31st Oct 2013 10:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Afren PLC Thursday said its pretax profit increased 6.2% in its third quarter as increased production in Nigeria resulted in higher sales.
The Africa-focused oil and gas company reported profit before tax from continuing operations of USD427.0 million, for the three months ended September 30 compared with USD401.7 million last year.
Afren said the recent quarter's results include a profit from discontinued operations of USD38.1 million.
The company said its quarterly revenue increased 8.5% to USD1.20 billion from USD1.11 billion in the previous year quarter, as increased production from the company's Nigerian operations offset a 3.9% lower realised average oil price of USD104.6 per barrel.
Afren said its year-to-date average net production is up 18% at 48,573 barrels of oil equivalent per day compared to the previous year as the company's Ebok and Okoro well sites in Nigeria showed strong production results.
The company also said it expects full year average production to be at its upper end of guidance, between 40,000 and 47,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Afren shares were up 1.8% to 150.50 pence, putting it among the top FTSE 250 movers Thursday morning.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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