We have audited the Group and parent Company financial statements (the “financial statements”) of Dragon Oil plc for the year ended 31 December 2008 which comprise the Group Income Statement, the Group Balance Sheet and Parent Company Balance Sheet, the Group Cash Flow Statements and Parent Company Cash Flow Statement, the Group and Parent Company Statements of Changes in Equity and the related notes. These financial statements have been prepared under the accounting policies set out therein.
Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors
The Directors’ responsibilities for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements, in accordance with applicable Irish law and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) as adopted by the European Union, are set out in the Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities.
Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements and the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to be audited in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). This report, including the opinion, has been prepared for and only for the Company’s members as a body in accordance with Section 193 of the Companies Act, 1990 and for no other purpose. We do not, in giving this opinion, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.
We report to you our opinion as to whether the Group financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union. We report to you our opinion as to whether the parent financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union as applied in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Acts 1963 to 2006. We also report to you whether the financial statements and the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to be audited have been properly prepared in accordance with Irish statute comprising the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2006 and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation. We state whether we have obtained all the information and explanations we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit, and whether the Company balance sheet is in agreement with the books of account. We also report to you our opinion as to:
- whether the Company has kept proper books of account;
- whether the Directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements; and
- whether at the balance sheet date there existed a financial situation which may require the Company to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the Company; such a financial situation may exist if the net assets of the Company, as stated in the Company balance sheet, are not more than half of its called-up share capital.
We also report to you if, in our opinion, any information specified by law or the Listing Rules of the Irish Stock Exchange regarding Directors’ remuneration and Directors’ transactions is not disclosed and, where practicable, include such information in our report.
We review whether the Corporate Governance Statement reflects the Company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the 2006 Financial Reporting Council Combined Code specified for our review by the Listing Rules of the Irish Stock Exchange, and we report if it does not. We are not required to consider whether the Board’s statements on internal control cover all risks and controls, or form an opinion on the effectiveness of the Group’s corporate governance procedures or its risk and control procedures.
We read the other information contained in the Annual Report and consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial statements. The other information comprises only the Highlights, Message from the Chief Executive Officer, Chairman’s Statement, Year at a Glance,
Operational Overview, Operating and Financial Review, Corporate Social Responsibility Report, Directors’ Report, Corporate Governance Statement, unaudited part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report and Supplementary Information. We consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial statements. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information.
Basis of audit opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgments made by the Directors in the preparation of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the Group’s and Company’s circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements and the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to be audited
are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.
Opinion
In our opinion:
- the Group financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union, of the state of the Group’s affairs as at 31 December 2008 and of its profit and cash flows for the year then ended;
- the parent Company financial statements give a true and fair view, in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union as applied in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Acts 1963 to 2006, of the state of the parent Company’s affairs as at 31 December 2008 and cash flows for the year then ended;
- the financial statements and the part of the Directors’ Remuneration Report to be audited have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2006 and Article 4 of the IAS Regulation.
We have obtained all the information and explanations which we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit. In our opinion proper books of account have been kept by the Company. The Company balance sheet is in agreement with the books of account.
In our opinion the information given in the Directors’ Report is consistent with the financial statements.
The net assets of the Company, as stated in the Company balance sheet are more than half of the amount of its called-up share capital and, in our opinion, on that basis there did not exist at 31 December 2008 a financial situation which under Section 40 (1) of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983 would require the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of the Company.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors
One Spencer Dock
North Wall Quay
Dublin 1, Ireland
27 March 2009