In its report for the period ended March 31, 2007, AWE said it produced 914,000 barrels of oil equivalent, while sales revenue was $31.9 million, or 6% lower than the previous quarter.

The company attributed the lower output to a planned shutdown at the BassGas project and difficulties with downhole pumps at the Cliff Head oil field. It said these negatives were partially offset by the increased production at Casino.

“The production problems encountered during the quarter were ‘man-made’ and AWE continues to work hard with the respective operators to fix these rectifiable problems,” managing director Bruce Phillips said.

“However, it is important to note that the underlying oil and gas fields are performing very well to date which augurs well for the future.”

While AWE’s overall petroleum production was down during the quarter, its gas output rose 10% to 3852 terajoules.

Associated liquids production totalled 51,331bbl of condensate and 2473 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas.