(Alliance News) - Chariot Oil & Gas Ltd on Wednesday posted a slightly narrowed loss for the first half of 2019 due to a drop in share based payments as it continued to develop its projects.
Shares in Chariot were down 14% at 3.10 pence in London in morning trade.
The Atlantic margin-focused oil and gas firm reported a pretax loss of USD1.9 million for the six months ended June 30, shrinking a little from GBP2.1 million the year before. This was due to a drop in share based payments to USD355,000 from USD507,000 the year before.
Other administrative expenses held steady at USD1.5 million.
The company's unaudited cash balance at at June 30 was USD12.1 million. Chariot had no debt on that date and all of its work commitments, which come to less than USD1.0 million, are fully funded.
In terms of outlook, Chariot is looking to secure partners for the appraisal and development of the Anchois gas field offshore Morocco. It is also seeking partners to drill at exploration projects. The firm also intends to "maintain capital discipline throughout the business".
Chariot has also appointed a new non-executive director, Andrew Hockey, to its board. The firm said Hockey "has extensive experience in the development and production of gas assets".
Chief Executive Larry Bottomley said: "Using the information acquired from the 2018 drilling campaigns we have not only been able to de-risk and refine our giant prospect portfolio, but also identified and acquired a low risk appraisal asset with the capacity to generate significant cash flow for the company.
"Chariot's risk portfolio is now balanced by a commercially attractive production opportunity, capable of sustaining the high impact exploration programmes of our giant potential prospects within the wider portfolio. Our cash position substantially exceeds our commitments and, with the significant interest received in our data rooms, we are confident about our ability to achieve on our near-term goals in Morocco. At the same time, we remain vigilant to further new venture opportunities that can further de-risk the portfolio whilst also looking to secure additional partners to deliver wells in a fast follower position on our Namibian and Brazilian assets."
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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Chariot Ltd (CHAR)