Tuskar Resources plc has found an investor, which could mean its survival even if it loses its Nigerian partner in a Nigerian offshore oil field, the High Court was told yesterday.
Mr Lydon MacCann, for the company, told Mr Justice McCracken the investment would be sufficient to give Tuskar working capital to continue business and to pay creditors a greater dividend than they would receive in a winding up.
In an affidavit, Tuskar director Mr Eugene Manson said it seemed Green Sea, a company that is petitioning to wind up Tuskar, was doing so to force Tuskar out and to enable Green Sea to go into partnership with Tuskar's Nigerian partner, Cavendish Petroleum Nigeria Ltd.
The court adjourned until today an application by Tuskar to have Mr Jason Sheehy appointed as examiner to enable him to formulate a scheme for the company's survival.
The court has also a winding up petition before it from Green Sea, which claims to be owed more than $11 million (€12.1 million). Tuskar admits it is indebted to Green Sea, but is disputing the debt amount. Mr Sheehy was appointed interim examiner earlier this month.
At yesterday's hearing, Mr Justice McCracken heard conflicting accounts of a meeting in the Nigerian Department of Petroleum Resources on February 14th. Mr MacCann said the Nigerian partners, Cavendish and Green Sea, claimed Cavendish would no longer deal with Tuskar, but those accounts, he added, differed from the accounts of Mr Manson, the examiner and the DPR representatives.
