This follows a report by Eureka Energy on Tuesday that snow and cold temperatures had forced it to suspend operations at it Koyunlu-1 well in the southeastern part of the country.

In a statement yesterday, Incremental said for the second year in a row, severe weather has slashed oil production from its Selmo field, this time to about 900 barrels of oil per day.

On Boxing Day, a “vicious weather front” moved into the area, bringing about one metre of snow and gales, which brought down some infield power lines and shut -in 14 production wells.

But on a positive note, managing director Gerard J McGann said last year’s infield improvements, as well as new equipment, have limited the impact of the shutdown.

“The weather since this event has set records in the area for the length and severity of the cold snap – night-time temperatures have been below minus 20C, and have dipped to minus 26C, with daytime temperatures not rising above freezing,” he said.

“These weather conditions are unprecedented in the memory of staff who have worked on Selmo over the last 25 years.”

Of the affected wells, 11 are still offline, two have problem electrical overhead lines and nine have frozen flowlines.

Attempts to heat the flowlines have been unsuccessful, as earth temperatures have been minus 15C for several days. Incremental said it was currently working to lay new flowlines over the worst frozen sections in a bid to bring the wells back online over the next few days.

The situation has so far deferred about 5000bbl of total oil production.

Current weather forecasts suggest continued similar conditions over the next week, Incremental said.