PETROCELTIC International has posted a dramatic increase in losses for last year, when the company slimmed down its Edinburgh operation amid the slump in the crude price and exploration reverses.

Petroceltic, which acquired Edinburgh-based Melrose Resources for £165 million in 2012, lost $282m (£185m) in 2014, compared with $19m in the preceding year. The Dublin-based company recorded an exploration write-off of $183m due to unsuccessful wells in Kurdistan, Romania and Egypt and provided $86m against the value of its oil and gas assets. The company made around 20 head office and corporate personnel redundant in 2014, including an unspecified number in Edinburgh. Petroceltic's chairman, Robert Adair, noted the firm refocused on existing assets. These include the Ain Tsila gas development in Algeria.