MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rockhopper reports losses but insists in 2009 drilling

Oil and gas explorer Rockhopper Exploration Plc. reported a wider full-year pretax loss and said its target is to drill between two and four wells on its offshore acreages in the Falkland Islands.

North Falkland Basin exploration company Rockhopper's net loss for the fiscal year ended March 31 widened to 1.47 million US dollars or 1.95 cents a share, from a loss of 1.41 million, or 1.97 cents a share, a year earlier, the Salisbury, England-based company said in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service today. ''We are now talking to a number of rig contractors about drilling in the North Falkland Basin during 2009,'' the company said in the statement. ''It is also possible that we could join a drilling consortium with the explorers to the south and east of the Falkland Islands.'' Rockhopper announced earlier this year that it had identified five prospects for oil and gas exploration in the North Falklands Basin after seismic mapping.