Canadian oil group Bankers Petroleum has been boosted by its Albanian operations after seeing a 21% rise in output.
The firm’s Patos Marinza field saw output up 4.1% for the final quarter of 2013 to 19,303 barrels of oil per day, with average production for the year up more than a fifth to 18,169 barrels.
The increase came as drilling activity on the field rose, with 40 wells drilled during the fourth quarter alone, bringing the total to 146 for the year.
But the company said it was now in talks with the Albanian government after new laws were announced in the country to remove VAT exemptions on oil extraction services.
“The company is currently in discussions with officials of the Government of Albania to fully assess the implications of this new legislation and to reach an agreement on financial offsets which we are entitled to under our production agreements,” said chief executive David French.
“We anticipate these changes will have minimal impact on our ongoing business and plan to move forward with our 2014 capital plan as previously reported.”