27-06-08 Calgary-based Niko Resources, which holds interests in Canada, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kurdistan, said it had boosted its proved reserves by 86 % year on year, not including new discoveries in the D6 and NEC-25 blocks off India.
Niko’s proved reserves for its 2008 fiscal year hit 200 mm barrels of oil equivalent while proved plus probable reserves hit rose 18 % to 290 mm boe, the company said in a statement announcing its annual results. Company chief executive Edward Sampson said the company had also won four new exploration blocks in Pakistan and one in the Kurdish-controlled area of northern Iraq as part of a plan to expand and diversify its holdings.

Niko said the reserves figures did not include results from 16 new discoveries on the D6 Block and 10 successful finds on the NEC-25 block, both off India’s east coast.
The company said the D6 block remained on track to flow first oil in the third quarter of the year. Niko said flows from block, of which just 5 % has so far been developed, would more than double India’s oil production. Production from the field is expected to ramp up to a targeted rate of 2.8 bn cf of natural gas and 40,000 barrels of oil per day.

Niko holds a 10 % stake in the D6 block, which is operated by India’s Reliance Industries with a 90 % stake. The pair shares the NEX-25 Block in similar terms.
The company reported net in come in its 2008 fiscal year of $ 1.6 mm up from a loss of $ 3.1 mm in 2007. However, annual revenues slipped to $ 24.3 mm from $ 29.1 mm previously.