Block Energy PLC on Friday reported a narrowed loss as it plans to step up production.

For 2021, the London-based oil and gas company with projects focused in Georgia posted a pretax loss of $4.8 million, narrowed slightly from $5.5 million in 2020. Revenue rose significantly to $6.1 million from $1.3 million.

Revenue from sales of crude oil increased to $5.5 million from $1.3 million the year before. During the year, the company produced 108,000 barrels of oil, compared to just 25,000 barrels in 2020.

Chief Executive Officer Paul Haywood said: ‘This relentless drive to advance the company and maintain consistent momentum has placed it in a stronger position to continue to create value for all shareholders in the current year. The planned three project strategy is designed to efficiently deploy existing cash reserves into further development drilling, throughout the XIF and XIB licenses.’

‘This, combined with our enhanced understanding of the subsurface and the company being profitable, sets the stage for what we forecast to be a rewarding year and we look forward to updating shareholders on short and medium term milestones as we advance.’

Block Energy did not declare a dividend for 2021, unchanged from a year ago.

Looking ahead, the company said it’s ‘benefitting from the various initiatives undertaken during 2021 to support production growth and a broader oil development and gas appraisal programme’. It aims to step up the rate of drilling in 2022 and 2023 to up oil production and ‘appraise’ the deeper gas play within their licences.

Shares were up 4.7% at 1.57 pence each on Friday morning in London.

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