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TAQA Q1 2015 Results

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – TAQA, the international energy company from Abu Dhabi, today announced first quarter earnings for the period ending 31 March 2015.“Today’s results demonstrate the value of our diversified portfolio in a lower oil and gas price environment,” said Edward LaFehr, TAQA Chief Operating Officer. “Continued strong safety and operating performance combined with the significant savings delivered by our cost transformation initiatives are helping to mitigate the effects of the challenging market conditions.”Total revenues declined 29% to AED 5.1 billion, while EBITDA was down 39% to AED 2.5 billion and net profit decreased 7% to AED 256 million compared to the same period a year ago. The effect of declining revenues and EBITDA on net profit was almost fully offset by the one-off benefit of the UK North Sea tax rate changes which resulted in a credit of AED 553 million.Available liquidity stood at AED 14.2 billion at the end of the quarter, including AED 3.6 billion of cash. TAQA reduced its debt by AED 195 million during the period.TAQA produced 157,900 oil-equivalent barrels per day, almost flat compared to 158,300 barrels per day during the first quarter of 2014. This was achieved despite a significant reduction in oil and gas capital expenditure.Higher technical availability at TAQA’s power plants helped increase production by 18% to 15,898 gigawatt hours from 13,482 gigawatt hours during the first quarter of 2014. Of this, 11,440 gigawatt hours were produced in the United Arab Emirates and 4,458 gigawatt hours internationally. Water desalination volumes increased to 59,430 million imperial gallons from 59,022 million imperial gallons during the first quarter of 2014.Operating expenses and net general and administrative costs were AED 353 million lower in comparison to the same quarter in 2014. The Company’s cost transformation programme is expected to reduce operating and general and administrative costs by AED 1.5 billion annually by the end of 2016.As a result of the lower commodity price environment, TAQA is committed to reduce its 2015 full-year capital expenditure to AED 3.8 billion, a reduction of 40% compared to the full-year 2014. During the quarter, the Company reduced capital expenditure to AED 918 million, down 30% from the prior year period.- ENDS –