14th Aug 2008 17:17
PRESS RELEASE: 14th August
Petroceltic International plc
Result of Annual General Meeting
Petroceltic International plc ("Petroceltic" or "the Company"), the AIM and IEX listed upstream oil and gas exploration and production company, primarily focused on North Africa and the Mediterranean, announces that at the Company's Annual General Meeting ("AGM"), held today at 11a.m., all the resolutions put to the meeting were passed.
Following the AGM's approval of the Iberdrola SA ("Iberdrola") share placing,as announced on June 30th 2008, the total cash subscribed by Iberdrola will be $55 million for 215,769,231 new shares at a subscription price of 13p per share. The number of ordinary shares in issue in Petroceltic is now 953,097,049 and Iberdrola's shareholding in Petroceltic is now 22.6%.
Commenting at the AGM on the progress and activities of the Company, the Chairman Brian O'Cathain said:
"Today's approval of the Iberdrola placing puts Petroceltic on the verge of a new era. This highly significant strategic alliance with Iberdrola has strengthened our shareholder base, and means we are fully funded for our upcoming seven well exploration and appraisal drilling programme in the Isarene block in Algeria, expected to commence in early 2009. This has the potential to add significant shareholder value and together with Iberdrola, we intend to look for new opportunities for growth in our areas of focus.
We are pleased to have received recent confirmation from Alnaft, the licencing agency of the Government of Algeria that we have qualified to bid as operator for any licences which may be offered onshore in Algeria over the next three years. We are also excited to see the rapid growth in our portfolio of Italian licences which is an area of growing importance for Petroceltic.
Today's approval of the Iberdrola placing at the AGM means that the Company is fully funded for the foreseeable future, and we expect to see significant shareholder value added through the upcoming drilling campaign".
Ends
Press queries to:
John Craven /Brian O'Cathain
Petroceltic International plc
Tel: +353 1 421 8300
James Henderson / Alisdair Haythornthwaite
Pelham PR
Tel: +44 20 7743 6676
Joe Murray
Murray Consultants
Tel: +353 1 498 0320
Notes to Editors:
Petroceltic International plc is a leading Upstream Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Company, focused on the Mediterranean and North African area, and listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM Market and the Irish Stock Exchange's IEX Market. The company has exploration assets in Algeria, Tunisia and Italy and a royalty interest in the Kinsale Head gas field in Ireland.
Related Shares:
PCI.L