Ithaca Energy (LON:ITH) reported record quarterly production in the second quarter of 2026 and raised its full-year dividend guidance, citing lower operating costs, strong cash generation and continued production momentum following weather-related disruption earlier in the year. Executive Chairman Yaniv Friedman said the company's Q2 production averaged 131,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, while first-half production averaged 128,000 boe/d. He said production had recovered strongly from the turnaround season and was continuing into the third quarter, though the company still expects the planned impact of maintenance activity during Q3. → AMG's Alternatives Boom Powers Record Growth The company declared a first interim dividend for 2026 of $255 million and raised its full-year dividend guidance to a range of $500 million to $530 million.
Friedman said Ithaca has announced more than $1.65 billion of shareholder distributions over the past three years. Chief Financial Officer Iain Lewis said first-half operating costs were $18 per barrel, down from about $22 per barrel in 2024 and below the company's medium-term aim of maintaining costs around $20 per barrel. Ithaca reduced its full-year operating expenditure guidance, with the midpoint lowered by $20 million. → Microsoft's Maia 300 Chip Targets NVIDIA's AI Dominance For the first half, the company reported EBITDAX of $1.1 billion, free cash flow of nearly $500 million, net cash from operations of nearly $1 billion and profit of $127 million, according to Lewis.
Ithaca ended June with $1.9 billion of available liquidity, including $1.3 billion of undrawn reserve-based lending capacity and $571 million of cash. The company also has an untriggered accordion facility of about $400 million on its reserve-based lending facility. Net debt stood at just over $1 billion, while pro forma leverage was 0.49 times at the end of June. → The Metals Company's Big Bet Now Comes Down to a License During the period, Ithaca completed a private €155 million tap of its euro-denominated bond at a 5.5% rate.
Friedman said the transaction would support growth ambitions and balance-sheet optimization. Lewis said the higher dividend outlook reflected pricing, cost control and some foreign-exchange support, while production guidance remained unchanged. He said the company was substantially hedged on oil for the next two years and had retained some exposure to higher gas prices, including 30% unhedged gas volumes in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Chief Executive Officer Luciano Vasques said operational momentum from 2025 continued through the first half, supported by the company's focus on safety, production reliability and cost discipline. Ithaca recorded no Tier 2 process safety events for a 10th consecutive quarter. Its total recordable incident rate was 1.2 cases per million man-hours in the first half, with a rolling one-year rate of 1.7, compared with a UK North Sea basin average of 3.95, Vasques said.
The company also reported emissions intensity of 16.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide per barrel of oil equivalent, below the basin average of about 25 kilograms. Vasques attributed the trend partly to a greater weighting toward lower-emission assets and the retirement of the higher-intensity Alba and Greater Stella Area fields. At Captain, the C75 well entered production in Q2, while the B-15 well was progressing and expected to begin production in early Q4.
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