Snow stops oil drilling for Cadogan Petroleum

Oil explorer Cadogan Petroleum has been forced to suspend drilling at one of its wells in Ukraine because of bad weather.

The British firm said it would not be able to restart operations until the new year.

"Due to the onset of winter weather and the complexity of the drilling operations, it has been decided that operations will be suspended temporarily at the current depth of 5,450 meters," the company said.

Cadogan said results from the well — Pokrovska 1 — were in line with its expectations.

"Management have commenced discussions on using an alternative all-weather rig and hope to recommence drilling operations early in 2011," said the company, whose oil and gas activities are located entirely in Ukraine.

Cadogan has working interests in 11 licence areas covering 14 fields in Ukraine. Its shares, which have risen 3.7% in the past quarter, closed at 21p in London last night.