Challenge to Petroceltic over losses

Oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International will hold its annual general meeting in Dublin this Friday.

The Irish explorer has been in a war of words with majority shareholder Worldview Capital Management of late.

Worldview, an investment management group that holds more than 29 per cent of the share capital in Petroceltic, has accused the explorer of squandering shareholder value.

Worldview also said it will call for a separate EGM for shareholders to vote on the bond issue, calling it an abuse of Petroceltic’s borrowing powers and an example of “poor corporate governance”.

Amend powers

“We note that the company has failed to amend these inappropriate borrowing powers as part of the new articles of association it is proposing to adopt at the upcoming AGM,” Worldview said.

Petroceltic hit back, saying the bond issue represents the first step in diversifying the group’s funding base, according to the firm.

“Petroceltic confirmed at its 2015 capital markets day that its objective was “to effect a partial or first stage of refinancing during 2015,” the company said.

“The amendments to the existing Articles proposed for consideration by shareholders at the forthcoming AGM of the Company on 24 July 2015 are solely those required to reflect the enactment of the Irish Companies Act 2014 or to make consequential or minor housekeeping changes,” the explorer added in a statement.

Petroceltic last month announced an annual loss of $282 million (€258.4 million) due to exploration write-offs of $183 million on drilling in Kurdistan, Romania and Egypt and an impairment of $86 million.

Losses soared from $19 million (€17.4 million) in 2013 to $282 million for 2014, following the exploration write-off.

However, Petroceltic chairman Robert Adair said the exploration firm delivered on its production target and generated $157 million (€143.8 million) of revenue from oil and gas sales.