There was a further write-down of about $25 million on the carrying value of certain assets with commercially recoverable reserves due to a change in accounting policy.

The sale of the company's Egyptian's wells saw the amount of oil produced drop from 8.6 million barrels in 2000 to eight million barrels last year. Revenue was up 62 per cent to $329 million.

"The simple fact is that we're in a much more difficult operating environment now than we were a year ago," Novus managing director, Mr Bob Williams said.

This week Novus announced its first onshore Gulf of Mexico well, La Playa-1, had encountered six potential gas bearing zones. Five intervals covered by electric logs indicated net gas pay in excess of 50ft. Novus has a 30% interest in the well.