EXPLORATION GROUP Petroneft is producing 1,500 barrels of oil a day from one of its fields in Russia, the Dublin-listed company said yesterday.
Petroneft this year completed a pipeline connecting its Lineynoye field with the existing network in Russia, and began producing oil from eight wells in the area.
The company’s objective is to push daily production to 4,000 barrels from 11 wells by the end of the year.
In the first six months of the year, the group lost $5.3 million, more than double last year’s first-half deficit of $2.4 million. However, it had no revenues or cash flows during that period.
In May, Petroneft agreed a $30 million credit facility with Australian bank Macquarie.
It intends using the funds to pay for a drilling programme and exploration work on a number of its other licences.
Petroneft’s licences are in the Tomsk Oblast area, part of the western Siberian oil and gas basin. The region is largely under-explored and analyst reports produced late last year suggest that it has considerable potential.
The Irish company owns two licences in the region, 61 and 67. It bought the latter late last year for $1.42 million.
Petroneft is listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market.
