By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--U.S. oil and gas explorer Empyrean Energy PLC (EME.LN)
said Wednesday that its production fell in the first financial
quarter, even as Marathon Oil Corp (MRO), the operator of its
flagship Sugarloaf field in Texas, continues to bring more wells
into production.
Empyrean, which has oil and gas exploration assets in Texas and
California, said it produced 77,159 barrels of oil equivalent in
the financial quarter ending June 30, down 5.2% compared with the
previous quarter and 6% compared with the same quarter a year
before.
Empyrean has a 3% stake in Sugarloaf project, which is located
in the prolific Eagle Ford Shale in Texas. It said that Marathon
Oil, the operator, is working on improving the efficiency of its
drilling operations.
Empyrean said there were 154 gross producing wells at Sugarloaf
as of Sept. 15, up from 128 gross producing wells at the end of
June and 121 gross producing wells at the end of March.
Empyrean Energy was recently up 0.7% at 0.19 pence a share,
giving a market capitalization of GBP41 million or $67 million.
Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@wsj.com
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