Ascent Resources plc said its Slovenia partner’s administrator had terminated the restated joint operating agreement (RJOA) on the same date as the opening of its partner’s insolvency proceedings.
PRECAUTION
The termination is under default rules of Slovenian Obligations Code.
The Petišovci onshore gas joint venture is between Ascent Slovenia Ltd (ASL) and Geoenergo d.o.o. which earlier this month received permission to enter into solvency despite Ascent’s attempt in January to stop the process.
Ascent added that the administrator had also withdrawn from the RJOA, which needs to be confirmed by the court, and terminated the service agreement with field operator Petrol GEO.
The company expects that the mining right, held by Geoenergo, will be taken on by the Ministry of Natural Resources on or after 19 April 2024.
“ASL has now filed its claim in the Geoenergo insolvency process ahead of the deadline,” said the company.
“The claim is for a total amount of approximately €11 million (inclusive of late interest costs), of which approximately €3m relates to claims for ASL’s share of JV property.
“This part of the claim has been filed as a precautionary measure in the event a suitable termination agreement is not concluded following the administrator’s termination of the RJOA.
“The remainder of the claim relates to monies received by Geoenergo and owed to ASL ahead of their insolvency.”
In October 2023, a tribunal ruled in favour of Ascent’s entitlement to proceeds above the baseline production profile from all the Petišovci wells.