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(Alliance News) - Shares in Pantheon Resources PLC dropped on Friday morning after the company said its loss widened in its recent financial year, following a rise in expenses.
The Alaska-focused oil and gas company based in London reported a pretax loss of USD16.0 million in the year that ended June 30, compared to a loss of USD8.2 million a year before.
Shares in Pantheon Resources dropped 48% to 42.66 pence on Friday morning in London.
Pantheon Resources recorded a share based payment expense of USD8.3 million from USD3.2 million the prior year, and admin costs increased to USD7.4 million from USD5.0 million.
"In the United States, the price of oil and natural gas increased rapidly, however, Europe has seen a more dramatic increase in natural gas prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent decrease of exports to Europe," Chair Phillip Gobe said.
Chief Executive Jay Cheatham added: "Drilling on the North Slope of Alaska presents challenges not faced in most parts of the Lower 48, such as fewer readily available service providers, limited transportation routes, fewer available spare parts and equipment. On top of this, the booming oil market saw very high demand for services and equipment, causing material price inflation across the industry, impacting time schedules."
Meanwhile, Pantheon Resources said drilling data and analysis at the Theta West and Talitha wells have led the company to estimate 23 billion barrels of oil in place and 2.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil on Pantheon acreage.
It added that the Alkaid 2 well is flowing naturally despite being partially blocked with approximately 1,000 feet of sand, and the well is delivering hydrocarbon liquid rates near expectations over the 4,000 feet unblocked section.
"These initial positive testing results have increased our confidence in pursuing an Alkaid 3 well, subject to funding, which would be a high impact appraisal well to test the Shelf Margin Deltaic, the reservoir target immediately above the discovered oil at Alkaid 1 and 2," Cheatham said.
By Jaskeet Briah, Alliance News reporter
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