Toreador Resources was formerly the Toreador Royalty Corporation. A reputable, old-line mineral and royalty company, Toreador Royalty was incorporated and listed on the National Market System and the London Stock Exchange in 1951. In 2000, management changed the company’s name to Toreador Resources Corporation to more accurately reflect its commitment to build a diverse portfolio of natural-resource assets.
The acquisition of Madison Oil Company in late 2001 provided Toreador with valuable overseas properties including onshore oil production in France and Turkey as well as exploration permits offshore Turkey totaling close to one million gross acres. In 2004, Toreador sold its U.S. mineral and royalty assets and successfully drilled the first ever commercial gas discovery offshore Turkey in the Black Sea, in an area designated as the South Akcakoca Sub-basin. In June of 2005, Toreador entered Hungary through the purchase of the assets of Pogo Hungary, Ltd., which included an exploration license of over 764,000 acres.
2009 has been a transformational year for Toreador. The Company announced a cohesive plan to unlock shareholder value, which included cutting overhead, divesting non-core assets, reducing debt, and improving its core operations. As part of this strategy, the Company sold its 26.75% interest in the South Akcakoca Sub-basin, sold Toreador Turkey Ltd. and Toreador Hungary Ltd., effectively exiting the two countries to focus on developing the low-risk conventional exploration of its French acreage and unconventional exploitation of the Paris Basin Oil Shale.