Scottish oil explorer Bowleven suffered losses of £54million in the second half of 2014 after booking a £51million write-down due to the drop in crude prices.
Bowleven – whose major shareholders include north-east entrepreneur Ian Suttie – said yesterday its plans for future spending depended on the outcome of drilling on two of its Cameroon developments, one of which is part owned by Russian oil giant Lukoil.
The Edinburgh-based firm, which also has interests in Kenya and Zambia, was unable to chalk up any revenue for the period as its projects are still in the pre-production phase.
It did, however, receive an initial cash injection of £110million last week for selling off 40% of its stake in the Etinde development off the coast of Cameroon.
The payment arrived too late to make it onto the balance sheet covering the six months to December 31, 2014.
The sell-off gave a 30% stake in the project to Russia’s biggest private oil producer, Lukoil, while NewAge also took up 30% and became Etinde’s operator.
Cameroon’s state-run oil and gas company SNH owns the remaining 20%.
The deal with Lukoil and NewAge, which was announced in June 2014, could hand Bowleven an additional £60million, depending in part on the progress made on Etinde.
Kevin Hart, a former Ellon Academy pupil and now Bowleven’s chief executive, said the “change of guard” had left the project in a “state of flux” and that it would be in a much better position once the interested parties manage to “sit down in a darkened room together,” which should happen soon, he added.
Mr Hart said that despite the upheaval, Bowleven and its partners had “hit ground running on drilling” and were working hard to agree the location of wells.
He said two offshore appraisal wells will be drilled as part of the Etinde project over the next 12 months.
Two onshore exploration wells in the west African nation will also be drilled as part of Bowleven’s Bomono development.