Petroceltic on track to meet well targets

Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic said it is on target to meet full-year production targets and will drill 10 wells as part of its enlarged portfolio over the next year.

The Dublin-headquartered company completed a €210m reverse takeover of British firm Melrose Resources, expanding its reach to assets in Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, and Egypt.

Management said the coming year will see it drill six high-impact exploration wells in Egypt, Kurdistan, Italy, and the Black Sea. In addition, work will begin at two wells in Bulgaria and two shallow wells in the Nile Delta. The four latter assets have early production potential.

Petroceltic is on track for market guidance production levels for 2012 of 28m barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Davy Stockbrokers’ exploration analyst Job Langbroek said Petroceltic should be seen as “a candidate for outperformance — especially in 2013”.

“The announcement underlines one of the benefits of the merger, which was a heightened portfolio of interests and consequent density of newsflow,” he said.

Petroceltic has begun work on the first exploration well to be drilled in the 43,000sq km Mesaha concession in Egypt