UPDATE 2-Bowleven FY loss narrows, takes $50.5 mln charge

By Julie Crust LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Africa-focused oil and gas exploration company Bowleven Plc said its annual pretax loss narrowed slightly as foreign exchange gains offset an impairment charge. AIM-listed Bowleven posted a pretax loss of $10.2 million in the year to end-June from a loss of $10.9 million the previous year. It has no revenue. It took a $50.5 million impairment charge due to its decision to delay the development of the EOV asset in Gabon, but made a $48.8 million currency gain. "Given the priorities and opportunities we have elsewhere across our portfolio we have no firm plans to undertake any activity (of EOV) in the near future," Kerry Crawford, deputy chief financial officer, said in an interview with Reuters. Bowleven said it is in advanced talks regarding EOV but Crawford was unable to provide further details. The company previously said it was looking to farm out the permit. The company currently has a cash balance of about $120 million and said it has sufficient funding to cover its 2010 work programme. Its principal focus is to carry out appraisal/exploration drilling and seismic campaigns on the Etinde permit, offshore Cameroon, which it expects to start producing in 2014. Merrill Lynch said the results were broadly in line with its expectations. Shares in the group were down 0.3 percent at 87 pence at 0913 GMT. The shares rose as high as 116 pence this year boosted by offer talks before falling back after the unnamed party, believed to be Thai state oil company PTT E&P, terminated discussions in April. Crawford declined to confirm the identity of the unnamed party. "That's history, we now have a new partner," she said, referring to a recent farm-out deal. ($1=.6041 Pound) (Editing by Rhys Jones and Simon Jessop) Keywords: BOWLEVEN/ ([e-mail]; [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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