Oslo-listed Vaar Energi, majority owned by Italy's Eni, posted on Tuesday a 55% drop in second-quarter operating profit on weaker oil and gas prices, narrowly missing analysts' forecasts.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the April-June quarter fell to $778 million from $1.73 billion in the same period of 2022, lagging the average $787 million forecast in a Vaar poll of 11 analysts.
Vaar last month announced an agreement to buy stakes in several Norwegian oil and gas fields, part of a wider $4.9 billion deal by Eni to acquire most assets of private equity-backed Neptune Energy.
"The agreement ... will add scale, diversification, and longevity to our portfolio, underpin our production growth and strengthen future dividend capacity," Vaar CEO Torger Roed said in a statement on Tuesday.
Early last year, Vaar became the largest pure-play oil exploration and production (E&P) company to list globally in almost a decade.
Eni currently holds a 63.04% stake and its Norwegian partner HitecVision 20.7%.
(Reuters - Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Subhranshu Sahu)
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