Azerbaijan-focused oil explorer Zenith Energy (LON:ZEN) (CVE:ZEE) has further reduced its short-term borrowings as it shifts its funding requirements towards longer-dated bonds.
Short-term debt dropped by US$2.175mln in the past fourteen months, the company said in a statement yesterday.
All short-term loans have now been repaid bar a loan facility of US$2.08mln (including interest) where discussions are underway with the lender.
Zenith says it has been advised that the guarantee required for the loan might have been illegal and the talks are about a settlement of the facility at a significant discount to its carrying value.
The oiler was recently given a B+ and positive outlook credit rating by agency ARC.
Watch: Zenith Energy cuts short-term debt as it looks forward to C-37 flow rates
Andrea Cattono, Zenith’s chief executive, wants to improve this rating further to boost the proportion of long-term debts in its financing mix.
Elsewhere, Zenith added that a further US$140,000 of convertible debt has been swapped into shares, which leaves the outstanding convertible liability at US$560,000.
On the operations front, Zenith will shortly release details on flow rates from the C-37 well at Jafarli in Azerbaijan.
Initial drilling results revealed 16m of net pay and Zenith is testing to establish flow rates that it will publish next week.