In short

A round-up of today's other finance news in brief ...

Petroceltic to farm out Tunisian permit

Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International says it is “farming out” its exploration permit in the Tunisian Ksar Hadada prospect to a subsidiary of PetroAsian Energy.

The move will give Petro- Asian a 51 per cent interest in the permit. In return, Petro- Asian will finance the costs of drilling and testing new wells in the area and the acquisition of new seismic data.

“The overall capital commitment to the seismic and drilling work programme from PetroAsian is up to $14.5 million [€10.3 million],” Petroceltic said yesterday in a statement to the stock exchange.

Fiat ‘will not walk away’ from Chrysler

Italian car-maker Fiat will not walk away from its deal to buy bankrupt Chrysler, a spokesman has said after a US court delay threw the deal into doubt.

Chrysler and the Obama administration say a long delay could kill the deal and result in Chrysler’s liquidation, and Fiat could walk away from the deal if it does not close by June 15th.

“Fiat will not walk away from the deal if it isn’t completed by the June 15th deadline,” a spokesman said yesterday. On Monday Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the bankruptcy judge’s orders allowing the sale “are stayed pending further order” by her or the supreme court. – (Reuters)

Committee to assess Dragon Oil stock offer

Dragon Oil, the London-listed explorer operating in Turkmenistan, has said an independent committee will assess a possible offer by Emirates National Oil for the company’s remaining stock.

The committee consists of the company’s senior independent director, Nigel McCue, Ahmad Al-Muhairiti and Saeed Al-Mazrooei, the company said. – (Bloomberg)