Pantheon Resources reports wider losses as testing continues

(Sharecast News) - Alaskan North Slope-focussed oil and gas explorer and producer Pantheon Resources reported a loss of $4.4m for its first half on Thursday, widening from $3m year-on-year.

The AIM-traded firm said the loss included non-cash accounting charges of $0.8m relating to its convertible bond, and $2m relating to the issue of share options.

It said it was in a "strong" cash position, with cash on hand at period end on 31 December of $92.7m, up from $29.8m a year earlier.

Cash on hand as at 30 March totalled $72m, while the outstanding amount of convertible bond principal on the same date was $50.35m.

"The period to 31 December and beyond has been one of great achievement for our company," said chief executive officer Jay Cheatham.

"Against a backdrop of strong oil prices and geopolitical turbulence, there has never been a better time to prove up what has the potential to be a nationally significant oil resource in a safe jurisdiction onshore United States.

"Our drilling and testing has yielded results we are incredibly proud of."

Cheatham said the company completed its activities with "a perfect health and safety record", adding that despite weather and service provider issues, it expected to be within 10% of budgets.

"We achieved what we set out to do - namely to confirm the presence and movability of oil in our targeted horizons.

"Production wells on the North Slope will all be drilled with long lateral sections and stimulated, quite different to the vertical test well drilled to gather data and then plugged and abandoned.

"The arrival of severe storms halted our operations which means that we made the decision to conclude operations for the season due to the lack of certainty surrounding whether we would have sufficient time before the onset of spring weather."

Notwithstanding, Jay Cheatham said the company had sufficient data to be satisfied that both Talitha A and Theta West 1 were "significant" discovery wells.

"I look forward to sharing our learning with shareholders in our late April webinar."

At 1309 BST, shares in Pantheon Resources were down 3.39% at 114p.