Petroceltic International has acquired BG Italia's interests in five exploration permits in the Po Valley region of Italy.
The Dublin and London-listed exploration company said the interests in the permits vary from 50 per cent to 95 per cent. The partners in the permits include major international oil and gas companies, according to Petroceltic.
In a regulatory statement, Petroceltic said the fields may hold the equivalent of one trillion feet of recoverable gas resources.
The company has also agreed to acquire interests in two exclusive permit applications from BG Italia, one in the Po Valley and one offshore in the Sicily Channel in the south of the country.
The deal will more than double Petroceltic's acreage position in Italy to more than 6,600 square kilometres. A three-dimensional seismic database acquired as part of the deal has identified a number of "ready to drill" prospects that Petroceltic plans to start drilling in 2008.
"Petroceltic has availed of a unique opportunity to acquire a strategic position in the mature Po Valley Basin, Italy's largest gas province," said chief executive John Craven. "I am also confident that additional hydrocarbon prospects will be generated by the legacy database, particularly as it includes a number of 3D seismic surveys."
The firm said the acquisition will give it significant portfolio diversification, with its existing oil-dominated prospects in the Central Adriatic area being complemented with the gas-dominated prospect portfolio in the Po Valley basin.
BG Italia is a subsidiary of BG Group, the UK's third largest natural-gas producer. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
Petroceltic, whose main geographic focus is Algeria, Italy and Tunisia, recorded a net loss of €6.6 million last year, up from €2.4 million in 2005. The main reason for the widening loss was a €5.7 million write-off relating to a dry well in Donegal.
The Dublin-based company's shares rose 11.5 per cent to 15.5 cents a share during trading in Dublin yesterday, their largest gain since September 6th.
