Imperial production ahead

FTSE 250 firm Imperial Energy announced today that it is one month ahead of achieving its year-end target of 10,000 barrels per day (bopd).

The Leeds-based oil company also confirmed the discovery of a potentially significant field in South Maiskaya in Siberia. The new field could have similar levels of production to other western Siberian fields owned by Imperial in the Maiskoye area, the company said.

Imperial will now aim to boost volumes to 25,000 bopd by the end of next year and to 35,000 by the end of 2009. Jumping ahead of its production target will also allow the firm to tie in to the national trunk pipeline by the end of this week.

In October it won permission from Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft to pipe crude from western Siberia for export and domestic use.

Imperial which has its registered office in Leeds but its main area of operations in Western Siberia, only moved from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to the main London Stock Exchange six months ago.

Since it floated in 2004, Imperial, which is involved in oil exploration and production in Siberia and Kazakhstan, has seen its shares increase from 108p to reach more than £15 earlier this month.

Imperial Energy is an upstream oil exploration and production company focused on the Commonwealth of Independent States and in particular, the Russian Federation.

Last month the group, which was founded by Leeds lawyer Peter Levine, announced that talks with Gazprombank to subscribe for newly issued shares in Imperial Energy at a discount to the prevailing Imperial share price had ended.

In a statement Imperial said: “Both groups take the view that there is room for mutual cooperation between them in the petroleum industry of Russia in other ways. This is intended to be pursued in due course and as may be appropriate.”