Victoria Oil awaiting return of expat crew amid Covid lockdown

Victoria Oil & Gas updated the market on its operations in the first quarter on Friday, reporting a daily average of 5.1 million standard cubic feet per day of gas and 1,656 barrels of condensate as produced and sold to industrial customers in the period.

The AIM-traded firm said that resulted in net revenue to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Gaz du Cameroun (GDC), of $5.3m for the quarter.

It noted that its new chief executive officer and non-executive director had been announced in the period, and was now on-board.

Grid power customer ENEO had arranged payment of four invoices amounting to a net total of $2.9m to GDC in the quarter, via promissory notes, as had occurred before.

Victoria said it was continuing to pursue “full and regular payments” from ENEO.

On the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, the company said a number of expatriate crew was evacuated from Cameroon due to the lockdown, with the company awaiting the return of the expatriate members of the rig crew required to continue the La-108 remediation work.

It added that it was proceeding with the facilities enhancement project to lower the surface pressure, and thus reduce the backpressure on the reservoir, adding deliverability and reserves.

“Whilst this quarter saw the spread of Covid-19 and some inevitable impact on Victoria, we are pleased to report a solid performance from our operating divisions, including continued revenue from the Logbaba project at previously reported levels, and ongoing cost reduction in the SGI project in Russia,” said chief executive officer Roy Kelly.

“Looking forward, we have two capital projects on the Logbaba project that will hopefully take place this year and potentially add deliverability & reserves.”

At 1118 BST, shares in Victoria Oil & Gas were down 6.58% at 3.41p.