Oil giant group, Afren sets out plan to double its production by next year 2011 as company posted improvement in half yearly profits.

The revenues of the oil company have increased from $155m to $215m and posted net income of $50.7m as compared to loss of $38.5m in previous year.

There has been fall of 11 percent in the per day production, from 23,000 to around 20,400.

But the 55 percent increase in the oil prices has off-set the lower production.

Chief Executive, Osman Shahenshah said, "The outlook for the remainder of 2010 and beyond is positive for Afren. Production performance has been in line with expectations for the period and is expected to rise sharply into the foreseeable future."

The Africa-focused oil company has its network in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Congo-Brazzaville and Sao Tome and Principe.

In June, the group acquired Canada-based Black Marlin for $101m The company is planning to make further Nigerian acquisitions in this year to take advantage of 120 fields lying unused under the majors oil giants like Shell and Exxon.

The shares of the company have increased by 1.8 percent to 102.8p.