Petroceltic has eye on expansion despite loss

IRISH oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic has said that it will continue to pursue acquisition opportunities to support its “strong growth ambitions” despite seeing its losses more than double last year.

Although the company’s pre-tax losses rose from $6.1m to $12.6m (€8.85m) last year, it said that it continued to make operational progress “despite challenging circumstances”.

Management — which recently said the company remained on course to see commercial gas flows from its headline Isarene field in Algeria, within the next four years — called 2010 “a year of solid progress”.