Trap Oil moves into the black as revenues surge

North Sea driller Trap Oil today revealed a sharp turnaround in its fortunes as a leap in revenues pushed it into the black during the first half of the year.

The Aim-quoted firm posted a pre-tax profit of £1.4 million for the six months to the end of June, compared with a loss of £1.6m for the same period last year.

Revenues swelled to £16.9 million, from £800,000 a year ago, and chief executive Mark Groves-Gidney described the first half as a period of “solid progress”.

He added: “We have achieved our objective of qualifying as an operator, which allows us greater control to drive forward the development of our assets where appropriate.

“Our positive cash generation provides us with the financial flexibility to develop the business as we work to position ourselves for an active drilling programme in 2014-5.”