5th Apr 2016 09:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - Petroceltic International PLC on Tuesday said the hearing earlier this week regarding the appointment of an examiner to the company to facilitate a restructuring of the business was adjourned and will be heard in full later this week.
The company also released a statement concerning its recently launched drilling programme on its gas and condensate field in Algeria, where happily it is carried on all of its costs as it continues to try to restructure the company to become a sustainable business.
One of Petroceltic's substantial shareholders was trying to take over the troubled company, but when its takeover offer for the company was rejected, it launched a petition to the Irish Court to appoint an examiner to Petroceltic and place the company and its subsidiaries under protection from its creditors.
The Irish Court is due to appoint Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton Ireland as the examiner of Petroceltic, giving him the task of holding discussions with the company's creditors in an attempt to restructure the business so the company can become a sustainable operation.
The full hearing of the petition was scheduled for Monday, but Petroceltic said it has now been adjourned until this Friday, at which point the application to appoint the examiner to the company will be heard in full, it said.
The petition was launched by a company owned by Worldview EHS International Master Fund, which is part of Worldview Capital Management SA, the substantial Petroceltic shareholder that saw its takeover offer for the company rejected.
Petroceltic did not authorise the petition launched by its shareholder and was seeking legal advice over the matter, claiming it had "substantially agreed" a deal with its lenders to secure another extension to its hefty debt repayment deadline. The company claimed the petition caused that agreement to collapse.
Although it did not authorise the petition, it did stop Petroceltic's creditors from being able to demand repayments as the company was expected to repay its substantial debt pile in full last month.
Notably, Worldview acquired the majority of the senior debt owed by Petroceltic back in March, purchasing 69% of Petroceltic's outstanding senior debt at a significant discount to face value.
On Monday, Worldview said it had then disposed of about half of that, leaving it interested in 37.4% of the senior bank facility.
When Worldview purchased 69% of the outstanding debt, Petroceltic owed USD232.5 million, meaning Worldview had bought around USD160.4 million of the debt. That suggests that after the disposal earlier this week, Worldview is now interested in USD74.0 million of Petroceltic's outstanding debt.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, Petroceltic said it has started drilling the development well AT-10 on the Ain Tsila gas and condensate field in Algeria, the first of 24 planned wells on the field.
Petroceltic needs to drill the 24 wells on the field in order to maintain the annual average wet gas plateau rate of 355.0 million standard cubic feet of gas. Drilling started on February 21, and the well reached its target depth on the last day of March.
The company said the well penetrated a full gas and condensate bearing, with wireline logging results indicating that reservoir quality is in line with the pre-drill prognosis. Petroceltic believes production rates should be comparable to that of the existing wells on the field, AT-1 and AT-8, which delivered flow rates of around 30.0 million standard cubic feet per day.
Well test results will be confirmed later in 2016 when planned batch completion, stimulation and testing activities are undertaken.
The AT-13 development well will now be drilled, and the Sinopec Rig being used is now on the move to that location.
Petroceltic owns a 38.25% stake in the production sharing contract in the field, alongside partners Sonatrach and Enel. Petroceltic remains carried on its costs on the field following the sale of a stake to Sonatrach back in July 2014.
Petroceltic shares are currently suspended.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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