Shares in Petroneft up over 70 per cent

SHARES IN the Dublin-listed, Russia-focused oil exploration company Petroneft Resources rose over 70 per cent in Dublin yesterday after it reported one of its wells in Siberia produced crude oil when tested.

In a statement Petroneft said its Lineynoye 1 well delivered 271 barrels of oil a day and added that this could be improved. A total of five wells are now confirmed as producers on the Petroneft-operated License 61, the company said.

Petroneft rose 70.83 per cent to €0.205 cent at the close of trading in Dublin. Over the year the stock is down 64 per cent and has a market value of €31.6 million

The discovery makes Petroneft's enterprise value of under $0.50 a barrel "look excellent value, especially when $12 million of pipeline are available to the company", Job Langbroek, analyst at Davy Stockbrokers, said in a research note.

Separately Providence Resources, the AIM and IEX-listed exploration and production company, said a third-party study of its Singleton Field in west Sussex in the UK suggested the volume of oil available was 107 million barrels, 50 per cent higher than previous estimates.

The study were commissioned as part of a redevelopment of the field. Providence said since production of the field started in 1986 the field has produced 3.7 million barrels of oil, representing a recovery rate of 3.5 per cent. ( Additional reporting Bloomberg)