This article is from page 2 of the 2007-04-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
TWO Fianna Fail councillors are keeping their fingers crossed that a little-known oil company may strike it lucky in remote Siberia. According to Clare County Coun- cil’s Ethics Registrar, Cllr PJ Kelly and Cllr Michael Kelly both have shares in PetroNeft Resources plc. The registrar shows that Cllr Kelly purchased 8,/50 shares, at 32 cents a share, last October, following a con- versation with his Tubber colleague. The registrar doesn’t say how many shares Cllr Michael Kelly has in Pet- ronNeft, but it does state that Cllr
Kelly also has shares in Providence Resources, the Gresham Hotel, Bal- timore Technologies and a pharma- ceutical company called Alltralel. Cllr Michael Kelly was unavailable for comment yesterday. However, Cllr PJ Kelly said that buying the shares was like betting on a horse. “After a chat with Michael, I said that I would take a chance. For the amount of shares I bought, I won’t be getting rich from it,” he said. According to the chairman’s report from the most recent accounts of Pet- roNeft, Mr G. David GaMer said, “It is 18 months since the concept of Pet- roNeft Resources plc was developed
and started to become a reality. Now the company is fully structured and funded, has a clearly defined path to production from the two proven oil fields and has an exploration sched- ule to expand the reserve base.”
The chairman’s statement said that the company was to set out a fast- track to purchase a licence for “one of the best packages of known oil fields and prospects to became avail- able in the West Siberian Oil and Gas Basin in a long time”.
The licenced area is extensive at 4,991 square kms, setting up the potential for a ‘core area’, with long- term production and an extensive ex-
ploration base for future discoveries.
The statement went on, “The first year of the company’s existence has been an exciting time. The next 12 months promises to be equally excit- ing. “By July of 2007, it is hoped that the company will be able to take the decision to begin field and infrastruc- ture development, leading to produc- tion in 2008.”
The only other councillors to have shares in companies are Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG), who has shares in Ballycasey Dev Ltd and Cllr Oliver Garry (FG), who has shares in Ab- bey Contractors Ltd.