East Africa-focused explorer Wentworth Resources tumbled to a loss last year as it faced higher exploration costs in the fourth quarter.

The Oslo and London-listed company reported a full-year net loss of nearly $10 million, versus a profit of $24.9 million in 2012 that included a $29.8 million gain on sale of oil and gas assets.

Wentworth’s fourth-quarter net loss widened to $4.6 million from $3.5 million a year earlier as it more than doubled exploration spending to $2.16 million compared with the same period of 2012.

The company said though it has sufficient funds to carry out planned exploration and operational work this year, having raised $46 million in an equity issue in the last quarter, with working capital of $38.37 million at year-end compared with $16.61 million a year earlier.

Wentworth aims to drill at least two wells this year on its prospective Rovuma Onshore block in Mozambique, with the first scheduled for May at the Tembo prospect to be followed by a probe at the Kifaru target.

The company recently kicked off a 2D seismic survey over two discovered gas fields at the Mnazi Bay concession onshore Tanzania to identify prospects for drilling by year-end or in early 2015, with the aim of finding more gas resources to feed the under-construction $1.2 billion Mtwara-to-Dar es Salaam pipeline due for completion in the first quarter of next year.