North Sea focused Ithaca Energy has posted a 24 per cent fall in first half operating profits following increases in the costs of using production assets like the Sullom Voe terminal on Shetland.

Ithaca made an operating profit of $12.7 million (£7.6m) in the six months to June compared with $16.6m in the same period last year. However the company said it has been making good progress with efforts to boost production from a range of North Sea fields.