Irish-listed Fastnet reports net loss of $1.6million

Fastnet, the oil and gas company focused on near term exploration acreage in Africa and the Celtic Seas, has reported a net loss of $1.6 million (€1.3 million) for the six months to the end of September.

The Irish-listed firm attributed the loss to general and administrative costs linked to an increase in technical work. It forecast that such costs will likely reduce from $275,000 a month to $215,000 a month in 2015.

The group said it had a cash balance of $18.8million at the end of September, compared to $17.4million for the preceding six months and $10.9 million a year earlier.

During the six-month period under review, Fastnet completed the Foum Assaka farm-out in Morocco to SK Innovation, leading to the re-imbursement of $20.4millon in licence back costs and reducing the group’s cost exposure to the FA-1 well to $2.75million.

With the first well encountering live oil shows, drilling on a second well on the licence is likely in the near future, Fastnet said.

The Celtic Sea and Tendrara Lakbir farm-out processes also commenced in recent months and are ongoing with the company saying it was working towards bringing in partners to further pursue exploration activities.

"The oil and gas sector is faced with challenging times but looking ahead to 2015, we believe that Fastnet's portfolio will increase in marketability as industry focus moves towards profitable shallow water and onshore projects in attractive fiscal regimes with low operating costs. In this regard, we will continue to work towards bringing in partners to further pursue exploration activities across our portfolio and seek appropriate licence extensions to enable us to execute this strategy," said newly-appointed chief executive Carol Law.

“Fastnet is well positioned as a result of a strong balance sheet, management team and asset portfolio. Prudent management will deliver a significant reduction in ongoing general and administrative costs going forward and we will continue to develop and grow the asset portfolio in a selective and low-cost manner as is possible,” she added.