28th Feb 2014 17:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Kea Petroleum closed up 19% Friday as it posted a narrowed pretax loss due to rising revenue in the half year ended November 30, 2013.
The New Zealand based oil and gas exploration company posted a pretax loss of GBP1.1 million, narrowed from a pretax loss of GBP1.5 million in the previous year, as revenue rose to GBP1.2 million from GBP382,000 in the previous year.
The company experienced mechanical issues at the Puka site, which led to a fall in production. However production has continued, and Kea still produced a total of over 39,500 barrels from the field.
Kea expects repairs at Puka 2 to be completed in March, as the pump remains in production but at "significantly reduced efficiency". The company hopes that productivity will be restored to near previous levels.
The company has a drill-or-drop decision to make on its Mauku site by mid-April, but has asked for an extension of the work program to complete additional interpretation and evaluation work.
Kea said it remained excited about the potential value of its Puka site, and it is in the final stages of negotiation in the farm-out process for the site. The company also is expecting data from its Mercury project. It expects to have completed the evaluation of this data by the end of the first quarter of 2014 in order to pursue the possibility of offering it for a farm-out.
"Whilst we have experienced some challenges in the past few months, we retain our ambition of becoming a significant player in oil and gas production in the Taranaki basin," Chairman Ian Gowrie-Smith said in a statement.
Shares in Kea closed up 19% at 1.07 pence Friday on volume of 7.0 million shares compared to its average daily volume of 4.1 million.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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