Tuesday 23 June 2015 10:21 am

Afren’s share price has mysteriously shot up 82 per cent

Shares in embattled oil producer Afren closed up 59.33 per cent to 2.39p per share today – however nobody knows why.

Earlier today pundits had taken to Twitter in a guessing game after the oil producer's share price mysteriously shot up as much as 90 per cent to 2.78p per share.

The jump is particularly surprising because it means someone is buying the shares despite Afren's proposed debt for equity deal announced on Friday, which would significantly dilute shareholder value.

One theory is that investors are buying up shares in order to block the proposal.

Afren shares surging. Traders say investors want to block proposed debt for equity deal announced late on Friday pic.twitter.com/sRKffKp1lU

— Alex Ralph (@alexralph) June 23, 2015

And one Twitter user joked that perhaps Rob Terry was buying up the shares. When Terry increased his stake in broker Daniel Stewart in March its shares jumped as much as 750 per cent.

https://twitter.com/mouldcapital/status/613337647365361664

Afren has struggled since chief executive Osman Shahenshah and chief operating officer Shahid Ullah were suspended and subsequently fired over the receipt of unauthorised payments last year.

And there was more pain for shareholders when Afren first revealed it was suffering from a funding crisis in January, which caused shares to close down 71 per cent on the day.

Its woes were compounded by global oil prices, which plunged from around $115 per barrel in June last year, to around $45 per barrel in January.

Since then it's been trying to reach an agreement with shareholders to tame its huge debt pile.