Investors will have their eyes on tax bill as Harbour Energy reports its latest results

The company said in March that its profit had been “all but wiped out” by the windfall tax.

However, this was based on writing off last year’s profit against what the company expects to pay over the five-year period of the tax, a move that brought criticism at the time.

Harbour set aside 1.5bn dollars (£1.2bn), which it said was to pay off the tax in future years.

It then said that the tax had wiped out last year’s profit, despite paying only 205m dollars (£161m) in extra tax last year on a profit of around 2.5 billion dollars (£2bn).

Analysts will probably be keen to know how much of the expected tax bill has actually materialised in the last six months since the end of the previous financial year.

This could give them an idea of whether the 1.5bn dollars will all be spent on the windfall tax.

In June, Harbour was boosted by the Government’s announcement that, while the windfall tax will continue until 2028, it could be phased out if average oil and gas prices drop below 71.40 dollars a barrel or 54p per therm for two consecutive quarters in that period.

Investors will also be keen to know more about Harbour’s plans for the future of its non-UK operations, and whether bosses will say anything more about the rumoured tie-up with an American rival.

Earlier this month, Harbour announced it was exiting its operations in Vietnam.

This means that Harbour has only a small amount of production left outside the UK.

But Harbour is also investing a significant amount in opportunities abroad, including a three billion dollar development in Indonesia.

This has been held up due to sanctions against the Russian company that Harbour was meant to be running this project with.

There have also been reports about a potential merger with US-based Talos Energy.

That would see the company’s focus shift away from the UK after the windfall tax hit.

Harbour and Talos have already partnered on a project in the Gulf of Mexico before.

Harbour Energy is the largest London-listed independent oil and gas company with a leading position in the UK market, as well as interests in Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico and Norway.

The company has around 1,800 employees worldwide and 15 per cent of the UK's domestic gas supply was produced by Harbour in 2022.

According to the company’s website, its purpose is “to play a significant role in meeting the world's energy needs through the safe, efficient and responsible production of hydrocarbons, while creating value for our stakeholders”. Harbour reports its results on Thursday August 24.

Traditionally, late August is one of the quietest periods of the year for corporate announcements.