The High Court yesterday evening appointed an interim examiner to the troubled oil exploration and production company, Tuskar Resources. The company has interests in an oil field in Nigeria but, the court was told, is having cash-flow problems as a result of a dispute with its Nigerian partner which is preventing the sale of oil. Mr Justice Brian McCracken was also told a petition to wind up the company, brought by a creditor claimed to be owed about $9 million (€9.6 million), was listed for hearing in the High Court next Monday.

The court appointed Mr Jason Sheehy to be the interim examiner and was told that an "investor group" had shown "potential" interest in the company.

Mr Lyndon MacCann applied for Mr Sheehy's appointment following a decision of the board of directors earlier in the day to petition for the court's protection.

Mr MacCann said Tuskar had developed the Nigerian oil fields with a Nigerian company, Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria. Since the oil field came on-stream in 1999, Cavendish had "pursued an aggressive effort" to get a larger interest in the oil revenue, to deprive Tuskar of its interest in the field or to force Tuskar to acquire the Cavendish rights in the field for cash.

Under Nigerian law Cavendish had to approve documentation which would "trigger" the sale of oil. But Cavendish had been holding "a Sword of Damocles" over Tuskar and oil was not flowing.

While negotiations with Cavendish had not proved successful to date, Tuskar was now hopeful progress could be made. If negotiations could not be successfully completed (with Cavendish) within the court's protection period, Tuskar was confident that the examiner would be in a position to hold discussions with potential investors.