Empyrean Energy edges back into the black

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Oil and gas explorer Empyrean Energy edged into the black after rising expenses developing prospects in China, Indonesia and the US were offset by finance income.

Pre-tax profit for the year through March amounted to $143k, compared to a loss of $3.5m on-year, and was boosted by a positive movement in the value of a derivative liability.

'Empyrean has made significant progress during the year across its diversified asset portfolio and laid a solid foundation for exploration success through its activities to advance and de-risk the prospects,' chief executive Tom Kelly said.

Kelly said the company had been very active at its China project, increasing and independently validating its resource base and decreasing exploration risk through seismic data analysis and an oil migration study. In Indonesia, he said Empyrean, Conrad and new partner Coro Energy had agreed on a drilling programme at the Duyung production sharing contract, set to commence in the fourth quarter of 2019.

In California, he said the company and partners had paused activity to conduct detailed technical evaluation focused on reservoir development to determine a programme going forward.