LONDON (Alliance News) - Northern Petroleum PLC on Tuesday said its pretax loss narrowed significantly in 2015 thanks to much lower impairment charges booked.
Northern Petroleum said its pretax loss for the year to the end of December was USD10.7 million, compared to USD57.3 million a year earlier when it booked impairments totalling USD52.6 million amid the plunging oil price.
Revenue for the year fell to USD332,000 from USD2.7 million, driven lower by the fall in the oil price and by Northern Petroleum shifting its focus to keeping costs under control, including shutting down production from its Canadian operation.
Northern Petroleum said it has made headway on cutting its running costs, including moving offices and reducing salaries, and said its production has increased following the acquisition of new assets in Canada at the start of 2016.
"In 2015 the group focused on reorganising the business to reflect the current industry environment and to position for future growth," said Chief Executive Keith Bush.
"The Canadian production and reserves acquisition announced in December is now delivering increased production and cash flow, validating the rationale behind the deal. With further low cost activities identified on these assets we will look to continue this upward trend in production throughout the rest of 2016," he added.
Northern Petroleum shares were down 4.4% to 2.51 pence.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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