LONDON (Alliance News) - Onshore gas exploration firm IGas Energy PLC on Wednesday said it swung to a substantial pretax loss in the first half due to plunging revenue and goodwill charges booked as the oil and gas industry downturn bit hard.
IGas said its pretax loss for the half to the end of September was GBP30.4 million, swung from a GBP1.5 million profit a year earlier, as it booked GBP14.5 million in goodwill charges and GBP10.1 million in impairments, plus GBP5.1 million in write-offs on the value of its exploration assets.
In addition to that, revenue about halved to GBP17.6 million from GBP34.5 million. Average net production in the half declined only slightly to 2,540 barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 2,766 barrels a year earlier, but IGas's average realised price per barrel fell to only USD60.90 from USD104.20 due lower world oil prices.
IGas has now completed its cost reduction plan, bringing its cost per barrel down to USD31.00 from USD38.30, though it is continuing to review it cost base.
"Whilst it has been a challenging period with a further weakening of the oil price, the group has continued to make good progress across its asset base. We remain focused on maintaining flexibility for the business in the current oil price environment and to deliver against our strategy," said Stephen Bowler, IGas's chief executive.
Shares in IGas were up 1.2% to 17.21 pence on Wednesday morning.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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