Irish AIM-listed exploration company Pan Andean increased its pre-tax profits and boosted turnover by almost 8 per cent, aided by higher gas prices.

In the six months to September 2007, profit before tax rose 3 per cent to £451,000, while turnover increased 7.8 per cent to £882,000.

However, earnings per share remained static at 26p.

The company's chairman John Teeling said Pan Andean remained as one of the few profitable AIM-listed oil and gas companies.

Pan Andean has been increasingly active in the US and South America in recent months. The company has acquired three exploration blocks in Peru and was also awarded a block in Colombia, which its claims tests have suggested will yield significant quantities of oil.

The company is in the process of negotiating with potential partners for its South American projects, and said they are close to agreement. Mr Teeling said Pan Andean would continue to fund the South American projects with revenue from its US operations.

However, one of its off-shore US projects, located in the Gulf of Mexico, has been hit by delays after leaks on a pipeline were discovered. Production is not expected to restart until the first quarter of 2008.

Pan Andean has an interest in a second Gulf of Mexico block, where successful drilling has begun.

Founded in 1988, Pan Andean began its activities in South America by searching in Bolivia for oil and gas, but has since expanded to include Peru, Colombia and the United States.