Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has reported a deepening net loss of AED1.2bn ($326m) for the first half of 2016.

This is a 634.8 per cent increase on the net loss of AED165m recorded for the first half of 2015.

Aside from a one-off AED555m tax credit in the UK in 2015, the increased loss is mainly due to Taqa’s realised oil and gas prices, which were down 39 per cent year-on-year.

Revenues fell 19 per cent to AED7.9bn in the first half of 2016, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by 21 per cent to AED4.1bn compared with the same period in 2015.

Taqa has continued to cut costs, reducing capital expenditure (capex) by 73 per cent compared with the same period last year, to AED1.3bn, while maintaining high levels of hydrocarbons and electricity production. The state-owned company has also managed to refinance a $1bn bond due in October. The new debt issuance is split into two $500m tranches with five and 10-year maturities.

“Despite achieving significant costs reductions, including a 73 per cent cut in capex, we safely maintained oil and gas volumes and increased power production above our previous record highs,” said Saeed al-Dhaheri, acting chief operating officer in a statement. “The cost transformation programme has continued its momentum, achieving more than AED6.5bn in savings since it started in 2015. The highly successful $1bn bond refinancing reduced our annual corporate interest payments by AED70m, and our free cash flow has continued to grow during the period.”

Taqa produced almost 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent a day during the first half of 2016, but reduced its costs per barrel by 22 per cent to $21.56 in Europe and by 16 per cent to $7.33 in North America.

In utilities, Taqa increased its electricity generation by 6 per cent to 39,090 gigawatt hours, while while water volumes decreased slightly to 121,650 million imperial gallons over the first half.