LONDON (Alliance News) - Petrel Resources PLC and Clontarf Energy PLC Wednesday said they have held discussions with authorities in Ghana and that negotiations about being awarded some acreage are underway.
Clontarf shares were up 38% to 0.550 pence per share on Wednesday whilst Petrel shares were up 19% to 7.27 pence.
The pair were invited to begin negotiations about obtaining an offshore block over the Tano basin block in June. Clontarf and Petrel are working together through their stakes in Pan Andean Resources (Ghana) Ltd, holding a 30% and 60% stake respectively in that company, with the other 10% held by local interests in Ghana.
Back in 2014, press reports emerged that authorities in Ghana were about to award an offshore area to a third-party which Pan Andean believed partly made up its own Tano 2A block, which was covered by a petroleum agreement signed back in 2010.
Pan Andean immediately implemented an injunction to prevent authorities from awarding the area in question to another company and launched legal proceedings to protect its asset, but that case was dropped after authorities agreed to provide new land next to their current acreage to replace the land that was lost.
The original block in question covered around one third of Pan Andean's Tano 2A block and was awarded to an American company which is Nigerian operated, CAMAC. The new land offered to Pan Andean helped to preserve the size of the block.
The dispute over the co-ordinates of the area covered by the petroleum agreement arose because that agreement was not approved by the Ghanaian cabinet or parliament.
On Wednesday, the pair, in separate but identical statements, said they had begun negotiations about possibly being awarded acreage in respect of the prior application on deep-water Tano Basin acreage as well as replacement acreage for the signed petroleum agreement on Tano 2A block.
"No assurances can be given that such negotiations will lead to a successful outcome for the company," they said.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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Petrel Resources (PET)
Clontarf (CLON)