Caspian Sunrise warns of 'slower than expected' progress

Revenues soared 382% to $7.57m last year and Caspian reported a loss narrowed 12.6% to $4.69m as a result of higher oil prices. Losses per share improved 23% to 0.29p.

However, the AIM-listed group noted that weather delays and repeated equipment failures had limited progress in bringing its three deep wells into continuous production so far this year.

"Weather delays in January and February and repeated coil tubing equipment failures resulted in slow process to date in 2018," the company said.

"We have lost faith in the capacity of coil tubing to resolve the issue at Deep Well A5 and have mobilised a rig to pull out the string of drill pipes. This is a more expensive although more certain method of removing the blockage, but one that would have been difficult to carry out in the extreme weather in January and February," Caspian added.

As a result of the capitalisation of its $10.1m Vertom loan at the time of its merger with Baverstock back last May, Caspian was "virtually free" of external debt, with only short-term financing from local oil traders on its books.

In the event that its planned move to a full production licence was delayed, additional funding would be required due to the timing of drilling compared to production cash generation in order to meet payment obligations under the licences, though Caspian expects funding to be provided through advances from oil traders for future production and through shareholder support, with one of Caspian's major shareholders already providing it with written confirmation that it would assist with financial support as required.

Caspian said, as its deep wells come into production, there will again be a requirement for an investment in additional infrastructure of approximately $40m to store, treat and transport the oil, much of which "could be debt financed".

As of 0840 BST, shares had declined 4.62% to 9.30p.