Oil and gas firm reckons it is making progress

OIL and gas firm Bowleven, a former fixture of the Scottish scene, has insisted longstanding plans to develop finds on its acreage can come good although it is facing fresh complications.

Bowleven has spent years working on plans to develop finds off Cameroon without bringing any into production.

The effort has been led for the last three years by a new management team which took charge in 2017 following a boardroom coup.

The company subsequently decided to focus investment on the Etinde permit off Cameroon, and moved its head office from Edinburgh to London to help save costs.

The plans for Etinde have faced headwinds amid weakness in oil and gas markets. Commodity prices have plunged amid the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

Bowleven posted a $2.6 million (£2m) loss for the latest year yesterday. It slashed the valuation of its Cameroon acreage by $62m the preceding period.

However, chief executive Eli Chahin made clear yesterday the company remains confident that it will win backing from partners to proceed with the planned Etinde development.

It expects them to make a final investment decision (FID) next year to sanction the required spending. He said the economic investment case for the project remains strong. Production is expected to start in 2023 or 2024, by which time market conditions could have improved.

If an FID is made on Etinde, Bowleven would get $25m from partners under a deal struck by former chief executive Kevin Hart. He was voted off the board in March 2017 with four other former directors following a campaign for change led by a rebel investor.