Petroceltic raises €89.6m to fund international drilling programme

IRISH exploration company Petroceltic has conditionally raised $120.5 million (€89.6m) in fresh funding by way of a share placing, in order to fund its international drilling programme planned for the second half of this year.

Just shy of 635.3 million new ordinary shares are to be issued, with a mix of both new and existing institutional investors taking note. The capital injection – which had been flagged as a necessity, in the past few weeks, by a number of industry analysts – will allow Petroceltic fund its drilling activity in Italy and Algeria. Funding for its operations in Tunisia has largely been catered for, through farm-out agreements with local players.

The Dublin-headquartered oil and gas company’s chief executive Brian O’Cathain said that it was particularly pleasing that the placing was oversubscribed “despite the difficult market conditions”.