Baron Oil surges on Peruvian seismic services deal

Shares in Baron Oil rose almost 6% on Friday, after the oil and gas explorer said one of its subsidiaries agreed a seismic services contract with Houston-based GSS for a project in Peru.

In a statement released on Friday, Baron said the total cost of the deal between GSS and Gold Oil Peru SAC for the Block XXI prospect in the northwest of the country will have total cost of approximately $1.5m (£950,000).

The London-listed company said its Peruvian subsidiary was still awaiting environmental approval from the country's authorities, although it had already secured the equipment and services from GSS necessary to acquire the seismic data around the Minchales well area.

“We have been working closely with GSS to design the best seismic programme around this area using the extensive data already acquired from the original well and the subsequent Fugro work," said group chief executive Bill Colvin.

Baron shares closed up 5.78% to 1.19p on Friday.