SAN LEON Energy, the AIM-listed oil and gas exploration company, had a pretax loss of €1.7 million in the six months to the end of June, according to its unaudited accounts.

The company had an operating loss of €1.3 million and finance expenses of €409,925. The value of the company’s exploration and evaluation assets was given as €67.94 million.

During the period the company bought Island Oil and Gas plc for €14.3 million.

The former AIM-listed company has exploration and production assets in Ireland and Morocco.

San Leon’s assets are in Poland, Ireland, Morocco, Albania, Italy and the Netherlands. The company has a joint venture agreement in Poland with Talisman Energy for shale gas exploration.

During the period it held two successful placings that raised £5.5 million (€6.33 million) for operational expenses.

Chairman Oisín Fanning said the company was going from “strength to strength”.