ABERDEEN-based Eland Oil & Gas has highlighted an increase in production in Nigeria where the company has suffered disruptions amid security problems.
The Aim-listed firm said it has been achieving noteworthy production levels on the OML 40 licence in Nigeria. Uptime has reached a record high. It is thought to be around 99 per cent.
Noting that production and uptime are ahead of forecast, chief executive George Maxwell said the company was very happy to be getting crude to market through the Forcados terminal.
Eland had to suspend production in February last year because Forcados was shut down due to sabotage.
The terminal, which is operated by Shell, only reopened in May.
Eland’s losses tripled to $31.4m last year, from $9.6m in 2015.
The Elcrest venture that Eland has a stake in generated $7.9m (£5.8m) cash in August after selling 153,000 barrels oil at an average $51.44 per barrel.
It expects to ship a further 170,000 barrels via Forcados by early October.
Eland has started work on another production well, Opuama-7. It expects to pump 5,900 barrels daily from the well from October.
The company is producing around 11,500bod from two wells on Opuama, which it brought back into production in 2014.The field was shut in by Shell in 2006 after security concerns.
Eland raised $19.5m from investors in June, in a share placing that was oversubscribed.
The company expects to generate good returns on its investment in Nigeria, even with crude still trading at around $55/bbl compared with $115/bbl in 2014.
It can produce relatively cheaply from onshore wells.
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