Clock is ticking for Dragon

Exploration firm Dragon Oil has an official window of three weeks to put up or shut up regarding the prospect of a takeover of the Irish firm Petroceltic.

The Irish Takeover Panel yesterday formally set a December 19 deadline of 5pm for Dragon to either announce an intention to make an offer for the Dublin-based firm or announce it won’t go ahead with an offer.

If it announces the latter, Dragon would be restricted from making a further approach for a year.