Princess Petroleum was supposed to relinquish part of the concession by the end of September.
"This evening, we contacted Andre Cho via telephone and he told us that in the case of the Princess Group, they approached GOB in 2009 and requested an extension and a waiver of the mandatory relinquishment of their licensed area.
Their reason was that they didn't have enough time to properly explore the area for oil, and as a result, they needed more time to see if they are profitable areas.
Cho said that this is something normal and often considered only once for each company because the authorities inspect carefully that there are circumstances outside of the companies' control which prevented them from exploring properly. He stressed that there was nothing irregular about the agreement.
Cho said that as a result, GOB granted this waiver, which this unearthed contract reflects.
He also stressed specifically that parts of these licensed areas for Princess will decrease by the end of September 2012 because the GOB will not grant another extension to them.
He said that as soon as it is possible, there will be a new petroleum map which will reflect the change."