Sirius Petroleum losses widen ahead of maiden drill programme

Nigeria focused exploration and development company Sirius Petroleum saw annual losses widen in its last trading year as the firm geared up for its initial programme of two wells to be drilled back-to-back.

Sirius' loss widened 7.9% to $2.30m, despite narrowing finance costs by an impressive 84.6% to $122,000 in the year ended 31 March.

Administrative expenses also grew, up 52.4% to $2.2m.

Sirius, which entered into a joint operating agreement with Guarantee Petroleum and Owena Oil and Gas regarding the Ororo Field in offshore Nigeria, plans to launch an initial programme of two wells, Ororo-2 and Ororo-3, drilled back-to-back to access the contingent oil and gas resources in the Ororo field.

Throughout 2018, Sirius aims to deploy an early production scheme via extended well test, estimated to show that Ororo-2 is capable of delivering initial production rates of approximately 2,700 barrels of oil per day.

Bobo Kuti, CEO of Sirius, said: "The end of 2017 marked a milestone for the company including the financial resources to commence the development phase of the Ororo Field, the Company's first offshore marginal field oil and gas asset and as a consequence, since the 2017 year end, the group has undergone both a financial and operational transformation."

Sirius bolstered its cash balance by way of the issue of 723.7m new ordinary shares, as well as its decision to enter into a $12m convertible loan facility, ending the period with $4.01m in the bank, a 383% year-on-year increase.

As of 1110 BST, Sirius shares had declined 4.24% to 0.79p.