Pan Andean assets sale to go ahead

PAN Andean, the Irish oil and gas exploration company chaired by John Teeling, is expected to conclude the sale of its Peruvian and Colombian assets early this week.

It is understood the AIM-listed company, which has its headquarters in Dublin, had received two separate expressions of interest; one for itsPeruvian assets alone and the other for those operations combined with its interest in Colombia.

However, it is now likely that the latter offer is the one nearing completion.

Pan Andean is the sixth largest licence-holder in Peru. Activities there are “on schedule” and the first well is likely to be drilled late next year or in early 2011 at the latest, shareholders were told at the company’s annual general meeting recently.

In Colombia, the company has six drilling locations within its Antorcha licence with permits to drill and has been granted an extension to its drilling licence timescale to May of next year.

As well as Peru and Colombia, Pan Andean has interests in the Gulf of Mexico and Bolivia and has additional projects under examination in Nigeria, Ghana and Iran.

The company remains an attractive investment target as it is one of the few profitable oil and gas companies listed on the AIM – London’s Alternative Investment Market – even though falling gas prices in the US will likely reduce its profits in its current financial year, which runs to the end of March.

In its last financial year, the company saw profits increase by 7% despite turbulent gas prices in the US.