AFR.L Share News (AFR)

Africa-focused oil and gas firm Afren notched up its first full year of post-tax profit in 2010.Though revenue eased to $319.4m in 2010 from $335.8m in 2009, profit before tax surged ahead to $78.8m from $0.5m the year before.The decrease in revenue in a year of soaring oil prices was a result of the company's stake in the Okoro field being reduced from 95% to 50% in the middle of 2010.The reduction in the Okoro stake was also largely responsible for Afren's share of production for the year falling to 14,333 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 22,064 boepd in 2009,Profit after tax was $45.9m, compared with a loss of $16.8m in 2009, despite the company dropping $8.9m on derivative financial instruments; then again, this was an improvement on the $33.6m lost on derivatives the year before. Normalised profit after tax improved to $63.9m from $50.7m the year before.In 2010 the company realised an average price of $79.7 per barrel of oil, up from $59.3 a barrel in 2009, while the average gas price achieved rose to $5.7 per million cubic feet (mcf) from $5.1/mcf in 2009.Net debt at the end of 2010 was $127.5m, compared to a positive cash balance of $54.2m at the end of 2009. Osman Shahenshah, chief executive of Afren plc, commented: "Looking ahead we are extremely well positioned for the next phase of our growth story. With a 180% growth in production to 40,000 boepd expected in 2011, we will leverage our West African production base to pursue multiple high impact exploration targets in both East and West Africa."- - -jh