Barryroe Offshore Energy court protection extended

The High Court has extended the period of protection from creditors granted to gas and oil exploration firm Barryroe Offshore Energy (BOE) by an additional 35 days.

The extension was sought by the company’s examiner Kieran Wallace to enable further discussions with potential investors in the firm.

The additional time, Mr Wallace said, would allow him to formulate a scheme of arrangement that would ensure the company’s survival.

The company was placed into examinership in late July following an application by Vevan Unlimited, a Larry Goodman company which holds a 20 per cent stake in BOE.

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BOE had been facing liquidation, but a shareholder vote to wind up the firm was called off to allow Vevan to put BOE into examinership.

The vourt was told that while the company was insolvent, a report from independent expert stated that BOE has a reasonable prospect of survival if a scheme of arrangement can be agreed with the creditors, and ultimately approved by the court.

Its sole asset is its wholly owned subsidiary Exola DAC, which operates the Barryroe field off the Co Cork coast.

The application to extend BOE’s period of protection from its creditors from 35 to 70 days, was sought by Kelley Smith SC on behalf of Mr Wallace, an insolvency practitioner with Interpath, who was formally appointed as the company’s examiner in late July.

In a report to the court, Mr Wallace said he believes the company can survive if certain steps are taken, including agreeing a scheme of arrangement with BOE’s creditors and bringing in additional investment into the firm.

Outlining the steps taken by him to date, Mr Wallace said he had met both creditors and potential investors, one of which he said meets BOE’s funding requirements.

There was no opposition to the extension application.

Arthur Cunningham for the Revenue Commissioners, owed some €20,000, said his client was not opposing the extension application.

The extension was granted by Ms Justice Siobhan Phelan during Thursday’s vacation sitting of the High Court.

The matter will return before the court in October.

The company got into difficulty in May when the Government refused to extend a lease allowing the firm to continue work on its oil drilling project off the Co Cork coast.

This affected the company’s ability to raise working capital.

The Government’s decision was based on the firm not meeting the investment cover criterion which requires lease applicants to have net tangible assets of 3.5 times the cost of works the firm had planned to undertake.

A separate legal challenge has been brought against that decision.