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West African explorer Afren (AFR:AIM) could potentially be a FTSE 250 company before the end of the year. The company, which has the advantage of having a former Opec president and current advisor to the Nigerian government in Dr Rilwanu Lukman as chairman, has announced its intention to move to the main market.

The company has also completed a placing of around 95 million shares, raising nearly £120 million in the process. These should be admitted to trading on Aim on 15 April and the cash will be used to develop the Ebok field in Nigeria, which Afren recently farmed into, and to fund the acquisition of other ‘fallow’ oilfields in the country. The Ebok deal is indicative of Afren’s strategy of developing partnerships with indigenous companies, in this case Oriental Energy Resources, and the project could come on stream by 2010.

Keith Morris, analyst at Evolution Securities, referring to the agreement, says: ‘Again Afren shows how innovative farm-in deals provide technical and financial skills to unlock marginal fields while retaining the benefits of the Nigerian marginal field fiscal and tax regime, and gives further growth in the Afren portfolio.’

Elsewhere, the company is adding immediate production of 3,000 barrels a day through the acquisition of assets in the Ivory Coast from Devon Energy. The marginal field development at Okuru Setu is also due to begin output in the coming months.

CEO Osman Shahenshah, says: ‘This will be a transformational year in Afren’s development as we continue to deliver materially accretive proved undeveloped assets through our differentiated strategy, production from the existing asset base and reserve growth from an aggressive exploration strategy. We consider a move to the official list as a natural progression in our stage of development.’

The stock, which ticked up 2.5p in response to the announcement, is now worth just over 131.5p, valuing the company at £356 million, just shy of the level needed to qualify for the FTSE 250 index.