Gulf starts at Sheikh Adi-2 25/05/2012
Iraq-focused oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has begun drilling at the Sheikh Adi-2 well in the Sheikh Adi block.
Spanish utility Iberdrola has sold its 16 per cent stake in North Africa-focused Petroceltic International for £34.6 million.
Dublin-based Petroceltic, whose natural gas prospects in Algeria alone are estimated at between two and five trillion cubic feet, says the shares were placed with the help of its brokers Mirabaud and Davy with existing and new shareholders at 16p. That represented a 1p premium over the previous closing price, though the price has eased since, and a 3p-a-share profit for Iberdrola, which bought its stake in 2008 but is now in the process of disposing of £2.25 billion of ‘non-core’ assets.
Iberdrola’s representative Pablo Fuentes-Cantillana has resigned from the board of Petroceltic, which has also agreed to repay the Spanish company a £4.5 million option fee for the right to take a 49 per cent stake in any of Petroceltic’s upstream assets. Sean O’Cathain, chief executive of the AIM-quoted company, expresses ‘delight that the principal shareholders in Petroceltic have expressed their strong support by acquiring the Iberdrola stake at a premium to the market’.
He says the company is working to realise ‘upside value’ over the coming year. According to O’Cathain, recent drilling in Algeria has demonstrated ‘the presence of a very large gas accumulation, capable of flowing at rates exceeding 30 million cubic feet a day per well’.
Recommended by Growth Company Investor at 9p in May, Petroceltic shares, which have swung between 3.4p and 19p over the past year, now trade at 14.75p, valuing the company at £203 million. Partial profit taking might be prudent, while retaining some for potential future growth.
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Iraq-focused oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has begun drilling at the Sheikh Adi-2 well in the Sheikh Adi block.
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