Atlantic Petroleum issued notices to Iona Energy Co. (UK), which is in administration, to remove Iona as the operator of the Orlando and Kells licenses, offshore the UK.
Atlantic has requested special meetings of the joint operating committees of UK Licenses P.1606 and P.1607, the Orlando and Kells licenses, to be held to consider the removal of Iona Energy as the operator of the licenses pursuant to Clause 5.3.2 (b) of the joint operating agreement, dealing with an entity in administration, and to elect Atlantic Petroleum North Sea as the operator of the licenses.
Iona as the operator must call such special meeting not less than seven nor more than 10 days after receipt of the request from Atlantic Petroleum North Sea.
“We have been working constructively with interested parties to resolve the issues around Orlando and Kells since Iona went into administration, and had entered into a sale and purchase agreement on our 25% of Orlando,” Ben Arabo, Atlantic CEO said. “This agreement was not concluded because the counter party was unable to complete. We now think that the Orlando project needs to move forward with an active operator in line with the obligations to the UK government under the license, and we are taking steps to ensure that this will happen. The Orlando development is an attractive development opportunity and we are working with interested parties and our funders to deliver value from Orlando.”