Jadestone Energy (LON:JSE) has announced the completion of works required to resume production from the Montara oil field. This restart follows an extensive maintenance and inspection shut down. Shares in the company have increased by a slight 3.24% following the announcement of completion.

The decision to halt production at the Montara oil field was made in November. Jadestone Energy closed the asset in order to correct an extensive backlog of inspection and maintenance routines.

At the beginning of December, Jadestone Energy reported its progress which was being delivered on target.

Work has now been completed and the facilities are going through the final stages of pressure testing to ensure a safe restart of production. The facility should be able to operate without any major maintenance shutdown until 2020 at the very least.

Paul Blakeley, President and CEO of the company, commented on the announcement:

“I’m pleased that the shutdown of the Montara assets has been safely concluded, which now completes all overdue inspection and maintenance items which we identified during the initial weeks after closing the transaction with PTTEP. During the shutdown, Montara personnel logged more than 9,000 hours of work, all executed without a single safety incident. This is a testament to the calibre of expertise on the asset and the leadership we have now seconded into the Montara organisation, and a key early step toward embedding the Jadestone operating philosophy and safety culture on the asset.

“In addition to resolving the regulatory non-compliance notices, which in our view now safeguards the integrity and reliability of the Montara assets, we have worked closely with NOPSEMA, the offshore regulator, to satisfy their concerns as laid out in Direction Notice 0732, and are waiting for their final support to a full restart of production.”

At 14:53 GMT today, shares in Jadestone Energy Inc (LON:JSE) were trading at +3.24%.

Elsewhere in the property market, UK house prices are growing at the slowest annual pace in six years. Indeed, latest property price statistics show that the UK house market has taken a pre-Brexit hit.