Volume IX · Issue 09 · September 2025

The Variance Review

A monthly account of how operating dirhams were planned, spent and re-projected across the plant.
Reporting Period
YTD · Jan – Sep 2025
Currency · USD '000 unless stated
Lead story

Plant under-spent by through September, with fuel savings absorbing maintenance over-runs.

Gas hedge tier locked at $7.20/mmBtu since April delivered the bulk of favourable variance; Bonga-X unplanned overhaul drove the principal overrun.
Budget YTD
USD · operating + small capex
Actual YTD
Oracle GL · trial balance
Forecast FY
YTD actual + remaining plan
Variance · A vs B
favourable
Generation
3,540 GWh
Availability 92.4% · Heat rate 7,540 Btu/kWh
Cost per MWh
$28.0
Budget $27.2 · +2.9%
Forced outages
3 events
36 lost hours · within EFOR band
Headcount
214 FTE
Plan 220 · -2.7%
Chapter One

By department & cost centre.

USD '000 · YTD
DepartmentCost CentreBudgetActualForecastVar $Var %FY Outlook
Total — Plant operating budget
Chapter Two — at a glance

B / A / F by department.

Each row reads as planned (sand), realised (sage) and projected (terracotta). Bars are normalised to the budget for that line.

Chapter Three — composition

Where the spend went.

Total
Fuel
Labour
Maintenance
G&A & Other
Chapter Four — drivers

What moved the number.

Top favourable
    Top unfavourable
      Chapter Five — the year, month by month

      Cumulative OPEX walk.

      Editor's note

      Three lines that defined the quarter.

      1. Fuel — Gas (CC-1300): $2.32M under plan, courtesy of the Q1 hedge bracket and three weeks of cooler ambient temperatures lifting heat-rate performance.
      2. Mechanical Maintenance (CC-1210): $0.27M overrun on Unit-2 HRSG tube replacements; an additional $1.10M is contracted for Q4 — visible in the forecast.
      3. IT & Cyber (CC-1800): $0.19M overrun is intentional — accelerated OT segmentation under the new NIS2 regime.
      Chapter Six — the grid

      Cost-centre variance, by month.

      Favourable
      Unfavourable
      Cells show variance % vs monthly budget. Positive = under budget. Hover the row label for the cost-centre code.