UPDATE 1-Oil company Afren to move to LSE's main market

LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - London-listed oil and gas company Afren Plc said it planned to move up to the London Stock Exchange's main market in early December, helping lift its shares on Wednesday.

The Africa-focused company was admitted to AIM, the junior market, in 2005 and has 16 assets across Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon and Nigeria Sao Tome and Principe Jointe Development Zone.

'Afren has delivered both acquisition-led and organic reserves and production growth,' chief executive Osman Shahenshah said, adding the board considered the official list to be a more appropriate platform for growth.

Afren, which reported a wider first-half loss of $37.4 million in September, said on Tuesday it had positive results from its Ebok field in Nigeria.

The company said it would target drilling activity of over 600 million barrels of oil equivalent to 2011 and expected production growth to 100,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of 2012.

Netherland, Sewell and Associates has produced a report on the company's reserves and resources for its admission to the main market.

Afren shares were up 5.8 percent at 92 pence at 0840 GMT.

(Reporting by Sharon Lindores; Editing by Dan Lalor) Keywords: AFREN/ ([e-mail] [e-mail]; [phone]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.