Oil and gas exploration group Pan Andean Resources delivered a 20 per cent increase in pretax profit in the six months to the end of September after the Dublin-based group benefited from high gas prices in the US.

The company hopes to win drilling contracts in Peru and Iran next year. Pan Andean, whose only money-making assets are in the US, is set to sign off on the acquisition of a site in the central jungle basin of Peru in January and hopes to win a contract to test parts of Iran for oil later in the year.

Finance director James Finn said the group made "significant" progress in Peru in the six-month period and that it hopes to become a big player in the area. Prospects in Iran are slightly behind those in Peru, although Mr Finn said the country had "huge" potential for oil production. Petrel Resources, another Dublin-based exploration group with the same management team, this year won its first contract to dig for oil in Iraq.

Pan Andean started searching for oil and gas in Bolivia in the mid 1980s. In 2000 it acquired assets in the US and was forced to suspend activities in Bolivia because of the unstable political situation. Since then it has sought to expand into other parts of Latin America and the Middle East.

The group reported pretax profit of £430,000 (€637,052) in the six months to the end of September. Turnover slipped 1.7 per cent to £1.2 million.