Afren Plc (AFR), a U.K. oil and gas explorer focused on Africa, fell in London trading after it cut its full-year production target for a second time because of unplanned stoppages. Shares dropped as much as 4.9 percent in London and traded at 148 pence as of 8:18 local time. The company forecast average daily output of 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2011 in a statement. Afren revised its output estimate in January to 40,000 barrels from a 55,000 barrel-a-day prediction in September. Today’s revision is “due to non-reservoir related facilities downtime and simultaneous operations,” said Osman Shahenshah, chief executive officer of Afren. “Looking forward, we are targeting both organic and inorganic reserves growth, with up to nine exploration wells targeting over 600 million barrels net to Afren in the second half of 2011 and further value accretive acquisitions.” The company said reservoirs at its Ebok and Okoro fields had come in at the upper end of expectations and said it will invest $450 million in projects this year. Afren plans to be producing 50,000 barrels a day by the end of the year. To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Swint in London at bswint@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net

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