Irish oil explorer Petroneft announced a board shake-up on Monday, bringing to an end a dispute with its largest shareholder, Natlata.

Natlata, which owns 29 per cent of Petroneft, an oil & gas exploration and production company operating in the Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation, was calling for the removal of four current directors.

In a statement today, Petroneft said that it has made a number of changes to its board. Maxim Korobov has been appointed as non-executive director and Anthony Sacca and David Sturt as independent non-executive directors. David Sanders, Gerry Fagan and Paul Dowling have left the board, although Mr. Dowling will remain as chief financial officer of the company.

Maxim Korobov, owner of Natlata Partners said: “Natlata has agreed to conclude an agreement with the board of PetroNeft in the best interests of all shareholders. We look forward to working with the board to develop the business and to bringing our experience in the Russian market to grow the company and increase shareholder value.”

Petroneft was due to hold a reconvened egm on Monday at 11 am to vote on the resolutions.

G. David Golder, chairman of PetroNeft Resources, said Petroneft is " very pleased to come to a workable compromise" with Natlata.

“We feel this is the best way forward for all of the shareholders in the company. The agreement allows the company to implement our recently announced Licence 61 work programme with our partner Oil India along with a new emphasis on business development. This will allow the company to take advantage of opportunities in today’s market,” he said.