Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, 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 can be submitted at any time using the Q&A tab situated on the right-hand corner of your screen. Just simply type in your questions at any time and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it receives during today's meeting. However, the company will review all questions submitted today, and we'll publish those responses where it is appropriate to do so. Before we begin, we would like to submit the following poll, and your participation, I'm sure, will be well-received by the company. I'd now like to hand over to CEO Jann Brown. Good afternoon, Jann.
Good afternoon, and thanks, everybody, for your interest and for joining us today. With me presenting are Sue Rivett, our CFO, and Mohamed Sayed, our Group Head of Technical. We're gonna go through the presentation at a bit of a pace because we've already got quite a few questions in, and encourage you to submit any during the presentation itself so that at the end we've got time to focus on the bits that really interest you. Okay. Can we move to the first slide, please, Manan? When we were here in March, we talked about resetting the dial, and we've come a long way since then. We've got production guidance that we're well on track to meet.
Supported by that and the oil price, we've had very strong cash generation in the first half of the year and continuing, and that's given us choices. We've been able to invest into our assets, but also, we've initiated a share buyback program in July, which is ongoing. Last week we announced the framework for the resumption of regular dividends, which will start in 2023. We've also announced our commitment to net zero, and both the dividends and net zero we'll come back to at the end of this slide deck. Now, Mo will go into the detail on the asset side, but just a very brief high-level overview. Vietnam, we're drilling starting this month. The objectives of the drilling program are really about maintaining production levels.
When you've got payback periods on drilling of about six-seven months on TGT and netbacks for the Vietnam production of over $50 a barrel at $100 oil, this is production well worth maintaining. We're also in the process of requesting license extensions to take the licenses through to the early 2030s. Also in Vietnam, we've got Block 125, which is an exciting basin opening play, the largest undrilled or virtually undrilled basin left in Southeast Asia. Seismic's substantially complete. There were some delays, largely COVID-related, on processing the seismic, but it's nearly complete. The well planning is ongoing, and there are a number of parties that have already indicated interest in farming in. So that's Vietnam. In Egypt, we announced in July that we had secured a rig on long-term contract.
Anyone who follows the industry in Egypt knows that this is a very hot market for rigs. That gives us the foundation to drill El Fayum and help get those production levels up. Even more importantly, what Mo will talk to you about is further value enhancements that he has under review with IPR. We're also gonna drill the first well on our exploration block, NBS, in Q4. Just as a reminder, we are fully carried for all joint venture costs, OpEx, CapEx, and G&A. With that, I'll hand you over to Sue to talk you through the numbers.
Thanks, Jann. Yeah, if I could take you through the first half results. I guess we should start with the production number. Just under 8,000 barrels of oil per day there. We should put that on a like-for-like basis because during the period, we farmed down from 100%- 45% on our Egyptian producing assets. On a like-for-like basis, that comes up to just over 9,000 barrels a day. Pretty flat, period-on-period with the same period last year. I should mention the Vietnam production, 8% up, which is important.
As you would expect, the revenues have increased considerably this year, $130 million, essentially up because of that oil price, $65 in first half 2021 versus just under $110 for this period. A great result there in terms of the oil prices. From a cash generation perspective, up over 200% to $57 million. Great cash generation from our operations there. In terms of the balance sheet, we've seen a strengthening of the balance sheet up to $353 million there. That's largely the result of being able to bring back impairments that we'd written in previous periods.
A reversal of that largely due to the oil price, but also due to an improvement in the fiscal terms in Egypt, with that cost recovery improvement from 30%- 40%, which gives us an extra 20% on our revenues. If I could move to the cash flows, Manan, that would be great. Thank you. In terms of the cash flows, we end the half year at $47.5 million, so up $20 million in the period. I'll just concentrate on a couple of numbers there. $10.1 million consideration received. That's from IPR, our new partners in Egypt. $3 million of that is cash consideration, and $7.1 million is part of the carry that we're starting to come into, you know, taking from the deal itself.
I'll come back to the deal later in the slide decks. In terms of other things to note, you see the $7.5 million and the $6.7 million in and out, basically, that's the National Bank of Egypt facility that we have, which is very much a working capital facility, allowing us to draw down and back. Very good facility to have in our toolkit, if you like. If I could move to the net debt. Concentrating on the four columns there, you'll see operating cash flow, $27.6 million. That number is important as we move forward, and Jann will talk about that as part of the dividend position that we've announced today. $76 million coming in there from operations.
Unfortunately, taxes, we all have to pay our taxes, so $27 million going out there to the government for those. Also important that I draw your attention to the $18.9 million, which is an adverse movement on the working capital position. Of note is the Egyptian receivables, which is $14.9 million at the end of the period. That was $7.5 million at December. That increase is largely a factor of a catch-up invoice that we were able to put into EGPC for that improvement in the fiscal term. You know, partly to do with that, but also we'll pick up the fact that in country, there is a limited U.S. dollar position and therefore that is impacting the receivable position as well.
I'll pick up on that later on as we move through. In terms of the next slide, please, Manan. On hedging, we've put a bit more color in the hedging here that you've asked for previously. We've put the swaps separately against the zero. They're all zero cost collars, I should say there. That gives you the volumes that we've traded and the prices that have been achieved on those products during those periods. What we should say is that the hedged production is moving from fairly heavily hedged a few months back to a lot lower position as we move forward. The first half was 45% that was hedged effectively to protect the balance sheet.
As you know, 35% of the volumes, the Vietnam volumes have to be hedged for the RBL. Just to confirm on that. If we move forward to the Egypt position, please, Manan. Thank you. In terms of Egypt, you'll have seen the fiscal terms before in our results. That's the $7 million that I mentioned, the catch-up invoice for past sales, which was good to be able to send that into EGPC. In terms of the deal, small cash consideration, $5 million. By far the biggest chunk, the $37 million, is the carry that Jann mentioned, and that was essentially the money to kickstart again the development program there.
During the period, we've utilized $7.1 million of the carry, and we expect to utilize a further just under $14 million in the second half, with $16 million being carried into 2023. You know, a great position there. We carried not only for CapEx, but OpEx and G&A. Also of note is the contingent consideration. Anything above Brent price of 62 up to a cap of 90.5, and we'll achieve $5 million over the next four years. We should expect to see $5 million into our bank account first of June next year, in U.S. Dollars. That would be the first of the four-year period. If I could move to the next slide, please, Manan. Thank you.
In terms of the cash CapEx forecast for the full year, we would be spending around $44 million. However, we have funded on that carry for $15 million of that, so down to $29 million that we're funding from our pockets, if you like. In terms of 2022, 2023 key considerations, revenue is still being received directly into our account. We should obviously address the receivables position there, the lack of liquidity of U.S. dollars in the country. You know, we are working on that very hard.
I'd say, you know, we've got about six projects going to improve the dials there to make sure that we can get U.S. dollars converted rather than accept Egyptian pounds, which is, you know, it's in difficulty at this point in time. In terms of Vietnam, some low breakevens, fast payback as Jann mentioned. six-seven months on the TGT wells, the two wells we've got there. The CNV well takes a little bit longer, much more stable production, lower stable production, so around 24 months. But the great thing is we're back to dividends and share buybacks as we move forward. Thanks very much with that, and I'll hand over to Mo to update you on the technical side. Thank you.
Couple of things before we get in the slides. Number one, you've heard the highlights from Jann, which shows the strong performance in the first half of the year. I will not go through all the details of what she has already communicated. I will not also be reading every word on the slide. I will hit the main point. I will give you a little bit of details. Because of the time, I cannot give you the full details. However, I would like this to be more interactive, so the time on the Q&A, I will be more than happy to answer any of the questions you may have. Some of the questions that already been submitted, we'll address some questions. Okay, just jumping right into it.
As you can see in the plots in the middle, it shows a steady, strong performance in Vietnam, in TGT in the top plot, and CNV in the bottom plot, which still underpin our confidence that we're going to deliver the guidance. It's the same, we delivered the guidance last year and the year before, and this year we're confident we'll meet the guidance in Vietnam. The performance in TGT is underpinned by the four wells we've drilled in 2021, which you can see them on the map on the right highlighted in yellow. You can see on the map four wells highlighted in yellow. These are the four wells we drilled in 2021. The two wells we plan to drill in 2022 are highlighted in orange, and you can see they're planned to be in different fault blocks.
The first of the two back to back wells in TGT is already started, and we're like three, four days into drilling. On the map also is referenced nine contingent wells without specific location on this map. The significance of those contingent wells is because there is a pathway to monetize 2C to 2P, and I will pick up on this in the next slide. Okay, next slide, please. Starting from the left side with TGT and staying with the operations theme, the operation team in Vietnam did a really good job fixing the compressor issue that happened late last year. Early in the quarter in Q1, so this way contributed to production and helped underpin that steady strong performance in TGT.
Away from the operations, the subsurface team have been working on updating the full field development plan for the contract extension. In TGT, contract extension to 2031 gives us an additional two years with roughly 1 .3 million barrels of oil equivalent net reserves to forecast just because of the timing. The nine wells I've mentioned in the previous slides will be on top of those 2P resources that were already progressed due to timing. The same thing on CNV. The team is working on months update to the full field development plan and the contract extension to 2032, which is additional two years and circa 0.7 million barrels of oil equivalent moving from 2C to 2P just because of those two extra years of timing. Okay, next slide.
This is one of the interesting slides you may have some questions about, but it's a good place to be in, an exciting, interesting place in a relatively underexplored basin, one of the last remaining in Southeast Asia. If I bring your attention to the map on the right, you can see the two blocks, 125 and 126, in gray the 2D lines that have been shot and seismic lines highlighted in red are the 3D survey. The interesting thing about the 3D survey and the 2D, we've already been able to map several different leads, as you can see them on this map. The different colors for the leads you're looking at are talking about different prospective reservoir horizons. We have multiple different potential prospective reservoir horizons, which is good.
The second good feature you can see are the size of those identified leads are pretty significant. Also some of the shape also shows you different types of traps in the exploration concession. That's exactly the type of things that you wanna see in an exploration block. There is a myriad of different options to go after. The team in Vietnam right now is working on maturing the leads to prospects and taking the prospect to drill a well next year. That's one of the key focus. Jann mentioned that has been a little bit delayed because we're doing the PSTM, the seismic interpretation and the seismic processing and basically trying to improve on the quality of it. That's been delayed because of COVID, but we're still on track.
We still believe we can. We're progressing things. First time we presented publicly was in June. Our exploration manager in Vietnam presented about 125, 126 block in Asia Pacific conference, and that created a lot of attention. We've been seeing some encouraging interest from a potential farm-in partners. Any of them would be a partner that we're happy with. The focus so far, progress leads to prospects to drilling, prepare to, and engage with those interested parties for a farm-out process. Those are the key two focus. I can't say too much about this right now because the work's still ongoing, but it's a good place to be and having something that potentially significant. Going on to the last slide on Vietnam.
The important part about this, as Jann mentioned, what I'd like to share with you here is. Yes, we 100% focus on the developed resource base. That's including the drilling that we're currently doing in TGT, the field optimization oil intervention, the contract extension. It's significant, it's important, it generates the cash flow. Those are the green highlighted bars at the bottom, which shows you we produce a significant amount of oil. There is more oil in the field that's significant in 2P, and the pathway to move 2P to 2C to money in the bank. That money can be reinvested in the asset or it can be handed over as dividend and buyback and share buyback.
The areas where we can invest in the asset that we have this organic growth opportunity is pretty unique because in Vietnam we have what we call ILX or letter E, whichever of the terms you're familiar with. What it means really is infrastructure-led exploration. We're exploring in the development lease in the area where we have in our concession that's close to facilities. The advantage of this type of exploration is that you find something, you can drill it tight then at a very small development cost and get it on production quickly, backfill that spare capacity that's already available. With the contract extension, there will be more of those opportunities to go after. Lastly, also opening up this whole new production center with the exploration block in 125, 126, which we've discussed in the previous slide.
That sums up the value development near term, midterm of ILX and then basically the big frontier exploration 125, 126. That concludes the Vietnam section and I'm ready to move to Egypt. In Egypt, production increased in the first quarter with the modest amount of ramp-up in activities we've done. You see that in the top plot, which shows you the increase in production with three wells being put on production till end of June. The interesting thing about Egypt, and you just need to remember. The bottom plot, which shows you the history of the production of El Fayum since we took over as Pharos.
The deal closed in April 2019, and the second peak in production in the solid green is basically when we were able to build the momentum, ramp-up activity. It took us about roughly a year to build up momentum and ramp-up activity. We had one drilling rig, we brought the second, and we were working on that, and we were increasing production every month. As you can see, in the last three months before we had to shut down for COVID, we were adding 200-300 barrels every month just because of this ramp-up activity gaining momentum. Unfortunately for us, it happened at the worst time possible, which seemed to be a feature and theme, but happened during COVID, and the oil price crashed. Hadn't the oil price crashed, we would have been able to finish 2020 at a high number, okay?
Then continue 2023 from a higher number with the same activity level to deliver El Fayum full field development plan. In summary, what's important here, yes, it takes a little bit of time in El Fayum to build the momentum, but once you build the momentum, you see the impact on production. For us as Pharos, if it wasn't for COVID, we would have been continuing. You see, look at the production and how the slope of increases. When COVID happened, we had to halt all activities. I went to Cairo and safely ramped down all the operations. For a period of 18 months, we pretty much halt all the investment. Nobody knew how long it's gonna take or the impact on the oil price.
When we've seen the rebound in the oil price, we started back investment, and we already were progressing a farm-out process. Around November, we went back to drilling with one drilling rig, one well was drilled. IPR took over and since so far in the period, they were able to drill six wells. I'll talk about them in the next slide. What's good so far is with the modest amount of activities we've done, as you see in the production plot at the bottom. Second plot in green is when IPR deal closed, which is March 2022. You can see the production increased and is stabilizing. Those are the signs that you want to see as you start this ramping up operation journey we're on. It's all being handled.
IPR is going after it with our support, and we're pushing hard. Manan, if I move to the next slide, please. Okay. What I wanted to say on this slide, two things. Staying with El Fayum, to just wrap it up, two things are important to state. We've put four wells on production till August. Two wells have just been put on production, and then two more are planned till end of this year. That's the sum up of the drilling, for so far and the rest of the year. The important to mention is the supply chain interruption, which for us impacts the waterflood ramp-up ability. We have surface pumps required from a supplier that's basically we elected not to work with them because we are evaluating different vendors and different implement the ramp-up in the waterflood.
If anything, I would like to see, like I've seen a little more ramp-up in the waterflood than what we have already seen in the first half, but that's already progressing, looking at different options. To a lesser extent interrupted by the supply chain is our ability to secure spare parts on relatively short order. But if they are really important, we pay for air freight and get it and keep the operation going. That sums up El Fayum for you. Moving on to something similar to 125. It's an exploration block in Egypt, North Beni Suef. Similar in the sense it's exploration, lower in magnitude, so it's not as big as we expect 125, 126 to be. But the advantage of that exploration block, it's a low cost, low risk exploration block.
It's surrounded by already producing Apache fields. We have a well planned in the first in this year, the first commitment well in NBS, and that's basically across the lease boundary from an already existing Apache field. With the NBS, we've already inherited a small seismic survey. On that seismic survey, we were able to identify several good prospects, and we also plan to shoot small 3D seismic survey. IPR submitted to the government for an extension of the exploration period to allow time to drill those exploration prospects.
Depending on the timing and the prospect, we could be drilling the first commitment well in this year and then move the rig and come back later or we delay drilling the commitment well to roughly first quarter, in the first quarter next year, and drill a couple of them back to back. We're progressing NBS work. We think it's a value-adding. It's a low-risk, low-cost exploration available for us in Egypt. My last slide in Egypt is the next one. In the same way I showed you the different value creation, value enhancement, and opportunities for organic growth in Pharos's in Vietnam, I'm sharing with you the same thing in Egypt. The bottom chart shows you our percent, the 45%.
We produced 25 million already, 17 million 2P already been identified, and eight more from 2C moves to 2P with additional drilling. Again, there is a pathway to produce, to move 2C to 2P to production to money in the bank. That money, like I said, dividends or otherwise we can invest or both invest in the asset. The ILX exploration opportunities in Egypt are pretty significant. We have conventional and unconventional. The conventional part is split into two different components. One component is drill the same structure we have further away in the development lease. Those are the shallow reservoirs where we produce from today. Then a deeper, more prolific reservoirs, they are producing in the Western Desert elsewhere, but not yet in El Fayum.
Drilling deeper around 12,000-14,000 feet for those deeper reservoir, which will have a potential big, big potential on the El Fayum production. Lastly, ARF is the significant unconventional resources that's been recognized by us and others. We've done studies on it with U.S. experts. It's equivalent analogous of the Eagle Ford Shale. It's an important resource. The in place above 1 billion barrel in place. At 3% recovery, still significant. Whether we do it ourselves or somebody does it for us is something that we continue to evaluate and pursue. Lastly, NBS, which is again opening up a whole new production center from an exploration block that we've discussed in the previous slide. I won't go through it in more details. That pretty much wrap up my Vietnam, Egypt section operation and the different value enhancement.
I give it back to Jann.
Great. Thank you. A couple of slides on ESG, one on the dividend, and then one slide to wrap up, and we'll move to Q&A. This is the usual metrics that you would expect from any E&P company, takes their position seriously and tries to produce responsibly. The metrics are there transparently for all to see. The next slide is a bit of a departure for us. We have announced a commitment to net zero on our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050. Now, 2050 is a sort of entry-level date for making this commitment. We will do what we can to try to accelerate that. To support those efforts, we've announced the establishment of an Emissions Management Fund.
For every barrel of oil sold where the oil price is above $75, we will put $0.25 aside into this fund, and that will provide the capital to support whatever initiatives we identify to further reduce emissions. My sense is that in the early years, this is likely to be on operational efficiencies and improvements, but you never know, technology and technological change moves quite quickly. As part of this commitment, we'll produce a more detailed roadmap sometime in 2023. Okay, next slide, please. Shareholder returns. We've had the confidence with the cash flow generation to resume returns, first with the buyback started in July. We've used about half of that, just over half. We've also announced the expectation of returning to regular dividends with a clear policy.
Distributions will be based on operating cash flow, and that metric's been chosen because it takes into account oil price, tax, which is the main government take in Vietnam, unlike Egypt, where it's a production share of the revenue line. It also takes into account working capital movements. The minimum distribution is going to be 10% of our operating cash flow. We expect to declare the final dividend for 2022, based on the 2022 operating cash flow, approve that by shareholders at the 2023 AGM, and make the full payment after that. From 2023 onwards, we'll move to a payment in two installments, an interim and a final. Happy to take questions on that later if there are any. In conclusion, you've heard from Sue about the cash flow engine that is working well.
You've heard from Mo about the wide range of organic growth opportunities we've got in the pipeline. We've got developments in both Vietnam and Egypt. Egypt fully carried this year and into next, and of course, the enhanced license terms, which have added about $10 million to the top line, on our share so far. In Egypt and in Vietnam, we've got exploration through very different types of plays. Lots of growth to offer, organic growth already in the portfolio, and back to a focus on shareholders and cash returns with both the share buyback and regular dividends. We're targeting both the yield and the growth side. The growth side, we believe we can do organically from our portfolio for at least the next year to 18 months. With that, we will finish the formal presentation, and we'll move over to Q&A.
That's great, Jann. Sue and Mohamed, thank you very much for updating investors this afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions using the Q&A tab situated on the right-hand corner of the screen, but just while the team take a few moments to review your questions submitted already, I'd like to remind you that a recording of this presentation, along with a copy of the slides and the published Q&A, will be accessible via your Investor Meet Company dashboard. Thank you to everybody for their questions this afternoon, and thank you to those that pre-submitted their question in advance. If I may, I'd just like to hand back to Georgia, who will moderate the Q&A. If I could ask you please to read out the questions and, obviously I'll pick up from you at the end.
Thanks, Manan. Thank you everyone for your questions. I will now run through the pre-submitted questions we have received over the last few days before turning to the live Q&A. We received a number of similar questions, which we have grouped together for ease. Turning to the first question on strategy: Are you pursuing an M&A strategy? Would you consider merging with a similar size or larger peer to provide economies of scale? I'll hand that over to Jann.
Okay. Thanks for that. Look, in 2020, we had to put our balance sheet into intensive care, and we've worked really hard to get that back into shape, while at the same time preserving as much of the value, the organic growth potential in the portfolio, as we possibly could. We're now at a position where, as I said, the production levels are solid, the cash flow generation engine is working, and that's given us the confidence to fix the yield side of the equity story, the buybacks and now the clear dividend policy. On the growth side, retaining as much opportunity as we could, that's gonna keep us occupied, as I said, for the next 12-18 months. In doing that, it could be to look to prove up asset values and then monetize and move on.
That's part of the tried and tested route for both this company and us as a management team. Then if you come to specific question about where does M&A fit into, all of those strategic elements, we don't rule it out, but we are focused on growth in value, not growth in scale. If you take the economies of scale points, that would be, in our situation, almost exclusively, G&A allocation over a broader asset base. G&A, in our case, let's face it, is just a cost of being listed, premium listed, being a responsible operator and a good corporate citizen.
If we were looking at any deal we would take, we would factor in those G&A reductions as part of the overall equation of whether the deal was a growth in value rather than just a growth in scale. Although we keep an eye on opportunities, and we have run the slide rule over some, we are not chasing deals for their own sake or for scale sake. If you look at the last few years, you can burn a lot of time, effort, and money in pursuing deals.
If you look at the reduction in G&A that we've achieved over the past few years, part of that is by reducing the size of the organization, the size of the board, but part of it is simply reducing the amount of time and cost that we're spending on M&A. Not ruling it out, but it's not something that we're pursuing or that we count as a core part of our strategic direction at this point in time. What we do offer is a clear dividend policy, the option of continuing with the buybacks and organic growth from assets that we already have in our portfolio.
Thanks, Jann. The second question is: Where is future production and revenue growth going to come from?
One for Mo, I think.
Yeah. In my section, I covered the organic growth part. We think development, as I said, we focused on that development, drilling, waterflood, recompletions in Egypt, drilling TGT and CNV. That's the first part, the current development resource base, including monetizing the 2C to 2P to money in the bank. That's one clear pathway. The second one is through investing in those opportunities I've mentioned in the near term, the ILX in Vietnam and Egypt, and with the funding partner in Vietnam for the 125, 126 block and the NBS. We have different opportunities in our hands to invest money in, and that's where the money and the cash flow in the future, the projection is coming from.
Thank you. How should we think about shareholder returns and where will they come from? Dividends, buyback or share price appreciation?
In the company, we can control the cash returns that we make to our shareholders. We can't control the share price. It's not our style to focus on running a business purely for the share price. We focus on value in the business itself. Focused on making the right investments in our assets to generate value, particularly in terms of near-term cash flow. We can't guarantee that that converts into share price appreciation. We can control the cash returns. We have the ongoing buyback with the option to continue that. It'll probably take about six months before we're through that committed GBP 3 million. That's why we've announced a very clear framework for dividends from 2023 onwards. Georgia, can I divert slightly?
Because there's quite an interesting left field question come in on the current one. So just to address that before we go into the rest of the pre-submitted. The question is from Ash Kaye, and it is, "Are Pharos planning to head back to working full-time from office?" Everybody who knows me knows that I'm quite passionate about this, so I do really want to answer this one. The answer is, it's very much employee-led. We trust our employees. We are clear with them what we want them to deliver and by when. Then with a few exceptions, where everybody needs to be together or small teams need to be together, it's up to them how and when they deliver that.
Some of our employees have elected to be back in an office full time, and we do have a small office space for them. Some much prefer the flexibility of working from home. To me, this is an opportunity, and I know the pandemic accelerated it, but it's not about the pandemic. It's about the technological revolution following on the industrial revolution and the agricultural revolution, each of which has changed working practices. If we don't explore different ways of working, then I think we will have missed a real opportunity. The answer is, it's employee-led. At this stage, no, but, you know, could all change in six months' time. Sorry, Georgia, back to the question.
Thanks, Jann. Turning to the questions we received on Egypt. The first one was, as of the first of July, Pharos has used approximately 20% of the free carry provided by IPR, but production in Egypt is down. Can you explain why and remind us why you chose to partner with IPR? What do they bring?
Okay. My first degree was history, so forgive me if I go back, a couple of years once again. Talked about being in intensive care in 2020. We were. We needed to take a number of remedial steps, and the farm down was one of them. A really important one because we needed capital to develop the asset, but we also wanted to retain, some of the value that was inherent in that asset. We went through the process, well-run process, and IPR made us the best offer. It was not only the best offer on the table, it was good enough. Shareholders approved it, at the time. IPR as a partner have proved to be, a company that listens and is not just squeezing us out because we happen to be non-operated.
If you come to the production, one of the biggest lessons, probably the biggest lessons that we learned about this asset when we bought it in 2019, is that after a period of low investment, it takes a long time to ramp up. We acquired it in April 2019, got control. It was April 2020, a year before we got the production levels back up. As Mo said earlier, you know, if the oil price crash hadn't happened, who knows what trajectory that would have been on. It didn't, so there's no point in crying over that. That pattern of ramp up is what we're seeing right now. Do we wish that there were more rigs available to throw more at it? Yeah, of course we do. Again, there's no point in crying about it.
You've just got to take what there is on the market and move on. You know, Mo has some great stories to tell about how proactive IPR has been in securing the rig that we've got. You know, there are a lot of other companies who would be delighted to have this rig. We talked in March about the supply chain constraints and, you know, they're absolutely there in the rig market. We also factored that into the guidance that we gave to the market in May. We're on track to meet those and to deliver what we said was possible given these market constraints.
Getting right back to the question, what IPR brings is capital, broad experience in Egypt, and a partnership that is collaborative and willing to listen, particularly to Mo, who knows this asset better than anyone. We really value that.
Thank you.
Sure.
How will the company fund its 45% share of the Egypt venture after the remaining carry has been fully used up next summer?
Okay, perhaps I can take that. The great thing obviously as we move forward, although we're in a carry period, which is brilliant, as we move forward, Egypt will actually fund itself, so there should be no issues there, particularly at these prices.
Thank you. Turning to Vietnam. Last week, the company said that in Vietnam, further development drilling on both TGT and CNV is due to commence imminently with the rig on location and preparing to spud. When is the drilling of the two wells on TGT due to be completed, and what is the expected impact on the gross barrels of oil per day?
I'll take that. The drilling started, we're confirming, and we expect it to finish by mid-November. That's the expected time frame. On average, without giving specific numbers, it's between 25 - 3,000 barrels of oil per day between the two wells. Roughly on average, I'd say 3,000. But they come in at different times, and you can see them on the slide. That's the answer to this particular question. While I'm at it, there was another question in the ones that have been asked right now. The question was asked by Sam S. If Vietnam is such a high netback, why we're only drilling two-three wells?
The reason really in a nutshell is because the current contract finishes before last year. It was finishing in 2024. Last year, we were granted two years extension, which makes it finish in 2026. Those wells in Vietnam, they're high netback. Continuing that investment, the contract extension we're working on will enable that further drilling. That's it.
Thank you. The next question on Vietnam. Could you share with us the latest with regards to the license situation at the TGT field? If a license extension to year 2031 is granted, can we expect more drilling in the future to support the production plateau?
Okay. I'll continue with the operations question. Let's answer them backward. The first part is, do you expect with the license extension additional drilling? Yes. That's one of the things I've mentioned in my slides, in the slide section. I'm just answering the previous question. The work ongoing right now for the contract extension to 2031, it basically includes that updated field development plan, which identifies some of the future well locations. All of which will help support the production plateau.
Thank you. If the lease extension at TGT is granted till year 2031, is the design life of the leased FPSO sufficient to remain on the field till then, as it has now been operating at the TGT field since 2011?
Our boat owners, Bumi Armada, tell us it is. Subject to the proper satisfactory inspection, we think it does not require to go to dock, dry docking. We think it can continue subject to the proper satisfactory inspection.
The last one on Vietnam of the pre-submitted questions is, as the FPSO lease contract ends in 2024, is the company planning for shorter one-year optional extensions beyond that or a longer period, for example, seven years extension to see out the contract till 2031?
Okay. We will do the contract extension accordingly. I think the question mentioned 2024, which I corrected. Our current contract expiry is 2026 in TGT because we were granted two years last year. That's already extending the contract. Yes, the contract basically with Bumi Armada will extend to that period. I've answered in the previous one to 2031. They're telling us, yes, we will do the proper inspection and the certification to extend it to 2031 as the contract extend.
Thanks. Moving over to some more general questions now. Pharos has great assets and one of the best management teams in the sector. Why is that not reflected in the share price? Jann, I think you're on mute.
Mute. I wish I knew. We've been doing the rounds with our current shareholders, as you would expect after the interim. The institutional shareholders are really happy with the combination of the buyback and the dividend policy and also the net zero commitment. That's really important to them. We've got quite a portion of our register in high net worth shareholders. They're very happy with the dividend being resumed. They've all said that they like the transparency and the fact that we're prepared to discuss risks as well as just the positive aspects. The current shareholder base certainly institutions high net worth very positive feedback from this set of results. What is apparently really difficult is to attract new shareholders into the story.
All we can do as a management team is tell our story to as broad a range of groups of potential shareholders as possible, and keep focusing on the business and the underlying health of that business.
Thanks. The last one is: Why haven't any of the non-execs on the board purchased any shares over the past two years? I'll hand that over to Sue.
Thanks. Yeah. What we have got is obviously four non-executive directors, all of which have shares in the company. Two of them joined in 2020 and were part of the placing that happened in January 2021. All of them actually hold shares in the company. Thanks, Georgia.
Thanks. We'll now move on to questions asked during the call. The first one is: When does Pharos expect to be debt-free?
I'll take that one as well. Thank you. As you'll have noticed from the first half, we've managed to improve the net debt position down to $37.9. Great position because of the first half performance. Obviously, those high prices of Brent continue throughout this second half. You know, I should expect to see a similar trajectory as we move forward. I can't give you the exact date. What I can say also is obviously the RBL itself has a tenor of 2025, so June 2025 is the position when that must be paid down. But you know, obviously, as we sit here today, it's you know, we're going further out and getting closer to that net debt, bringing that down towards zero.
Thank you. The next question. Egyptian pounds payments, what is the outlook?
Okay, I'll take that one as well. Obviously, it's one that we've highlighted in our results and is very important as we move forward. What I would say is, as you know, we are working on a number of opportunities there in terms of transferring Egyptian pounds into U.S. dollars. We did actually, as a team, meet with the National Bank of Egypt at last week, and I would say that it was a very positive meeting, and they do seem to be seeing a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. I understand that the IMF, you know, discussions with the IMF continue. Hopefully, we should see an improvement in that position as we move forward.
The next question is: Issue bonds versus RBL an option, given the punitive cost of hedges associated with the RBL?
Okay. I don't know whether, Jann, you wanted to pick that one up.
Well, we looked at issuing a bond a few years ago. Never say never. It was very expensive at the time. Are the hedges punitive? It's certainly a discussion point with the banks as we come to the next round of redeterminations, given that the balance sheet strengthened. As you saw from one of Sue's slides, the range of hedge positions that we've got now is opening up far more attractive oil prices. Last year, when we needed to get through a working capital stress test for a shareholder circular, we had to layer in far more hedges. That wasn't to do with the banks. That was to do with the merchant bank who were sponsoring the circular.
Moving forward, we, you know, we're open to swapping out to whatever debt instrument is the most attractive. I mean, Sue talked earlier about the term of the RBL. The way that we've set the dividend policy, you know, there's a minimum payout threshold. What we do with the cash after that, one of the options is to repay the RBL more quickly. You know, that's certainly something that we'll keep an eye on.
Thanks, Jann. I'm conscious of time, so we'll be taking one last question now, before we move to summary. The last question is: Any plans to introduce green energy elements in existing producing assets, particularly TGT with the FPSO?
Okay. Do you want to take it?
No. On you go. On you go.
Okay. Let's basically give you an answer on the two assets 'cause it's important. Jann talked about the Emissions Management Fund, which will be used to fund this long-term project with the technology that allows us to reduce emissions in the two assets. The FPSO, the design of it is basically, right now, we looked at many different options of what can be implemented and actually impact the emissions reduction. What we're looking at is improving the efficiency, like the gas compressors, the different kits. By improving the efficiency on the different kits, we reduce emissions immediately. In Egypt, there are a couple of different projects that could reduce emissions, one around power from the grid and another one converting the diesel generator into gas generator.
Both of those projects are progressing right now. We're looking at different ways to implement. Overall, the reduction in emission, in the way we think about it, is two stages. First stage is what you can do right now, which is improving efficiency and some of the projects that Dean identified, economically viable. It adds to the operations efficiency and reduce emission. It's a win on three different fronts. On the next stage is the technology that can be implemented. Basically, once they're available, we implement them in the field, and that Emissions Management Fund will help us implement some of those long-term technology projects.
That's great. I might just jump in at that point and thank you all for your engagement this afternoon, and thank you to everybody for their questions. Any further questions do come through, we'll make those available to the company for their review post today's meeting. Jann, if I may, I know investor feedback is particularly important to you and to the company, and I'll shortly redirect those on the call to give you their thoughts and expectations. Jann, perhaps before doing so, if I may, just ask you for a few closing comments, and then I'll send investors for their feedback.
Okay. Well, at the risk of repeating myself, just three key messages. The cash generation engines are working, and we've seen, as Sue said, significant de-leveraging in the first half of this year, down to 0.5 net debt-to-EBITDA, which is a very comfortable level. That cash generation performance has given the confidence to resume cash returns to shareholders, first in the buyback, and secondly, with a minimum dividend commitment starting in 2023. Finally, that's the yield side of the equation, we offer significant growth in our assets. We've got a range of opportunities. Some of them are for near-term cash flow, but there's also growth opportunities in both Egypt and in Vietnam. That's Pharos today. Thank you very much for your time.
That's great. Jann, Sue, Mohamed, thank you very much indeed for your time this afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, please can I ask you not to close this session as we're now gonna automatically redirect you for the opportunity to provide your feedback in order the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure it'll 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. I wish you all a very pleasant afternoon.