EnQuest (LON: ENQ), the North Sea and South East Asia oil and gas producer, saw its shares fall sharply on Thursday after half-year results showed tighter production guidance and rising net debt, overshadowing sharply higher free cash flow.
Shares dropped 6.4% in early trade to 25.60p, down from Wednesday’s close of 27.35p, and well below the 52-week high of 28.06p.
EnQuest’s RNS statement, published on Thursday morning, reported a narrowed statutory loss of $39.9m for the six months to 30 June, down from $173.5m a year earlier, alongside adjusted free cash flow of $71.3m, up 118% year-on-year. The improvement came from production rising 9% to 41,544 boepd and a realised oil price of $84.5 a barrel, 19% higher than a year earlier. That was offset by a six-week unplanned outage at the third-party-operated Ninian Central Platform, which cut Magnus output by around 4,100 boepd and deferred a cargo sale worth an estimated $60m in cash. EnQuest tightened full-year production guidance to 41-43 Kboed.
Ready to put what you’ve learned into practice?
Try IG’s platform with £10,000 in virtual funds and practise trading
without putting your own money at risk.
Try IG with a demo account →
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
Learn the markets with IG Academy
Build your knowledge with IG Academy educational content, then use a
demo account to practise what you’ve learned on the IG platform.
Explore IG →
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
See how trading works before risking real money
IG’s demo gives you access to thousands of markets and £10,000 in
virtual funds, so you can explore the platform and test your ideas first.
Open an IG demo →
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
Turn trading theory into practical experience
Learn with IG Academy, explore charts and market tools, and practise
strategies in a simulated trading environment before going live.
Start practising with IG →
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
Ready to take your learning further?
IG combines market education, analysis and an established trading platform,
giving you the tools to keep learning as you develop your trading skills.
Discover IG →
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.
Net debt rose to $517.0m at the end of June from $433.9m at the end of 2025, with leverage widening to 1.0 times adjusted EBITDA from 0.9 times. The period included a bond refinancing in April 2026, raising $675.0m at 9.875%, a $20.2m dividend paid in June, and EnQuest’s pending $833.0m acquisition of four Malaysian production-sharing contracts, due to complete on 31 December, which would take group production to around 100,000 boepd on a pro-forma basis.
Chief executive Amjad Bseisu said: “The first half of 2026 has marked a seminal period in EnQuest’s evolution. We have taken significant steps to grow and strengthen the business, building a portfolio with greater diversity, longevity and resilience.”
The Malaysia acquisition is scheduled to complete on 31 December, a milestone that will shape EnQuest’s production base and balance sheet heading into next year.
