Ascent Resources 'greatly encouraged' by recent progress

Ascent Resources told investors they had good reason to be confident despite a recent shutdown in its wells after seeing "significant progress" around its long-awaited permits.

The AIM-listed outfit said that, based on the last document received from the Environmental Agency, it believed its IPPC permit would be confirmed in "the coming weeks".

In production news, Ascent revealed that due to a planned three-week shut down for annual maintenance of INA's gas processing plant in September, the group's wells were only in production for seven days throughout the month.

Meanwhile, while production figures for September were yet to be finalised, Ascent estimated its total production for that month to be approximately 229,252 cubic metres at an average daily rate of 32,750 cubic metres - a marked decline from the 727,851 cubic metres at an average daily production of 23,456 cubic metres seen throughout August.

Ascent expected total revenues from gas sales to be around €65,000, with an additional €2,500 expected from the sale of condensate.

Despite the shutdown, chief executive Colin Hutchinson said he was "greatly encouraged" by the progress made during September.

As of 0910 BST, Ascent shares had shot up 12.65% to 0.87p.