Good afternoon, and welcome to the Pharos Energy PLC Interim Results Investor Presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen-only mode. Questions are encouraged, and they can be submitted at any time using the Q&A tab situated in the right-hand corner of your screen. Simply type in your questions and press Send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it is appropriate to do so. Before we begin, I would like to submit the following poll, and I would now like to hand you over to CEO Katherine Roe. Good afternoon to you.
Alex, thank you, and good afternoon to everybody. Thank you very much for taking the time this afternoon to attend our interim results presentation. My first presentation as Pharos CEO, having joined the company on the first of July. I'm joined today by my team, Mo Saeed, our COO, recently appointed as Chief Operating Officer, but having been with Pharos for a number of years. Our CFO, Sue Rivett, again, well established and been with the business for many years, and Manon, our ESG, sustainability, and IR lead, who we work very closely with on our sustainability policy. I'd like to just introduce myself. For those who do not know me, I was previously the CEO of a gas-producing business in Tanzania called Wentworth Resources.
I was with that business for a number of years, and as I said, most recently, as CEO for the last four years. That company received a recommended cash offer from Maurel & Prom, and was sold to Maurel & Prom at the end of last year, and I'm embracing my new role, having joined Pharos on the first of July. It has been just a couple of months for me, but I think we've achieved a lot in terms of working together as a team. Hopefully today, giving you a summary of where we are and what we're looking forward to, going forward. So just start off with the first slide. Thanks, Manon.
I think what I wanted to do, and to, for all of you today was to set the scene with some early observations since I joined the business back in July. Really found a transformed business, having had a couple of challenging years, and seen some decisions made in order to sustain the business and put it on a firm foundation for future growth, which is where we're at today, so we have a solid foundation from which to move forward, and that's very much the focus and theme of today's presentation. I found a very impressive team.
Really grateful for the dedicated and loyal team and the work that they do, and I've really had a sense of those strong in-country relationships that are so critical to a business like ours. I've already had the opportunity to meet the team in Egypt and particularly the new Minister of Energy in Egypt, and the CEO of EGPC, our regulator in-country. And why that's important, we'll come on to later, just to demonstrate the strength of those relationships and how that's tangibly translated into an improvement in the receivables position. And just to give you a flavor, we've received more than $20 million year to date in our receivables. So we have solid assets, like, again, from Vietnam as well, two jurisdictions with production and exploration potential.
Those assets are solid and stable and have been able to produce reliable cash flow, which in turn enables us to continue that sustained dividend policy, and we're delighted to announce today, with the results, that we are intending to declare an interim dividend, with a 10% increase. And we do have a very clear and transparent policy on the dividend. We hope that that grows as operating cash flow grows, so there's a very strong set of financials. I think what has also happened since the end of the half year, the reporting period, we have now fully repaid all of our outstanding debt, and we did have a legacy RBL and a facility with National Bank of Egypt, and we've been able to fully repay those.
As we sit here today, we are currently debt-free, and again, very, very strong position to be in. What does that all mean? And what should we be spending our time and focus on right now? What that means is that we've got to extract and grow value from our existing assets. We have two good quality jurisdictions with assets that have catalysts, and we need to explore how we extract further growth from those. We'll come on to that in a bit more detail, but in summary, we're progressing license extensions in Vietnam to unlock an appraisal program, and we are discussing a consolidation proposal in Egypt to provide further confidence for reinvesting into Egypt, particularly as that macro picture improved, as I mentioned, with the receivables.
We do have financial flexibility because of the robust balance sheet, and that provides strategic optionality for us to be able to consider anything that can offer shareholders the maximum returns within a very strict capital allocation. I think what I've been doing, working with the team over the last couple of months, is making sure that we can present and articulate a very clear and disciplined capital allocation policy, and Sue will pick up on that in a little bit more detail later on about what that looks like for this year. Moving on to the next slide. This just highlights our first half results. I think try to capture the key points here.
Strong revenue and strong cash balance at the end of the period, at the end of June, and that, as I say, has allowed us to become debt-free, largely thanks to that receivables situation significantly improving, with more than $20 million received to date this year. As I mentioned, that has allowed us to declare our intention of an interim dividend of 0.36 pence per share, which is an increase of 10% and an annual yield of about 7%, coupled with the ongoing buyback program, which, you know, is a healthy yield for a business our size. I mentioned our two jurisdictions. I think what's really important for us as we look forward is that we have activity again.
You know, we're at a point where we can start to look at drilling and creating value by actually monetizing the way we can use our assets. And Mo will come onto this in more detail very shortly about this drilling that's underway and what that means to us going forward. As I mentioned, I think the leadership changes I've touched on. So we sit here today as a refreshed management team, I'm pleased and looking forward to moving forward. Manon will talk a little bit more towards the end of the presentation about our sustainability policy.
Really, for me, it's been very refreshing to see an authentic, and genuine approach to sustainability for a business of our size, and our commitment towards that Net Zero put in a very fit for purpose framework. So I've been really delighted to see that, and we'll continue on with that moving forward. Thanks, Manon. This is just an overview of where we are. I mentioned our two jurisdictions, but again, what's really critical, the takeaway here, is that these are assets with catalysts. And so we have a very clear pathway of how we think we can extract further value from these assets. In Vietnam, we're really focused on those license extensions.
Again, for the first time, we'd like to talk a little bit more about what those license extensions actually mean, and Mo will tell you a little bit more about that. Blocks 125 and 126 are very exciting exploration. Again, you might have heard about this previously, but we've taken a refreshed and renewed look at that, and have actually made a commitment in August, just last month, to proceed with ordering long lead items. They're long lead in nature, so they are expected to be delivered next year, and that allows us some confidence that we're moving forward with that potential. In Egypt, we've mentioned the macro environment.
Mo will also talk a little bit more about our consolidation project, which seeks to improve the fiscal terms, and ensure that we continue regular payments, to provide confidence, and a framework in which we can reinvest back into Egypt. And that might be a nice moment to hand over to Mo, to talk to you a little bit more about some of these initiatives.
Thank you, Katherine. We start with Vietnam because it's a core cash flow assets for us, high net back, low break evens, and premium to Brent, with very stable production, as you can see in the two charts in the middle. The top dark green chart shows the production from TGT, which you can see a flat line and really good job overcoming the natural decline. This has been done through a series of low-cost well intervention activities. We have not drilled in TGT in twenty twenty-three. We did not drill in the first half of twenty twenty-four, but now we're back to drilling. And in the next slide, I'll show you a bit more about the drilling. CNV is the same way.
You can see pretty strong production in CNV field, that's still highly influenced by the lateral, successful lateral we drilled in February twenty twenty-three. And based on that lateral success, a new RFDP, Revised Full Field Development Plan, was put in place, capitalizing on the learning from the laterals and recommending additional infill drilling to come in the near future in CNV. I'm sitting here today confident that we will deliver within the guidance range, and we have delivered on the guidance year-on-year in the last few years I've been involved. And in the next slide... So that's an important slide, because for the first time, we are able to talk to you a bit more about what the license extensions in both TGT and CNV mean to us. And there is a dedicated slide for TGT and CNV to come in next.
But in TGT, the five years license extension will take us to 2031, and in CNV will be 2032, and that's sustaining the healthy cash flow that comes in from those assets. On the right, you'll see the location of the well we're currently drilling. We finished drilling the actual phase of it. The drilling is done. Now it's moving into completions, and it will soon be put on production. The well came on time, on budget, so we're happy with the results of the first of the two infill program in TGT. Can't leave that slide without highlighting the significant exploration opportunity in Blocks 125, 126. As Katherine mentioned, we have ordered the long lead time items, which basically help us with preserving that option to drill next year.
To be able to drill next year, two things has to go hand in hand. One is finding the proper partners, so we'll continue those discussions with the potential interested parties, and also we need to secure a well slot on the rig next year to drill our 125 , so we're in discussion with the rig contractor, so those are two things that's going hand in hand required to enable the drilling next year, but we're preparing and we're getting ready with the long lead items, which keeps that option available. Next slide, please. Okay, so exciting slide for me. This time we're going to be talking purely on the technical, 'cause we believe that we have had the final discussions with our partners and PVN, and all have been submitted. It's in progression, waiting approval.
Reminding people that we have applied for those license extensions very early, so the license won't expire until end of 2026 and end of 2027 for TGT and CNV. The important thing is why we applied early, that's probably why you've heard about it several times before, is we used the time to actually create and materialize a program that would be go-ready after we get the approval on the extensions. So what's our commitment on the technical side? So we have a small amount for 3D seismic reprocessing and a one well appraisal, firm appraisal option. Firm appraisal well, and then an optional appraisal. The map in the middle shows you the location of the two wells that we're currently drilling in green. So H 5 infill, this is the well we just finished. H 5 South is the next infill to come.
With that, the appraisal program that follows, which would be the H 5 Southwest and then the H 5 West. Assuming success on the appraisal program, there is a clear development program to go after and a clear pathway to how we bring it to production. On the left, you can see the timing. The estimated rough timing around when we move between the different stages. But I remind people it's still appraisal, exploration in nature, and we're doing the 3D processing, but we use that time to materialize the program. With the five years license extension, that could open up additional infill drilling beyond these two appraisal well under development locations. So a really, really exciting project to see next, and obviously comes in with commercial terms and bonus, but that will come later after this discussion that I finalized.
So in a nutshell, that's what we're trying to do with TGT, which is really exciting time for us. The next slide will talk about CNV. Exactly the same in nature. Our commitment is a small amount for seismic reprocessing, one appraisal well, it's multilateral, so the first lateral is firm, the second lateral is option. And the interesting thing about CNV is, early in the field life, we drilled in that Block B, but we drilled parallel to the fault structure, so it's proven hydrocarbon, but the well did not flow. So with the learning over the years, the lateral is designed to be perpendicular to the fractures, and basically, we will drill and try to connect as many of those fractures as we can, and hopefully make a production well out of it.
Assuming success on that appraisal program, there is a defined development program to go after with defined way of bringing it on production. So again, a really exciting time for those. Similar story, sustaining the cash flow with the license extensions, additional development, additional value in moving a small amount from 2C to 2P initially because of timing, but potentially more to come when, if the appraisal programs are successful in the two assets. Moving on to Egypt. Egypt is a low operating cost environment, and Katherine mentioned the $20 million receivable. And I can say, we're sitting here today, if we look back at our receivable position at the year-end in 2023, we have been paid more than 55% of those outstanding receivables.
My last slide in Egypt will include a bit more around the receivable and what are we doing with the improvement in the macroeconomic situations in Egypt. On the operation side, however, you can see flat production in the first half of twenty twenty-four. It was essentially the same flat production in twenty twenty-three. So with the modest amount of activities, we've able to keep the production line flat, thanks to low cost well interventions and water flood. You can see the water flood kicking in and some increase, small increase towards June going forward, that's coming in from the water flood. The light green color on top basically shows the production coming in from the well we put in North Beni Suef late last year, and it's very stable, which is a good sign to the connected volume that well is accessing.
In twenty twenty-four, development in North Beni Suef was the key. That development have been shifted, and it's partly related to the seismic, which I'm gonna tell you a bit more about it in the next slide. So can we go next slide, please? Continuing with the North Beni Suef theme, you can see the map in the bottom. I've talked about the activity shifting, and mainly it shifted because when we were going through the seismic processing, we have noticed that the velocity changes in the model. Basically what's going on, through history, the ancestral Nile changes location, and when it changes location, the location it was left out gets filled by material different than the original deposition, and that will impact the velocity modeling.
The velocity modeling is very important to increase the chance of success of the drilling going forward. So we allow the processing to take longer because we want to get it right, instead of getting it quickly. So that's basically meant the activity that was planned for 2024 will be shifted, but the capital we have, we will redeploy the capital. The capital will be redeployed, two wells will be redeployed to the exploration. So the first of the two exploration wells is the one we're currently drilling. It's on the map on the top, the East exploration well. It sits between two existing producing fields, and it's a low risk, low cost exploration prospect, and we are going through the well right now, and the results from the well are encouraging.
The second of those two exploration commitment wells will come in towards the end of 2024 or early in 2025. Then there will be a development well in El Fayoum that will come right after the current exploration well, and the last well in the program will be a potential acceleration of an injector in North Beni Suef to support the current existing producer. That's how the capital is deployed. In Egypt, in El Fayoum and North Beni Suef , activities are heavy towards the second half of the year. Exactly the same way in Vietnam, with the TGT wells drilling in the second half of the year. Operation heavy in the second half, and also capital intensive in the second half. That's the conclusion on the operations.
The next slide is the last slide on Egypt, and it's a really important slide. I have talked in the past about my experience with the receivable position in Egypt, and I said in the past, Egypt have never defaulted, and now we see the payments coming through. This is my third cycle, so in my twenty years career, I've seen this build up and paying receivable three times. So we know Egypt does pay, and it's linked to the amount of foreign exchange reserve available in country, and with the recent injection, you can see the receivables are coming down. So from the time we took over as operator in Pharos to today, we're roughly at the same receivable balance.
However, we have received a lot of money during that period, and we continue to receive money, and today we sit with 55% receivable paid from the year end. Okay, so what are we trying to do? So we've met with the Minister of Petroleum in Egypt, one-on-one. We've met with the EGPC regulator, one-on-one. As Katherine mentioned, they both are encouraging investment. The government is saying the right signals. We want to accelerate approvals for the benefits in accelerating investment. The government publicly committed to paying the foreign contractors. It's also one of the IMF mandates. So what we've done during those meetings with our partners, IPR, we have put forward a win-win economic model for the government that will encourage us to reinvest in the assets. So the government is familiar with the consolidation projects.
There are several of them have happened, the most recent with Apache, and there are several, like ourselves, already going through that process now with the government. We and our partners have experience with those projects, so we have our most recent experience in Fayoum with the third amendment to the concession agreement, which shows our contractor take increase by roughly 10%. So this is very interesting project. The approvals of those projects tend to take time. We know from the government they want to accelerate the approval process, but they do go through the parliament approval, because technically it's a change in the law. So we're working with the government to get this through, and in the background, preparing the programs that goes after that program is being approved. So that's concluding that slide.
The last thing I'm gonna say in here, why it's really important? Because it will increase the tenor of El Fayoum, improve the fiscal terms of NBS. There are incentives for the unconventional developments. The government is going after and support it, and there are several other incentives in there. I won't be able to talk much about it, because it's a large discussion, but it's an important project for us. And that concludes the operations section, and I now pass it over to Sue.
Thanks. Thanks, Mo. So in terms of the results, strong financial results for the interims. If we look at to the left-hand side, our pathway, if you like, our journey from net debt to net cash. So at the half year, we finished in a net cash position of $17.5 million. And indeed, as Katherine mentioned earlier, as we sit here today, we are now debt-free, having paid both the RBL and National Bank of Egypt. So, you know, brilliant position to be in, and clearly that's been supported by the recovery of the Egyptian receivables. So over $20 million in the period to date. And you've got a chart there on the right-hand side showing the trajectory, which is done.
You know, as we sit here just into September, you've got still about just under $30 million sitting there, waiting to be recovered. And of course, if you add that to our cash balance, then you know very healthy position as we move forward. With that, if I could move to the next slide, please. Yeah, so strong cash flow from operations, so just under $52 million. Of course, we have to pay the government, and indeed, we've got some working capital funding there. So, operating cash flow, $28 million, great position to be in. We've got a moderate capital expenditure for the first half, which Mo mentioned. You know, we've been capital-intensive light in the first half, and we'll move into a stronger capital position in the second half.
So second half, we have two wells that we're drilling on TGT, and indeed, a program of work in Egypt. So just under $7 million for the first half, but that will intensify as we move forward. Also worth noting there is the 8.2 towards the end. That's to do with our carry and contingent consideration from our partner in Egypt. So that's all part of the deal that we did a couple of years back. The carry is now finished, but the contingent consideration will continue for a couple of years. So there's still money to look forward to in the pot from there. So on the strap line there, 21% operating free cash flow yield. So great position to be in. If I could move to the next slide.
So a little bit of data we haven't perhaps shown you in this format before, but just to demonstrate, you know, where the cash is coming from and where it's been spent. Free cash flow from Vietnam, $20 million. Egypt, just under $13 million. Again, I draw your attention to the $8.2, as some of that, as we know, it relates to the carry, so won't be a feature going forward. But again, you know, still a strong position from both the assets there. In terms of the last block, so financing activities, so $31 million, obviously very pleased to say debt-free. And those, you know, those monies, as we go forward, comes back into the capital allocation pot, which will be really important as we move forward in 2025 and beyond.
And if I could move to the next slide. So sustaining shareholder dividend. As you know, it's within our DNA, the dividend. So 0.363 pence interim dividend that we're announcing. So 10% increase on prior year, and indeed, a 7% yield if you join that with the share buyback program that's been ongoing. So good position there and continuing. And then I'll move to my last slide, just to talk about the 2024 capital allocation. So $74 million there. Debt repayment of over 50% of that, so that $39 million that we started at the beginning of the year has now gone. So clearly, that's great as we move forward.
Shareholder returns of $9 million, and indeed, investment in our capital program of work in both Vietnam and Egypt for this year, so lots to look forward to. Vietnam, low breakevens and high premiums to Brent. Those license extensions, you know, hopefully coming through soon, and indeed, 125 , we've committed to those long-lead items, which is important in securing a drilling program going forward. In Egypt, obviously, we look forward to continuing to get those receivables in and adding to our cash profile. There's still a contingent consideration that we talked about to come for the next couple of years, and indeed, as Mo has talked about, the consolidation project there, you know, lots to look forward to, so I think we leave the half year in a really good shape and lots to look forward to.
And with that, I'll hand over to my colleague, Manon.
Thank you, Sue. So in the first half of twenty twenty-four, we continued to achieve strong results in our corporate responsibility framework. Our people is our biggest asset, and we benefit from the diverse perspective and experience that they bring. We're proud to have 11 different nationalities across all of our assets and a board with an equal gender split. We ensure the health and safety of our employees remain our top priority. And in the first half of twenty twenty-four, we're glad to report zero lost time injuries in both Vietnam and Egypt. We also continue to invest in social projects and development of industry talents across our assets, ensuring we have a positive impact to the local communities wherever we operate.
On the environment side, we're happy to report an 11% decrease in total emissions compared to the same time last year, which is keeping us on track towards our Net Zero by 2050 commitment. Combining this achievement with our 18% reduction at year-end 2023 compared to 2021 baseline, we are on course to meet our first interim target, a 5% reduction by 2026. This is thanks to proactive management from the operations team to reduce gas flaring and fuel consumption. Most notably, in Egypt, we continued the usage of generators that utilizes excess gas that otherwise would have been flared, to generate electricity to power field operations.
... In Vietnam, we utilize the usage of LED lighting on the FPSO and wellhead platforms in order to reduce reliance on carbon-intensive energy sources. As we look forward, we will continue to focus on reducing gas flaring and venting, enhancing measurement of GHG emissions data, and we'll look to deploy funding from the Emissions Management Fund towards decarbonization projects that can help us meet our Net Zero 2050 climate goal. I will now hand it back to Katherine for her closing remarks.
Thank you, and my thanks to Mo, Sue, and Manon today for supporting me in this presentation. I'd just like to spend a few moments to wrap up before we invite questions. I think it's very clear, hopefully with this set of results, that there's strong operation delivery and that financial strength, which is only going to be improved, as we look forward because of the deleveraging position, and I think that's really testament to the quality of the assets and what they've been able to deliver, historically, and how we can maximize that going forward. Having said this, we are going to be very disciplined about capital allocation. We do have near-term priorities, which we've talked about, in terms of unlocking that value in both Vietnam and Egypt.
But we propose to be transparent, disciplined, and clear about that capital allocation, with a focus all the time on maximizing shareholder returns. That has to be our number one priority. We do have this exploration upside throughout the portfolio. The material exploration upside on Block 125, we still feel very committed to, and I think hopefully we've demonstrated that by those long lead items that we've pressed the button on in August. So where do we go from here? We are looking to the future. We need to grow value from our existing asset base. They are good quality assets, that now is the right time to reinvest, within the right commercial parameters, which again, I think we've touched on during this presentation.
We will do that in parallel to maintaining that sustainable dividend policy. We feel strongly about tangible returns to shareholders for their support and commitment to the business. We have a clear policy of no less than 10% of operating cash flow, as you know, and that will be maintained. The share buyback program continues in its current phase. We will look to 2025 capital allocation and see how that fits in for next year's capital allocation. We are in a position of strength as we sit here today. We are focused on near-term growth delivery, and we will ensure that capital is allocated for the highest return for shareholders, and be very clear and transparent about that.
It's very encouraging for me, just after a couple of months, to see such a transformed business over the last few years, and actually a real foundation to move forward. We look forward to actually being able to give you updates as we move forward on some of these near-term catalysts we've talked about. So I'd like to thank you all again for taking the time in your busy schedule to listen today, for the continued support from existing shareholders, and we obviously are very open to any questions you may have.
That's great. Thank you, Katherine, and to the rest of the team for your presentation. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions using the Q&A tab situated in the top right corner of your screen. While the company take a few moments to read those questions submitted today, I would like to remind you that a recording of this presentation, along with a copy of the slides and the published Q&A, can be accessed via your investor dashboard. As you can see, we have received a number of questions for today's presentation. And, Manon, if I may now hand back to you to chair the Q&A, and kindly ask you to read out the questions where appropriate to do so, and I'll pick up from you at the end. Thank you.
Fantastic. Thank you. We have received a couple of similar questions, so I've grouped them together where possible. So first, turning to Block 125, we have been asked: When will it happen? Will it ever happen? And how many more years?
I-
Yes. Thank you, Manon. Yes.
So I think the question around, the guidance?
125 .
125.
Yes.
So 125, we have been materializing that opportunity. We have showed the seismic in 2020, seismic processing, 2021 interpretation, so we have those big prospects. We have went out and retested this by third party with the CPR from ERC, that we published last July. So we got that confirmation. We're sitting on with some really good prospects, world-class prospects to go after. Yes, we did talk to you about it early, and, and again, it's like everything, we're transparent with our shareholders, and we- you are part of that story. So where we are today, we've ordered the long lead items. We have been trying to drill this well, and it's obviously difficult to secure a one well slot in a deep water rig. It definitely was difficult for us last year. It's just been proven difficult so far.
But once we get that drilling slot and the farm-in partners, we will be able to progress 125. And oil is in the ground, it's not going anywhere. It's still frontier exploration, and we're working on it, and we're going after it.
I think what's important, maybe, absolutely, just to add the point about ordering the long lead items. Not only hopefully demonstrates having refreshed look at the opportunity, that is absolutely an important part of our growth creation in a portfolio. But it also preserves that optionality to be able to make progress next year. Without ordering those long-lead items, we would not be giving ourselves that optionality. So there are discussions that are ongoing that gives us the confidence to do that.
Thank you very-
But we can't put a hard timeframe at this point.
Yeah.
Thank you so much. The next question: Will production guidance ever see an increase? For the last few years, guidance shows a downward trend.
Okay, so let's remind ourselves. So TGT, CNV are mature assets that have done well for us in the past, and they're mature, and we have been doing a good job managing their declines. So in terms of guidance, there are several value catalysts where that future production will grow. One of them is the drilling, one of them is the appraisal in TGT and CNV that basically have the potential to bring additional production coming forward. Obviously, one twenty-five is one of those big production opportunity to grow, and in Egypt, the growth would have came in from Egypt initially, and that's part of that Egyptian acquisition. Having gone through this, there were several things, including the macroeconomics, that haven't allowed the ramp-up in activity and increase in production.
With the consolidation project, with the improvement in the macroeconomic position in country, we want to see that pending coming through regularly and a successful outcome on the consolidation project. And again, that will enhance for the three investment forward. So those are the potential places where the guidance will in the future, grow from.
Fantastic. Thank you, Mo. The next question is for Katherine. Congratulations on your appointment as CEO of Pharos. What do you see as your key priorities and your main objectives in your first year as CEO?
Okay. Thank you, Manon, and thank you for the question. I think it is still early days. It has been just two and a half months. So I think medium to longer term, that is still requiring some thought, but it's quite clear where our near-term priorities should be, and that is extracting as much value out of the existing assets as we can, and being in a position now, financially and commercially, with some of the macro environment improving, to actually look at moving that forward. We've really evidenced that already by the drilling that is active and ongoing as we speak, which we touched on, but also those value catalysts, the license extensions in Vietnam, and the consolidation project in Egypt.
And those are near-term priorities that we're focused on very much on a daily basis, that we believe will be the next, incremental, value creation, for Pharos. More medium, longer term, we are considering, and I think, we'll be in a better position once I've had a bit longer, to articulate that.
Thank you, Katherine. The next question: Do you still expect to receive the Vietnam license extension this year? Are these likely going to result in upward revisions to 2P reserves?
We're still hopeful we get it this year, so like I said, it's going through the approval process, and this is not in our control. You know, Vietnam is still hierarchical, and there is a progression through the approval. We believe it's in the final stages, but I can't put a timeframe on it, basically. The progression of the 2P to C, 2C, there will be... Sorry, moving from 2C to 2P initially would be a modest progression because of timing, but then there will be additional with the appraisal success.
Okay.
Thank you. The next question: What's the latest in relation to recouping our receivables from the Egyptian government? Are they still as committed as they were earlier this year? Have they set out a repayment schedule?
Perhaps I can take that one.
Yeah.
I mean, we've seen a very strong position for this year already, so as we said, over $20 million received to date. We understand from the latest communications that we've had is that their intention is to pay bills, so from October to pay bills regularly. So whatever your month's bill is, essentially, it will be paid on time. So we should expect a smooth pattern from that, but also that they'll be looking at the past debt that you've got as well. So I think, you know, it's a strong position. There's lots of commitment there from the minister to do more and to get people back on track. They also clearly want to grow production, so they're looking for people to be investing as well.
But, yeah, I think we're in a lot stronger position than we were this time last year.
I think we'll see how that goes, certainly over the next-
Yeah
Few months and quarter. There's absolutely very clear alignment, I would say, between us, international companies and the government. It will take time to clear the full arrears, not just for us, but for everybody, but we feel pretty confident we'll get there, and I guess we'll see how we go over the next few months.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Fantastic. Thank you so much. The next one is a question on operations. When will waterflood in Egypt start to yield some tangible results? We continued with waterflood even during the reduced CapEx period between 2020 and 2022. This seemingly hasn't increased production or even halted the production decline. When will we see tangible results?
... Not sure the question is actually correct, because the waterflood did halted off the decline. This year, you can look at the production, pretty flat line. You can look at last year, is again, pretty flat line. What the waterflood did and will do, number one, is over, let's support that decline, so minimize the underlying decline. And then, there is potential growth in the production from the existing wells, the small kick that comes in with the continuous production, so some of that oil bank's moving towards that. But what it's doing, more importantly, is setting up and bringing the reservoir energy, so when we drill in the future, we drill in the locations where we have the waterflood support. Those are locations that initially, from the future wells, will be improved as a result of those waterflood.
But I've mentioned in this presentation, you can see some increase in from June, that was related to the waterflood. We have implemented three projects so far. There are two more to come before the year end, and several more to come. It's an ongoing optimization. And the way we're investing around the waterflood is by optimizing that investing, meaning we go and convert one of the existing wells to injector, and then we drill around it. So there is a mechanism in the background. I would say, the waterflood so far is working as designed.
Fantastic. Thank you, Mo. I will now move on to the live questions. Could we have more color on the consolidation project, when you kick it off, for how long?
Okay, so-
I can say that, right?
Yeah. Please, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, we kicked it off in May of twenty twenty-four. That's when we submitted our proposal, joint proposal between us and our partners, IPR, to the government. During that period, there was change in the cabinet in Egypt. We received the initial feedback two months later, and basically, that discussion is ongoing at the moment, live. For how long? It's difficult to have a specific time. I know the last concession agreement took us roughly a year to 18 months, but that was the previous system. We know from the government that they're trying to accelerate approval, and it's evident by the continuous meetings and conversations we have with the government. So we're looking to accelerate and working closely with our partners in Cairo to go through that consolidation project conclusion.
And if you reflect back on the government position today, every barrel of oil we produce more is one barrel less being imported, and that money will be freed up to pay receivables. So the minister has said very clearly, the government is interested in the new investments coming in, and they understand that the consolidation project will unlock some of those investments coming in, so they're keen to progress approvals.
Great. That's very helpful. Thank you, Mo. The next question: Does future guidance exclude contribution from new wells mentioned today?
Future guidance...
We will look at 2025 guidance.
We haven't put our future guidance, right?
No.
Yeah.
I think given the activity in the second half, I think Sue mentioned as well, we're more capital intensive heavy the second half. Let's see where we get to with the wells that we're drilling, because that-
Yeah.
That will have some consideration into our production guidance for next year, which we have to set, yeah.
It will help, for sure, the exit rate. So that's where the two wells in the second half will be material, will help the exit rate when we put on production. But, it's again, it's all around sustaining the production level we have.
Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you, Mo. We did have another question from Mohammed, and I'm sorry if I'm misunderstanding your question. Do you think an increase in production will take less than a year?
Increase in production? I think it relates to, the consolidation.
Consolidation.
I would like to think it will, but because it's not purely in our control, I can't tell you for sure it will take less than a year. But I'm hearing from the government, especially on those one-on-one conversations, they're very keen. And just to give you some color, when we met with the minister, we had a meeting with the EGPC chairman, and after that, there was a follow-up by the minister's office, that they're actively engaged. That tells me it's different than the process we've gone through before. But because it's in the government control, because it has to go through parliament approval, I won't be able... Today, we just kicked it off in May, so it's early to tell you whether it's a year, less or more, but it's within the time we're working on.
There are no further live questions. I will now hand it back to Alex.
Perfect. That's great, Manon, and to the rest of the team, thank you for addressing all those questions from investors today, and of course, the company can review all questions submitted today, and we will publish those responses on Investor Meet Company platform, but before redirecting investors to provide you with their feedback, which is particularly important to the company, Katherine, could I please ask you for a few closing comments?
Thank you. Just to say thank you again for everybody's time and attention to listen to our presentation today. We feel very confident about the future, given the financial foundation and the operating outlook for us. So thank you for those that are continuing to support us, and we look forward to speaking to you again soon. Thanks again for your time.
That's great. Thank you once again, Katherine, Mo, Sue and Manon, for and to the rest, for your presentation this afternoon. Could I please ask investors not to close your session, as you will now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback, and also that the board can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, and I'm sure it will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of Pharos Energy PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good afternoon to you all.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.