Lundin Petroleum trims production forecast on Brynhild field delay
* EBITDA $222 mln vs forecast $190 mln in Reuters poll
* Q3 production below forecast due to problems at Alvheim
* Brynhild oil production delayed to 2014
* Says full year production to be at bottom of forecast range (Adds company comment, detail, background)
STOCKHOLM, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum said on Wednesday a delay to one of its fields meant production for the full year would be at the low end of a previous forecast.
Lundin, which has a large stake in the giant Johan Sverdrup find in the Norwegian North Sea, has been enjoying strong production growth this year thanks mainly to its Alvheim and Volund fields off Norway.
But production in the quarter came in at 29,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day - below a forecast in a Reuters poll for 31,100 barrels due to a planned shutdown in August at Alvheim and other problems at the field.
Furthermore, Lundin said problems with adapting a floating production and storage platform for its Brynhild field in Norway meant the first oil from there would not flow this year.
"With Brynhild now forecast to come onstream in 2014 there will be no production contribution from Brynhild in 2013 and as a result our 2013 production forecast is now expected at the bottom of our previously guided 33,000 to 38,000 boepd range," CEO Ashley Heppenstall said in a statement.
"Production will increase to over 40,000 boepd when Brynhild commences production in 2014."
Brynhild had been expected to come on stream in the fourth quarter this year.
The delay, however, will not affect Lundin's forecast that current projects will double production to around 70,000 barrels per day by the end of 2015.
The Johan Sverdrup field - one of the biggest oil disoveries off Norway in decades and expected to come on stream by the end of 2018 - will double production again to 150,000 barrels.
Sverdrup is seen holding between 1.7 billion and 3.3 billion barrels of oil and Lundin repeated it expected to release a refined resource estimate later this year.
Lundin's third quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell less than expected to $222 million versus a mean forecast in a Reuters poll of $190 million and $274 million in the year-ago period. (Reporting by Stockholm Newsroom)
