Oil and gas exploration group Petroceltic International posted a wider net loss for 2005 as preparations for drilling in Algeria and off the coast of Donegal boosted costs and the company incurred foreign currency losses.
Last year's loss amounted to $2.5 million (€1.96 million), or 43 US cents a share, from $1.56 million, or 32 cents, in 2004, Dublin-based Petroceltic reported yesterday. Administrative expenses climbed to $1.34 million in 2005 from $733,000 the previous year.
Since the end of 2005, the company has raised almost $40 million to fund drilling off the Donegal coast and in Algeria.
The company has a 75-25 production-sharing contract with Algerian state-owned Sonatrach for a plot in the middle of the Sahara extending more than 10,800sq km - almost twice the area of Co Galway.
In March, Petroceltic awarded the contract for its 2006 drilling programme in Algeria to the US-based oilfield services company Schlumberger. It plans to begin drilling its two wells there in the third quarter and expects the programme to last between three and four years.
"Increased demand for Algerian gas provides a major opportunity for Petroceltic to deliver value from its Algerian acreage, where 10 gas and two oil discoveries have previously been made," chairman Brian Cusack said in a statement.
Petroceltic has also secured a rig to drill the offshore Inishbeg prospect in Donegal this summer.
