28 January 2014 – London-listed Afren has given investors a boost saying it expects to post record financial results for the recent year.
The company revealed it expects sales revenue for 2013 to total about $1.65 billion, up from $1.57 billion generated a year earlier.
Driving the increase was a 14% jump in net production, to 47,112 barrels of oil equivalent per day which Afren largely attributed to a rise in output from the Okoro and Ebok fields off Nigeria.
“2013 has been another exceptional year for Afren, with a combination of record financial results, production ahead of guidance and industry leading exploration success,” Afren chief executive Osman Shahenshah said.
“The play opening Ogo discovery in Nigeria was one of the largest global discoveries in 2013, and will be followed by further appraisal and exploration drilling. At the same time we will continue to allocate capital to the highest cash return projects.
“This will provide the necessary funding to continue to de-risk our material exploration opportunity set. With industry leading positions in three key global oil and gas regions, Nigeria, the Kurdistan region of Iraq and East Africa, we remain focused on maximising value for our shareholders.”
Afren plans to start development of the Okoro further field development, the Ebok North Fault Block and Okwok this year which it said would ensure it delivered double digit production growth over the next five years.
The company said its capital budget for 2014 was about $845 million and would focus on high cash return projects and further exploration drilling.
*Josh Lewis – Upstreamonline