Soaring gas prices ensured that revenues recorded by Vermilion Energy from the Corrib Gas field last year increased almost four fold to Can$214.42m or €152.86m.
According to the newly published 2021 annual report by the Canadian energy company, Vermilion Energy recorded almost half of its 2021 Corrib Gas sales in the final quarter of last year, with sales of Can$109.3m from October 1st to the end of December.
Vermilion Energy's revenues from Corrib Gas at Can$214.42m last year compare to revenues of Can$58.44m in 2020 - an increase of 267%.
The report shows that the average price that Vermilion was receiving for its Corrib gas in the final quarter of last year was almost six times the average gas price for the corresponding quarter in 2020 and more than nine times the average price across the 12 months of 2020.
Vermilion enjoyed the surge in revenues from the field last year despite the volumes of natural gas produced from the field reducing due to a natural decline in the resource.
The gas produced from Corrib represents 100% of Ireland’s domestic production of natural gas.
Vermilion state that production volumes reached full plant capacity at the end of 2016 "and production plateaued at this level until decline started at the beginning of 2018".
In a message to shareholders in the annual report it states that "2021 was transformational for Vermilion Energy".
The message to shareholders states that during the final quarter "we delivered strong financial and operating results."
"European natural gas prices were exceptionally strong, increasing approximately 88 per cent compared to the previous quarter"
Vermilion is the operator of the Corrib Gas field and during 2021, Vermilion had a 20% stake in the project.
As a result of a Can$556m deal last November, Vermilion acquired an additional 36.5% share after it agreed to purchase Equinor's shareholding in the field.
The deal took effect from January 1 this year. The report states that during 2022, Vermilion plans to continue to focus on facility maintenance and optimisation.
The strong performance of Corrib contributed to revenues at Vermilion Energy soaring by Can$900m or 79% from Can$1.14 billion to Can$2.04 billion last year.
The business recorded pre-tax profits of Can$1.38 billion in 2021 after pre-tax losses of Can$1.87 billion in 2020.
