Oil producer Afren's first-quarter output below target

LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - London-listed oil explorer Afren (Berlin: A2J.BE - news) Plc reported first-quarter net production of 35,465 barrels of oil per day (bopd), lower than its target of 40,000 bopd this year.

Afren (LSE: AFR.L - news) also reported a 30 percent fall in first-quarter sales revenue due to a reduced share of production and liftings from its Ebok field in Nigeria and lower realised average oil prices.

Shares in the company fell as much as 5.1 percent in morning trade on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) .

The company's main producing assets are in Nigeria but it also operates in Kenya and Kurdistan.

Afren, which is targeting double-digit production growth over the next five years, said analysis of 3D seismic data of its Ogo oil field - the world's third largest discovery of 2013 - would begin shortly.

The oil explorer and producer reported a 44 percent fall in pretax profit last year due to a number of field write-offs in Kenya and Congo.

Shares in Afren were trading down 5 percent at 146.3 pence at 0825 GMT on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps and Roshni Menon)