Shares in Oilex Ltd fell on Friday after the company swung to an interim loss on increased exploration and administrative expenses.
Oilex shares were down 6.8% at 0.20 pence each on Friday midday in London.
In the six months to December 31, the Perth-based company, which is focused on the development of natural gas assets, swung to a pretax loss of $2.2 million from a profit of $64,457 in the comparable period a year before.
Exploration expenditure costs more than doubled to $493,111 from $250,661. This was the result of increased costs to cover Gujarat State Petroleum Corp’s share of the Cambay Field in the Cambay Basin in India, a former joint venture between the companies.
The company received all of the participating interest in the Cambay field in February after the Indian Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas approved the transfer of GSPC’s 55% stake.
Meanwhile, administrative expenses multiplied to $1.2 million from $497,983, mainly due to increased spending on external consultants during the period.
Oilex recognised no revenue in the half-year period or the previous one, following the voluntary shut-in of its Cambay Field since early 2019.
In September, the company announced that it intends to restart its production at the field.
Oilex said it has changed its development strategy for Cambay. It now intends to re-frack the C-77H well in an un-fracked section of the horizontal wellbore ‘to prove up a robust fracking methodology to be implemented on future horizontal wells.’
One new horizontal well is planned for the second half of this year, once the revised fracking methodology has been approved. A second well will be drilled in 2023, it said.
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