Syria-focused exploration and production firm Gulfsands Petroleum posted a 380% rise in its first half profit citing stronger output and a higher oil price, and said it was pursuing development opportunities in the Middle East.
The company, which also has interests in Tunisia and the US, posted a profit after tax of US$18.7 million in the first six months of the year compared to $3.9 million in the same period in 2009.
Average group oil production was 9,689 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the period, an increase of 57% on last year on revenues which jumped by 81% to $52.5 million.
Gulfsands said plans to raise Syrian production were on track and it expected to award a contract to build a production facility by the end of 2010 and it was also looking at further growth opportunities in Syria and across the Middle East and North Africa region.
“I am confident that, over the coming months, the group’s new business activities will culminate in one or more tangible developments of real strategic value,” said the company’s chairman Andrew West in a statement.
Commenting on the company’s operations in Tunisia, West said: “Our entry into Tunisia marks the first tangible step in our strategy to expand our E & P activities into other promising markets in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region, where we feel we have a significant competitive advantage. We are pleased with the terms on which we were able to secure this participation, with limited cost yet considerable upside should we have any drilling success. The results of the Lambouka-1 offshore well, just released at the time of writing, are less conclusive than we might have wished for but offer a modestly encouraging early prognosis. We look forward to drilling the next well in Tunisia, which will be onshore, during the fourth quarter.”
“In Syria we continue aggressively to pursue exploration activities both within our existing Block 26 and outside it,” he concluded.
