IT’S A jungle out there, or so the Randy Newman song goes, but that’s just how John Teeling and David Horgan at Aim-listed Clontarf Energy like it.

Clontarf – formerly known as Persian Gold – was awarded two oil exploration licences in Peru last October.

Horgan expects to ink the contracts with Peru’s president in May, after which Clontarf will seek to partner with a larger player to farm the blocks.

“Peru’s time has come,” Horgan confidently declared to me this week.

This was a reference to the stable political backdrop, a favourable change of terms for oil exploration and production – the state takes about half the take in royalties and taxes – the high price of oil, and the absence of a terrorism threat.

“The logistics of doing work in the jungle are also much easier now,” Horgan (right) added. “There are narrow-draft barges that can go up the tributaries of the Amazon .”

Having raised £2.7 million from investors earlier this month, Clontarf is “fully funded” for the next 18 months, although there are also calls on this money from projects in Bolivia and Ghana.

Teeling and Horgan have form in Peru. They first entered it in 2006 through Pan Andean Resources, remnants of which now form part of Clontarf. These interests were sold at a profit in 2010.

“There’s every prospect that we can do the same thing again,” Horgan said.