Irish exploration company Pan Andean today announced operating profits to March 2009 of £1 million.
Reporting its preliminary results for the year ended March 31st, 2009, the company, which had operating profits of £933,000 in 2008, said it was one of the few profitable cash-positive AIM-listed oil and gas producers.
Pan Andean said reported three of its four blocks are joint ventured with the partners committed to spend more than $100 million on exploration in the next three years, and that Pan Andean is "fully carried through this work programme".
The company said its Antorcha licence in Peru is ready for drilling, and that it was at an "advanced stage" in bringing in a partner to drill six wells, with the first starting by the end of the first quarter 2010.
Noting that US assets of Pan Andean provide the cash flow to fund the acquisition of the South American portfolio, Pan Andean warned low gas prices in the United State would detrimentally affect income in the current year.
Remarking on the results, John Teeling, chairman of Pan Andean Resources, said: “Oil and gas exploration takes time. The early years have little excitement, but the seismic mapping and structural evaluation are vital . . . Pan Andean will be drilling in Colombia within months and in Peru by end 2010”.