“We have $15m cash in had and no debt,” executive director James Cruikshank told EnergyReview.net.

“Our Turkish assets are providing steady cashflow, so the company can grow without having to issue more shares.”

In the half year ended December 31, Antares had an operating profit of $8.2m, up 15% on the previous six months and EBITDAX of $6.2m, up 5% on the previous half. This was the junior’s fifth consecutive half-yearly operating profit and EBITDAX.

Growth would have been stronger, if a major Turkish client had not cut back its take of Antares’ gas for several months in order to meet prior obligations to another gas supplier.

“One major customer cut its take by half over a three-month period, which reduced our sales temporarily, but we responded by finding a more reliable new customer and now the old customer has also returned and sales are higher than ever,” Antares managing director Howard McLaughlin said.

While the company’s revenue base is in Turkey, future growth will come from its US assets, according to McLaughlin.

“US gas prices are three to four times higher than in Australia and will keep rising because demand is growing rapidly and supply is steadily declining,” he said.

“We anticipate with a few more successes in the US, we can add 50 to 100% our current production in the next 6 to 12 months.”

Antares’ US assets include the Ellis and Yukon prospects in Oklahoma, and the Wilbeck and Porter’s Creek blocks in south Texas.

Successful wells have been drilled at Ellis, where Ellis-1 and 2 are already producing and linked to the Oklahoma gas grid.

Ellis-1 and 2 are producing strongly out of secondary zones, Cruikshank said.

"We expect flow rates of between 2 and 3 million cubic feet per day from this zone during the production testing phase until we have a better understanding of the reservoir and optimal production rates," he said.

"Ellis will have a significant impact on our revenues, the magnitude of which will become clear after we have established optimal flow rates and completed perforation and fracture stimulation of all production zones."

The wells have discovered three hydrocarbon-producing zones but pressure differentials mean they can only produce out of one zone, according to McLaughlin.

Additional wells will be drilled to access the other zones, but it was hard to give dates for further drilling as rig availability in the US was restricted and unpredictable, he said.