Energy exploration company, Barryroe Offshore Energy, has said it is engaging with its largest shareholders regarding potentially providing future funding to the company.
The company said the move follows the recent "surprising and extremely disappointing decision" by the Minister for the Environment to refuse to grant a lease undertaking to allow it continue work on its main prospect off the south coast of Ireland.
"There can be no guarantee that these discussions will be successful such that additional funding will be secured in the near future," the company said in a statement released to the market.
"If funding is not secured in the short term one of the options being considered by the Board is an orderly wind down of the Company in a process of Creditor Voluntary Liquidation."
Barryroe said it has just €176,000 of working capital remaining, which would be enough to meet its existing commitments for three weeks.
The company also said the minister's refusal of the lease undertaking meant it could no longer proceed with its proposed placing and open offer to raise working capital, which it had announced plans for on April 6th.
The firm also said it is required to publish its annual accounts for last year by June 30th.
"The refusal by the Minister to grant the Lease Undertaking and the consequential delay to the proposed working capital raise has created going concern issues for the Company that will delay the publication of its annual accounts," it said.
It also said that if it is unable to publish its accounts by that date, trading in its shares will be suspended from 7am on July 3rd.
Shares in Barryroe were down 60% in London and 25% in Dublin on the developments.
Barryroe Offshore Energy said it is considering all options in relation to the minister's decision to refuse the lease undertaking and will update the market on this and the financing situation as soon as practicable.
On May 19th Eamon Ryan wrote to the company telling it that he had refused the undertaking which would have given the company a right to a petroleum lease over the Barryroe Field located in shallow water off west Cork.
The department had concluded that from a technical perspective the application was satisfactory and that Barryroe Offshore Energy has the required technical capabilities.
But the application did not meet the investment cover criterion required, the department said, and the application was therefore refused.
This was despite one of the country's most successful businessmen, Larry Goodman, backing the company to the tune of €40m.
Vevan Limited, a company linked to Mr Goodman, owns almost 20% of Barryroe Offshore.
In 2013 an independent assessment found that the Barryroe Field held 346 million barrels of oil equivalent.
