544 boepd, while cash generated from operations rose 31% to $281.4 million, and underlying adjusted free cash flow more than doubled, reaching $71.3 million. The full-year asset expenditure guidance remains at $670 million, consisting of approximately $450 million in operating expenditure, $160 million in cash capital expenditure, and $60 million in abandonment expenditure.