Notice of General Meeting and Funding Update

RNS Number : 4697S

Independent Oil & Gas PLC

08 July 2015

 

8 July 2015

Independent Oil and Gas plc

Notice of General Meeting and Funding Update

Independent Oil and Gas plc ("IOG" or the "Company"), (AIM: IOG.L), the North Sea focused oil and gas company, announces that it has posted a notice of a General Meeting to be held at  the offices of Shakespeare Martineau LLP at One America Square, Crosswall, London EC3N 2SG at 11.00am on Friday 31 July 2015 to its shareholders.

A copy of the Notice of General Meeting is available on the Company's website, http://www.independentoilandgas.com.

Update on long term financing discussions

IOG has previously announced that discussions in connection with its long term financing are proceeding with an internationally listed group with a multi-billion dollar market capitalisation (the "Potential Funder").  The purpose of the long term financing would be to provide the financial resources to bring the Company's main assets Skipper, Cronx, Elgood and Blythe into production.  Completion of the acquisitions of Cronx and 50% of Skipper are also contingent on the long term financing being secured and rig contracts being agreed.

The long term financing is expected to be split between equity and debt with the significant majority being debt. The Potential Funder is expected to subscribe for up to 30,012,610 ordinary shares of 1p each equating to gross proceeds of approximately £7.1m in cash for an equity stake of up to 29.9% of the issued share capital of the Company at the AIM Admission price of 23.79p.  It is anticipated that this equity subscription will complete by 31 July 2015.

The debt facility is expected to be completed approximately two months after the Equity Funding and is expected to be available in two tranches.  The first tranche would be available on completion and would be sufficient to drill the Skipper and Cronx commitment wells and potentially an additional well on either Elgood, Truman, Harvey or Hambleton.

It should be noted that the funding is subject to negotiation and the approval of various counterparties and IOG and that there can be no guarantee that IOG will secure such financing.

IOG is in discussions regarding a contract for a semi-submersible drilling rig to drill the Skipper commitment well which is expected to be drilled in mid-2016.  The Potential Funder is also expected to provide financial support to the rig owner prior to 15 August 2015.  The Directors believe that the combination of this financial support and the equity investment should be sufficient for IOG to demonstrate adequate funding to the Oil and Gas Authority and also to allow the Company to complete the Skipper acquisition by the agreed long stop date of 15 August 2015.

IOG is aiming to conclude the negotiations relating to the equity investment within the next two weeks.  It would be extremely advantageous to have the authorities in place to allow the Company to conclude these negotiations and then be able to receive the funds, by 31 July 2015.

Update on overdue share subscription and short term funding

The Company has been in discussions with the third party which subscribed for 609,500 shares at a price of 23.79p on 22 June 2015.  The Company now understands that the subscription proceeds will be received on or before 17 July 2015.  Once paid, IOG would be fully funded until 4 September 2015.

-ENDS-

Enquiries:

Independent Oil and Gas plc Mark Routh (CEO) Peter Young (CFO)	[phone]
finnCap Ltd Matt Goode/Christopher Raggett (Corporate Finance)	[phone]
Camarco Billy Clegg / Georgia Mann	[phone]

Notes

About Independent Oil and Gas:

IOG is an oil and gas company with established assets focused on the UK North Sea.  The company's strategy is to deliver near term development and production assets in North West Europe, through its extensive technical and commercial expertise, whilst maintaining some exposure to exploration upside.  The company is looking to grow both organically and through acquisition.  After the completion of the Skipper acquisition from Alpha Petroleum Resources Ltd. ("Alpha") and the previously announced Cronx acquisition, the combined estimate of 2P reserves and 2C resources net to IOG will be 38.6 million barrels of oil equivalent ("MMBoe").

Post completion of the Cronx acquisition IOG will have five licences in the North Sea.  Four of these licences will now be owned 100% by IOG and subject to DECC/OGA approval will be operated by IOG.  The Blythe licence is co-owned 50% with Alpha which is the operator.  IOG has a 100% working interest in two other licences, one awarded in the 27^th licensing round and another in the recent 28^th licensing round.  One is to the east of Blythe containing the Truman prospect and Harvey discovery and the other is between the Blythe and Cronx licences which contains the Elgood and Hambleton discoveries and the Tetley and Rebellion prospects.  Both these 100% owned licences have potential resources that could be tied back to nearby infrastructure or to the Blythe development.

Further information can be found on www.independentoilandgas.com

About Blythe:

The Blythe gas discovery straddles Blocks 48/22b and 48/23a in the Southern North Sea in licence P1736 which is 50% co-owned by IOG and Alpha (operator).  Blythe needs no further appraisal and has independently verified gross 2P reserves of 34.3 BCF (6.1 MMBoe) which is 17.2 BCF (3.0 MMBoe) net to IOG.  (Source: ERC Equipoise Competent Person's Report ("CPR") dated September 2013.)

The partnership is working towards submitting a Field Development Plan for Blythe by September 2015.

About Skipper:

The Skipper oil discovery is in Block 9/21a in the Northern North Sea in licence P1609.  Skipper needs further appraisal by drilling a well to retrieve core and oil samples in order to design the optimum field development plan for the field.  Subject to the completion of the previously announced acquisition of Skipper from Alpha, IOG can now progress to the appraisal and development stage of this asset.  Skipper has independently verified gross 2C resources of 26.2 MMBbls.  The appraisal well will also target two exploration prospects directly beneath the Skipper oil discovery which may contain oil in place of 46 MMBbls.  (Source: AGR Tracs CPR dated September 2013.)

About Cronx:

IOG has agreed to acquire 100% of Cronx (Block 48/22a, licence P1737) which is subject to completion.  The Cronx gas discovery is 14km north-west of the Blythe field in which IOG owns 50%.  Cronx was discovered in 2007 by well 48/22b-6 drilled by Perenco UK Ltd.

IOG commissioned an independent CPR by ERC Equipoise on Cronx in July 2012 which shows a base case expected gas recovery of 17.6 BCF or 3.4 MMBOE 2C resource.  IOG anticipates drilling a well in 2016, subject to rig availability, the necessary permits and funding.  IOG expects the well to confirm the recoverable resources, which IOG believes has the potential to be larger than the 17.6 BCF base case in the CPR.  IOG is currently evaluating options for the development and export of the Cronx gas.

About Elgood and Hambleton:

The Elgood discovery (IOG 100%) (Block 48/22c, licence P2260) was drilled by Enterprise Oil in 1991 and tested gas to surface at 17.6 MMcfd but was not progressed by Enterprise due to size and gas prices at that time.  IOG's estimate of the recoverable reserves in Elgood is 2.1 MMBoe.

The Hambleton discovery, to the south of the same licence, was drilled by Century Exploration in 2005 but also was not progressed to development.  IOG estimates that Hambleton has recoverable resources of 6 BCF (1 MMBoe).  IOG believes that the reprocessing of existing 3D seismic data could increase recoverable resources up to 26 BCF.

There are prospective resources on licence P2260 of 5.3 MMBoe in the Tetley and Rebellion prospects.  Reprocessing of existing 3D seismic across 48/22a and 48/22c is required to determine whether Elgood connects to Cronx which would boost recoverable reserves significantly.  The new seismic interpretation will also determine the likely size of Hambleton.  IOG is now working on the potential development plans and will commission a CPR‎ to confirm the resources over this area.

 

END

 

 

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