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LONDON (Alliance News) - Clontarf Energy PLC Thursday said its pretax loss widened in 2013 as the company, which is currently involved in an ongoing dispute over a licence award in Ghana, was hit by impairment charges and higher administrative expenses.
The Ghana and Peru-focused oil and gas exploration company, which is yet to produce any revenues, said its pretax loss widened to GBP3.2 million from GBP1.3 million the previous year.
The company said its losses widened as administrative expenses increased to GBP667,370 from GBP458,501 and it faced a GBP2.5 million impairment on its evaluation and exploration assets.
Clontarf said it is facing a difficult period after its Bolivian interests were written down to zero value, its Peruvian licences proved difficult to farm out and the Ghanaian government granted a licence to a US company over a region which the company believed was theirs, leading to court action.
In March, the Ghanaian government, without notice, awarded a licence which Clontarf argue overlaps their own Tano 2A block, leading the company to requiring a High Court Injunction. It said that despite the injunction, the agreement was ratified and announced in May.
On Thursday, the company said it remains hopeful on receiving deals with regards to farming out part or all of its Peruvian and Bolivian assets. It added that it now plans to pursue the Government of Ghana and the companies signing the licence over what it believes is part of its concession.
"This is not ideal and something we avoided for four years. But the die is now cast and we will be resolute. It is always better to talk than to litigate so we actively seek to engage with the various parties. Some discussions have taken place in this regard," the company said in a statement.
The company said it continues to rely on the support of its directors and lenders to continue as a going concern and it is confident that new funds can be found to maintain the company.
Clontarf Energy shares were down 18% to 0.410 pence, putting it in the top three AIM All-Share fallers on Thursday.
By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1
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