Losses at Clontarf Energy widened in 2021 as the company concentrated on delivering a high-potential well in a “stable” jurisdiction.
The company said it made a loss on operations of £463,501 (€538,205), up from £361,308 a year earlier, with a loss per share of six pence, up from five pence a year earlier. Cash and equivalents at the end of the financial year were £344, 253, up from just under €90,000 in 2020. During the year the company raised £500,000 in a share placing.
It said the business continued to operate “efficiently on minimal overheads”.
The company is proposing to change the nominal value of existing shares from 0.25p to 0.01p per ordinary share and 0.24p deferred share, which will have no impact on the value of existing shareholdings, but will allow it flexibility on future funding. The resolution is due to be put to the upcoming annual general meeting for approval.
The company also issued an update on its activities in Australia, where shallow gas target drilling failed to show commercial hydrocarbons. When the dust settles, the company said, Clontarf and its partners would consider the economics of drilling deeper targets at the site.
“We believe that additional funds will be available, possibly again at a premium to the current share price,” Clontarf said in its statement.
“We also increased the pressure for ratification in our other projects, in anticipation of a recovering farm-out market, as demand surges while supply is slow to respond,” the company said.
That includes an agreement on offshore Tano 2A Block in Ghana, and in discussions with authorities in Chad on how to convert Clontarf’s signed memorandum of understanding on prospective sedimentary acreage.
“Progress on these promising projects had been slowed by the virtual disappearance of the farm-out market after 2014. It made little sense to commit to a substantial work programme without a reasonable prospect of de-risking through partnering with companies with deeper pockets,” the company said.
Clontarf said demand for lithium had surged and company was hoping to conclude a technical co-operation agreement in Bolivia on a mapping exercise shortly, with the company proposing to explore and develop mid-sized Bolivian lithium salt lakes.
