Exploration firms reach deal with Ghana after licence row

Two Irish exploration firms — Clontarf Energy and Petrel Resources — have reached agreement with the authorities in Ghana over a long-running dispute concerning lost licence acreage in the west African country.

The John Teeling-chaired sister companies — which, respectively, own 60% and 30% of the Tano-2A exploration licence in Ghana (10% is locally-owned) — had initiated legal proceedings (which have now been withdrawn) after US firm, CAMAC Energy had been granted acreage overlapping the Irish firms’ existing prospect. London-listed Clontarf’s share price fell from nearly £3 to less than 50p in the past year, mainly due to the confusion over the Ghana licence.

However, the two companies yesterday announced that the Ghanaian authorities have agreed the provision of additional acreage, which preserves the overall size of the Tano block at around 15,000 sq km — about three times the size of an average licence block held in Ireland’s highly-rated Porcupine Basin field.