Losses at oil and gas exploration firm Petroceltic widened in 2010 as the company wrote off the exploration costs of abandoned operations in Tunisia.
The company said pretax losses increased to $12.6 million, from $6.1 million in 2009. Petroceltic withdrew from the Ksar Hadada permit, abandoning the Oryx-1 exploration well in AUgust last year after it failed to discover any significant oil saturation in the reservoirs. It then moved to begin drilling of Sidi Toui-4, which was also unsuccessful.
"The company's operations in Tunisia were fully carried as a result of a farm-out agreement with PetroAsian Energy Holdings Ltd," Petroceltic said in its report. "Following these two wells the company no longer has any current interests in the country, and has relinquished its interest in the Ksar Hadada permit."
However, Petroceltic had no financial exposure in the 2010 Ksar Hadada programme, as both Oryx-1 and Sidi Toui-4 were part of the work programme in the PetroAsian Energy Holdings farm-in agreement. The costs were historical exploration costs and mainly related to activities prior to the farm-out in 2009.
The company said revenue from the Kinsale gas fields rose slightly last year to $270,000, up from $210,000 in 2009. Higher gas prices offset lower production, Petroceltic said.
Chairman Robert Arnott said 2010 was a year of "solid progress" for the company, despite the challenging circumstances.
"The company has put in place the resources to exploit its world class discovery in Algeria and the underlying strategy and investment case remains strong," he said in a statement. "The company is well positioned to add value within its existing business through an on-going exploration and appraisal programme, and is continuing to explore opportunities to expand its portfolio in areas that exploit the strengths of our team."
