Shares of Edinburgh-based international oil and gas company Cairn Energy rose about 7% on Tuesday after it announced strong half-year results and a production target upgrade.

Cairn upgraded its full year oil production guidance to 21,000-23,000 bopd (barrels of oil per day) from 19,000-22,000 bopd.

Cairn Energy CEO Simon Thomson said: “As a full cycle E&P business Cairn has seen good progress in the first half of 2019 with the opportunity to develop and deliver multiple catalysts for future growth.

“Production performance from our North Sea assets is ahead of expectations, delivering significant cash flow to reinvest in the portfolio. 

“The SNE development in Senegal, where FID is expected in H2, remains on schedule for first oil in 2022.

“Our drilling programme is about to commence offshore Mexico, where Cairn has built a material footprint in one of the world’s most prolific basins.

“Recent portfolio acreage additions provide line of sight to future high potential exploration prospects.”