Shares in oil and gas explorer Desire Petroleum fell 11% to 19p today after it said it was continuing to look for finance to restart its drilling campaign.
Announcing its interim results for the six months to the end of June, the UK-based Falklands oil and gas explorer said it had sufficient funds to cover rig and equipment costs and working capital.
But it said its cash balance was insufficient to drill further wells despite having “encouraging” prospects.
As a result, the firm was continuing to “review all available financing options”, said chairman Stephen Phipps.
Mr Phipps said initial data from a 3D seismic programme was encouraging and added to knowledge gained from a six-well drilling campaign, which ended with the “disappointing” Ninky well.
Last month, Desire was boosted by data from Rockhopper Exploration, another Falklands explorer, which suggested about 10% of its Sea Lion field may extend into a licence 92.5% owned by Desire.
Mr Phipps said: “The information Desire has gained in the period from both our own and other wells drilled in the area, combined with the recently-acquired 3D seismic data on our acreage reaffirms our belief in the prospectivity…in the North Falklands Basin.
“We are, therefore, continuing to review all available financing option,s with an intention to rejoin the current drilling campaign when possible.”
An updated report over Desire’s “priority areas” is to be published in quarter four of this year.
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