Pretax losses narrowed at Dublin-headquartered oil and gas exploration firm PetroNeft during the first six months of the year as the group said production has risen by 46 per cent since June.

PetroNeft recorded a $1.02 million (€906,791) pretax loss versus $2.7 million (€1.84m)for the first-half of 2014.

The Siberian-focused group reported a full-year pretax loss of $8.37 million last year, as against a loss of $11.5 million in 2013 and a loss of $2.8 million in fiscal 2012.

The company’s main assets are interests in Licence 61 and Licence 67, both of which are in the Tomsk Oblast in Russia. Its latest reported first-half pretax loss includes a €2 million share of losses relating to those licences.

PetroNeft said first-half 2015 revenues totalled $1.22 million as against $17.5 million a year earlier. Cost of sales totalled $1.2 million versus $13.3 million.

Current gross production at Licence 61 is approximately 2,700 barrels of oil per day (bopd), an increase of 46 per cent in the year-to-date. However, production in the six months to the end of June averaged 1,744 bopd, a 19 per cent decrease versus the same period a year earlier. PetroNeft said the decrease was as a result of natural decline and the fact that the new production wells at Tungolskoye and West Lineynoye did not come online until the third quarter.

The explorer sold 329,733 gross barrels of oil in the six months to the end of June and achieved an average oil price of $29.87. This compares to 391,379 barrels sold for the same period last year at a price of $44.79.

"Given that market conditions remain challenging with little sign of improvement in oil prices in the near term, our focus is on growing production, managing costs and positioning the company for any improvement in the market conditions," said chairman David Golder.

During the period under review, new wells were drilled at Tungolskoye, Sibkrayevskoye, West Lineynoye and Arbuzovskoye.