Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Ithaca Energy plc third quarter 2023 results bondholder webcast. My name is Bruno, and I'll be operating your call today. I would like now to hand over to your host and CFO, Iain Lewis. Please go ahead.
Hi. Great to have the opportunity to walk you through our, results release for Q3 2023, and, in due course, take your, your questions. So, turning to the, the slide deck on, go to slide two on the, the highlights for the, the quarter. Really a stable quarter, robust performance on, on delivery against target and expectations, and, and, and throughout from production through the cost base and through the, the EBITDAX, and the, and debt, closeout position in the quarter, are a really strong quarter. So production in the, in the year to date of 71,000 barrels, oil equivalent. Shutdowns during Q3, planned, cycle shutdowns, delivered well and now back up, to, to our, material production levels in Q4.
Continued development in our investment in the long-term strength of the company through the FID of Rosebank and continued development and capital spend across our portfolio, but a strong focus on cost control, which has come through in the revised operating cost guidance for the year, and is seen through our FX program for next year, as well. So year-to-date, EBITDAX at $1.4 billion, cash from operations of $1 billion, and closing out the quarter with net debt of $677 million and a 0.37x leverage ratio. All of that allows us to reconfirm our dividend target of $400 million for the year, with a final tranche of the $400 million to be paid next year.
And that's that remains our target, and it's supported by the delivery in the quarter on the nine months to September. So let's jump in a few slides. We move to slide four and a summary of our strategic highlights in the quarter. We completed the acquisition of the remaining stake in the Fotla discovery, which gives us control over that development, and looking to fast-track that and to ultimately farm down in the development. And we're also buying that are looking to complete the Cambo completion of 100% equity, which again is coming towards a conclusion. And again, that gives us control over the Cambo development as we move forward and gives us increased optionality.
At Rosebank FID and the build assets pillar is a key milestone for the company, and indeed for the country, a very positive development, working with partners and the regulator. We've also placed with the operator significant elements of the capital program contracts, which continues to increase the cost certainty across that project. The FPSO is in the dry dock and moving forward. Continued execution of the Captain EOR phase two project. Again, up to 80% completion now and really good progress on what is a high impact project. And we also continued decarbonization work and our work on Captain, particularly with electrification in the FEED phase presently. So across the three areas of our strategy, continued progress.
The next couple of slides, we call out the Rosebank. So slide 5 and slide 6, the Rosebank FID, how significant it is for the company with a 20% share of this project, around $7 million of net CapEx. But this is the largest undeveloped discovery in the U.K., and the unlocking of that with our FPSO redeployment is strategically important for the company. You'll see the timeline on slide 6, which takes us through to first production expected in 2026, 2027.
We have released in the Q3 results that the net CapEx for Rosebank for Ithaca during 2023 is in the $90 million-$110 million range, with over $60 million year to date, September, being spent, and costs coming through and ramping up as the FPSO modifications continue. So very positive and significant milestone for the company. Slide 7, not as landmark a project, but hugely valuable for the company, the Captain field, one of our flagship projects and fields, and we're now 80% complete. Coming through a project, a multi-year project, including drilling, significant offshore execution, large lifts and complex modifications. Very pleased to see that that's been managed well.
We are on budget, we're on time, and drilling operations continue in the final wells as we close out the project. So very good progress on Captain EOR 2 as well. And sticking with Captain, the next slide is really a reference to our safe and environmentally responsible operations focus. A safe first nine months as you can see in the metrics on the left-hand side, and also in terms of our environmental performance, in line with our plans and expectations as we look to lower the emissions of the portfolio. Lots of small levels of work and different assets on decarbonization, including, in fact, the previous slide, there was a flare change out for, again, emissions purposes.
So on this slide here, in slide 8, you have the electrification schematic, shows what we're trying to achieve on the electrification of Captain, and so field work is ongoing on what is a very exciting project for the company. Slide 9 summarizes the production position through the year. So Q1 and Q2 in the mid-70s, Q3 down at 61.7 as our previous reflections on turnaround activity in the quarter. And now back at higher rates in Q4, with the expectation that we will be in our guidance range of 68-74 for the closeout of the year. So, a couple of things to flag here. We referenced that Pierce remains offline for essential repairs.
We're expecting that to be back, but that continues to have some repairs that need to be executed, and we referenced that in our release, but the overall guidance range doesn't change at all, and we are expecting to be delivering on that range. Okay, into the financials. A bit of a summary on slide 11 of the key metrics. So that's 71,000 barrels a day year-to-date production through the three quarters. We're now at $21 a barrel year to date. We expect that to reduce through Q4 as production is at higher rates in Q4 and costs are being well controlled.
But we expect to be heading down towards $20 a barrel on the, you know, OpEx, which given the strong inflation environment we've been through in the last 12, 18 months, that's a very pleasing result, and I think shows the, the cost consciousness of the organization. Those production and cost figures just underpins the EBITDAX delivery of $1.37 billion of EBITDAX and adjusted net income of $332 million. So lots of price volatility, but controlling our production and our cost base means that we've been able, with the hedging program layered on top, to maintain very consistent EBITDAX and net income delivery, in fact, year-over-year, 2022 through 2023. Net cash from operations over $1 billion in the nine months to September.
A strong quarter, in fact, in Q3 as well, with some real good quality cash delivery in the quarter, despite the lower production. And adjusted net debt down at $677 million of 0.37x net debt to EBITDAX leverage ratio. And you notice there that at the in terms of liquidity at the end of the quarter, that we're at over $900 million of available liquidity, which has again give us optionality as you move out of the out of the quarter towards the end of the year and in the next year, going through the standard redetermination process with the RBL banks during November, December, but a strong liquidity position with which to close the quarter.
In terms of EBITDAX, a bit of analysis on slide 12. Just to call out a few numbers, you'll see that year to date now, we're at $248 million, so nearly $250 million of value being delivered from the hedging program. Again, very helpful from our supporting our value of production per barrel. You'll see that it's above $90 per barrel of value of production, with the realized oil and gas prices being augmented by that hedging gain position. So a stabilized and very material value from production per barrel, and with the cost per barrel, that takes us to an EBITDAX above $70 a barrel, which is very strong delivery in the quarter, supporting that $1.4 billion EBITDAX figure.
Now coming to slide 13. This is really just a look back on our capital allocation framework. The protection leg is highlighted there. You see that we generate high cash flow from operations. We sustain production through capital deployment, but then protect our dividend, and this is the one of the key pillars here of our cash allocation to protect the cash flow of the business for dividend delivery, that material 15%-30% dividend policy of cash from operations. And we've been doing that through the quarter. The hedging program has been significant. We've also layered in now hedging of FX.
We used the high oil and gas prices and the low GBP to US dollar rates in the last month or two to layer in significant hedges for 2024, and this is just part of the ongoing protection of the business, and delivery of our financial commitments. Turn to slide 14. This gives a bit of a flavor for the position in terms of debt and liquidity. You can see that we've taken the debt of the company, the net debt, down to $677 million, $65 million of bonds, with a net $52 million there, which is the offset of both the RBL and then the BP $100 million loan that we took out at the end of September. It was sitting in cash, of course, at the time, therefore, essentially netted off in these numbers.
But that gave us an additional $100 million of support in terms of liquidity, which you can see in the middle of the chart. So closing with $900 million of protection of liquidity as part of the protection of the company and gives us optionality going forward. So we have optionality in the portfolio in terms of developments and CapEx deployment, but we've opportunity in terms of liquidity as well to deploy capital. So that 0.37x net debt to EBITDA closing out the quarter, again, very, very positive and financially robust set of numbers. Slide 15 and 16 just gives some more detail on the hedging program. It is very significant.
We're now above 10 million barrels hedged in the quarters ahead, mostly through 2024. And that reflects hedging at the high points in the market, and you can see that we've been doing that, oil and gas prices. And we are not hedging when we don't like the pricing, so we're fairly low just now. We keep an eye on the markets. We look for dislocation. When prices are high, we lay down hedge positions, and the result of that is in slide 16. You see the oil and gas hedge group with oil collars focused on $75 floor through 2024, and ceilings up into the high 80s, and then swaps in the 80s as well for 2024.
So, so material hedge positions with upside participation, but very high floors. And you see that carrying the, the gas position as well, with collar floors, you know, above $150 for Q4, Q1, and then through 2024, above $120. And you can see that we've been doing quite a, a bit of gas hedging in the summer, high volumes in, in Q2, Q3, a bit of, a bit of, hedging in Q2, Q3, 2025, as well as 2024, and that's supporting the, the potential for summer softening in, in prices. Moving to close out, slide 18, really glad to be able to say that we can reconfirm our guidance on production and, and CapEx.
We are delivering on our capital program at high grading the spend, as we announced at the last quarter, at the half year results. We're working very hard on cost management over the last six months or so, particularly, I'm glad to be able to reduce the OpEx guidance for the year down to $525-$575 for the full year, with $409 being the year-to-date position in September. So, stable delivery, strong performance, and improved cost base in the quarter. So all around a good set of results.
So slide 19 just closes out the position with the strong delivery of EBITDAX and strong liquidity at the end of the quarter, good FID progress on Rosebank and moving forward on other projects. And we reference here that we continue to view the M&A landscape. We are very aware of the options in the market. There are many, and what we need to do is, of course, deploy capital in the best manner. So we have optionality, and we are very active in the M&A market, but we only do a deal that we think is right, and therefore, that will take time. And we have plenty organic options in our portfolio to deploy capital.
So for closing out with a reaffirmation of the dividend target for the year of $400 million, with the expectation that that would be a Q1 dividend in line with normal policy, $266 paid to date and $134 remaining to be paid, subject to the normal approval processes. So with that, I will turn over the call to questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question, please type them in using the Questions tab located above the slides. We'll now give a few seconds to gather any questions. Our first question comes from Mariana from Nomura, and it reads: High yield bonds are trading at a discount currently. Any thoughts about repurchasing bonds in the open market? Alternatively, thoughts on addressing bonds ahead of their stated maturity, given bonds are currently callable.
Yeah, thank you. So, thanks for the question. Yeah, obviously, I want to go through all of the options that we have around our financing and the bond positions, but we're aware of the bond trading, and don't think it's hugely reflective of the company in terms of our position. And we have the option to buy back bonds, obviously, in the market. So, that's something that we can do. We're set up to do it, in fact, but that will depend upon the allocation of capital and the plans, the investment plans, et cetera, of the company. So, can't say any more than that just now, but certainly, an option that we're well aware of and have appraised before, and we'll continue to keep.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please type them in using the Questions tab located above the slides. Okay, we do have a question from Westwood Energy. When do you expect Pierce to come back on stream?
Yeah, sure. So, yeah, so Pierce, obviously, a significant investment in the asset, to redeploy it and upgrade it and come back on stream. So there have been a couple of issues, and as we released in our Q3 numbers, that's being worked presently, and we believe it's coming back in H1 2024. The exact details will depend on a number of factors, and Bluew ater are working that at present. But, yeah, we expect it in H1 2024.
We do have another question from Westwood also. Any comments on Equinor's intention to sell 20% stake in Rosebank?
Yeah. No, we don't comment, obviously, on other operators' other partners and operators' equity. So no, we just reconfirm that we like the Rosebank asset. We're very committed to the project, very glad to see it come to FID, and very supportive of the operator.
Okay. With a final reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please type using the text box provided. Okay. Seems we don't have any further questions registered, so I hand back to you, Iain, for closing remarks.
Yeah, thank you. So, yeah, just to close out, to speak to all those involved in our bonds, we appreciate the support. We are very supportive of the bond market and appreciate the interest in the company. Happy to answer any questions on a one-to-one basis as well. You can contact us through the investor usual contact routes. But we'll continue to keep you appraised and look forward to coming out in the new year with our results for the full year. Thank you.