Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic International Plc said it took over as operator of a permit in Italy, raising its stake to 70 percent from 40 percent, as part of a farm-in deal with a unit of Canada's Cygam Energy Inc.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cygam's unit Vega Oil will transfer 30 percent of its stake to Petroceltic, which would in turn pay 100 percent of the drilling and completion costs for a proposed well in Italy, Petroceltic said.

Shares of Petroceltic were down 3.6 percent at 13.25 pence at 0858 GMT on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Shivani Singh in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)

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