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LONDON (Alliance News) - Lansdowne Oil and Gas PLC Thursday said its pretax loss widened in 2014 as it continues with its strategic review and said the next drilling campaign will not go ahead until a partner has been secured for the Barryroe asset with fellow-listed Providence Resources PLC.
The oil and gas explorer working offshore Ireland, which does not generate any revenue, reported a pretax loss of GBP1.3 million in 2014, widening from a GBP1.0 million loss in 2013. The wider loss was solely caused by administrative expenses rising.
At the end of December, Lansdowne had a cash balance of GBP300,000 but since then the company has secured a further GBP2.9 million in funding by way of a placing and a loan note.
In April, Lansdowne launched a strategic review to consider all of its options which could lead to a potential merger, acquisition, sale or farm-out of its assets after receiving proposals and said it would discuss a potential merger on a confidential basis with a third-party under a formal sale process.
In addition on Wednesday, fellow listed Providence Resources PLC said it was seeking to clarify the position of a potential partner for the Barryroe project offshore Ireland, in which Lansdowne holds a 20% stake.
In February, Providence said it had reached an agreement on commercial terms with a proposed farminee which was subject to closing conditions that were mainly related to financing but on Wednesday said the closing conditions had not been satisfied, leading to talks with the potential buyer to clarify the situation.
Lansdowne on Thursday said the next drilling campaign will require the successful conclusion of the farm-out processes, which it said was taking longer than anticipated.
Lansdowne shares were up 4.3% to 6.65 pence per share on Thursday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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