Petrel to finalise project partner

PETREL Resources, the John Teeling-chaired oil and gas exploration company, has nearly halved its first-half losses and has confirmed it is in the advanced stages of finalising a farm-in partner for an upcoming mining project in Jordan.

“Petrel’s technical and geological analysis has been accepted by the potential partner despite the challenging capital market conditions of the past 12 months, which have made raising capital difficult for the partner,” the company said yesterday as part of its interim update statement.

The project relates to one licence – a joint oil and gas target – located in the north-east of the country. The farm-in agreement would see one of the bigger players in the industry coming on board and investing in the project’s development in return for an equity stake in the find.

Petrel owns the licence outright. The project is viewed as being significant in that it could play a large role in the Arab gas pipeline, seen as a major supplier of Middle-Eastern gas into the European market.

With regard to financials, Petrel reported a pre-tax loss of €228,000 for the first six months of 2009 – considerably narrowed from a loss of €417,000 for the corresponding period last year. Its operating losses, for the period, fell year-on-year from €470,000 to €232,000 and the loss per share narrowed from 58c to 31c.

Petrel’s main interests lie in Iraq, where it is seeking approval to develop three existing oil fields in the south of the country and hoping to win an exploration licence in its Western Desert region.

On its future commitment to the country, Mr Teeling said: “Petrel is determined to stay in Iraq to participate in the growth. No one has more recent practical experience or understands the potential and challenges of the country better than us.”