ELAND Oil & Gas saw shares jump more than five per cent after telling investors that it has pumped 150,000 barrels of oil from the Opuama-3 well in Nigeria in just three weeks.

The Aberdeen-based group restarted production at the Opuama field after finalising transportation for the extracted crude, after the prolonged shut-in at Forcados Terminal.

The first shuttle vessel delivered about 39,000 barrels to the export terminal last week and a second vessel has now arrived with 40,000 barrels, while the first vessel is now returning to the terminal with a further 40,000 barrels.

Chief executive George Maxwell said the movement of nearly 120,000 barrels in under two weeks was “an enormous achievement and a huge success for all our stakeholders”.

Eland said it anticipated this cycle being repeated on an ongoing basis, with the relay system proving it has the capacity to handle greater quantities of production as other wells are brought online.

Eland has a 45 per cent stake in the OML 40 licence through the Elcrest joint venture. Located in the Niger Delta, OML 40 contains Opuama and a number of other fields, including Gbetiokun, Polobo, Abiala and Amobe.

Eland said that following a significant upfront investment into the operating costs of the new shipping arrangement, its current cash balance was $5.9 million, down from $11.1m at year end, of which $4.3m is in a reserve account while the company finalises its borrowing base with its lenders.

“The majority of this investment covers the operating expense for the first 40 days of shipping operations,” said the company. “[We] expect cash balances to grow substantially as further export cycles are completed.”