Oil explorer cuts full-year losses

North Sea oil explorer and production group Faroe Petroleum significantly narrowed its losses in the year to December 31.

It produced a £61.4 million pre-tax loss in the period, an improvement on the £122.3m loss booked in 2015.

Including tax credits, the 2016 loss was cut further to £32.8m.

CEO Graham Stewart said 2016 had been “transformational” for the group as it acquired a significant portfolio of Norwegian assets, doubled production, increased its reserves and raised £66m on the equity markets.

He said the company was on track to reach its production goal of 40,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil per day within the next five years.

“We will also continue to seek to capitalise on our strong financial position to pursue further consolidation opportunities on the Norwegian and UK continental shelves, while maintaining our focus on high-impact exploration and appraisal drilling,” Mr Stewart told investors. Growth in Dundee’s digital technologies sector has outpaced all other UK-based clusters, with revenues now close to £100 million annually.

Research for the latest Tech Nations 2017 report found Dundee generated the highest turnover growth of any major cluster – including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow – in the five-year period between 2011 and 2015.

Dundee – which is famed for its strengths in computer gaming and is home to 4J Studios, the phenomenally successful producer of console editions of Minecraft – saw 171% digital turnover growth in the period, with economic output increasing to £97m.

The UK capital saw the second strongest rate of turnover growth in the period of 106%, although that increase was far greater in real terms as it related to a more than £28 billion spike in digital derived earnings to £56bn.

Sunderland saw the third-strongest revenue growth at 101% over the fiveyear period, with Bristol and Bath collectively coming in fourth at 87% and Edinburgh just a sliver further back at 87% growth.

Of the Scottish based-digital clusters,

We need to maintain access to skilled workers while doubling down on home grown tech talent. GERARD GRECH, TECH CITY UK