Danish company All NRG Oil & Gas has recovered from several years in deficit while operating in a sluggish market.

This last year saw activity levels restored at All NRG Oil & Gas's oil and gas rigs, with a positive effect on the company's freshly published annual financial statement.

The company's gross earnings in the latest fiscal year are twice that of the preceding annual report and thereby total to DKK 151,260 (EUR 20,261) against DKK 76,076 from the year prior.

These earnings have also impacted the bottom line, upon which All NRG Oil & Gas presents its first black figures since fiscal 2015-'16. Whereas the previous annual statement reported a deficit of DKK 2.2 million, this year's accounts show a positive result of DKK 3.8 million.

All NRG Oil & Gas operates in both the Danish and Norwegian North Sea, and while the former market has remained stable in recent times, developments have been more positive on the Norwegian continental shelf. This has had big significance, as the Norwegian market also comprises most of the company's business.

"This fine result is attributable to general developments in oil and gas – but particularly concerning the Norwegian market. Since the oil [price, -ed.] crisis abated, prices have developed with relative stability in the last few years. This has provided the tranquility needed for the development to be positive for us," says All NRG Oil & Gas Chief Executive Hans Schneider.

Looking at the annual report supports Schneider's point and illustrates the big fluctuations intrinsic to having a business based on performing tasks for the oil and gas sector:

Awaited upturn

The company booked its largest deficit in fiscal year 2016-'17: DKK -5.3 million.

"Clearly, when the price of oil declines from more than USD 100 per barrel to less than USD 30, it stops all activity in the North Sea – at least all new activity. That development has turned around in connection with the price having stabilized around USD 60 for a longer period," Schneider says.

Brent trades for USD 57.71 per barrel Thursday morning, but looking back less than one week, the European reference crude sold for more than USD 60 per barrel.

Beyond price developments, Schneider also points to the company having benefited from being a part of a corporate group – both during and after the most critical phase.

Schneider says consolidation made the company robust enough to withstand the crisis. When it ended, the business was intact and ready to embrace the upturn, the CEO says.

Driven by the Norwegian market

In a fickle market like oil and gas, being a company with a business model of hiring out personnel according to demand, market fluctuations also lead to large organizational changes.

During this last year, All NRG Oil & Gas has employed between 515 full-time personnel in 2014-'15 to 138 full-time workers three years later. Times have once again changed, and the staff count averaged at 232 in the last year.

Time will tell if this trend will persist, but All NRG Oil & Gas set its guidance for the next fiscal year in line with the latest.

Such confidence is especially based on sustained optimism about Norwegian market activities.

On the Danish continental shelf, the market has also become more stable for subsuppliers. Here, the company's personnel could, for instance, play a role in reestablishing the Tyra field, operated by French oil and gas supermajor Total.

"Tyra is a part of the Danish sector, which looks very different from the Norwegian. [The Danish shelf] doesn't show the same marked development as the Norwegian sector. But we still have tasks at Tyra from Total, and the task volume has been stable during the last two to three years," Schneider says.

This is projected to continue well until the field reenters operation in 2022, the CEO notes.

But activities on the Norwegian shelf restored All NRG Oil & Gas's viability after a series of tough years.

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