British shareholders could be in line for a "Burma payout", following Premier Oil's move to exit the country run by a military dictatorship through a $670m (£407m) asset swap.
The UK exploration and production group said a share buyback or special dividend were two possible options for using some of the spare cash.
Premier announced 12 months ago that it was selling off its interests in Burma's Yetagun gas field in return for Amerada Hess of the US and Petronas of Malaysia selling their holdings in the UK firm.
The final deal has only just been completed, leaving Premier able to cut its debt burden to £15.9m, from a high of £349m two years ago, and still have a sizeable surplus.
"This all took a bit longer than we expected and we need to take a bit of a breather. It [a shareholder payout] is something we have got very much in mind but we have no immediate plans," said Premier chief executive Charles Jamieson.
Human rights activists said last night that it would be wrong to hand back cash generated in the south east Asian country to shareholders.
"This is blood money that Premier should hold in trust for the people of Burma," said a spokesman for the Burma Campaign UK which waged a long campaign to get Premier to leave the country.
Premier entered Burma 13 years ago and produced about 15,900 barrels of oil equivalents a day during the first half of this year at Yetagun. That increase in output helped Premier to almost double pre-tax profits to £71.2m in the six months to June 30 compared with the same period last year.
Turnover rose 27% to £146.1m reflecting higher output and stronger global oil prices. Shares in the company fell 12p to 362p but have recovered from a 52-week low of 232.5p on the back of progress in the long-awaited restructuring. As well as its sale in Burma, Premier has disposed of half its interests in Pakistan for $110m (£69m).
