Acquisition of New Acreage

RNS Number : 6757L

Pantheon Resources PLC

14 January 2021

 

14 January, 2021

 

Pantheon Resources plc

Acquisition of New Acreage

Pantheon Resources plc ("Pantheon" or "the Company"), the AIM-quoted oil and gas exploration company with working interests of 89.2% - 100% in certain projects located adjacent to transportation and pipeline infrastructure on the Alaska North Slope, is pleased to provide the following update:

Acquisition of New Acreage

Pantheon is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of a 100% interest in approximately 66,000 acres in the   State of Alaska's   North Slope Areawide Lease Sale. The new leases are strategically positioned in two areas contiguous to our current acreage on our northwestern, western, and eastern boundaries. Pantheon's acreage now totals approximately 160,000 contiguous acres.

Pantheon had a competitive advantage in bidding for this acreage given it owns over 600,000 acres of proprietary 3D seismic covering the entire area, which is not available to any 3^rd   parties. These lease additions are a direct result of detailed technical work completed by Pantheon and its consultants at eSeis over the past year, including comprehensive Hi-Tech Geophysical evaluation of the area. Management believe the new acreage offers significant potential for the Company.

Pantheon's winning bids averaged   $49.43   per acre. When the leases are officially awarded by the   State of Alaska, estimated  in six to 12 months, they will come with a 10-year initial term, an annual rental of   $10   per acre, and a royalty rate of either 12.5% (41 leases) or 16.67% (five leases).

Pantheon bid a cumulative amount of $3.27million and was required to deposit 20% of this at the time of the Lease Sale. The remainder of the bonus bids will be due when the leases are issued following title work by the State. The addition of this contiguous acreage west , north west and east of our Talitha Unit increases our control of the Talitha play and also increases our control over the Theta West project which is emerging as  a project of great potential for the Company.

Shelf Margin Deltaic - update

Pantheon has been undertaking a resource assessment of the downdip Shelf Margin Deltaic (SMD) formation at its Talitha project. The Talitha project contains four independent geological horizons, each with different reservoir trap geometries, qualities and risk profiles. All four of these formations were penetrated by the Pipeline State #1 wellbore on the Company's acreage and all were confirmed as oil bearing. Today's lease acquisitions included acreage affecting  the resource potential across these zones including the resource potential of the SMD horizon controlled by the Company which in turn will be assessed during the drilling of Talitha #A.  The updip portion of this zone was the subject of the Independent Expert Report by Lee Keeling and Associates (LKA). This updip section is estimated to have a NPV10 of over $9/bbl at current strip prices.

Bob Rosenthal, Technical Director, stated :

"Acquiring these leases was a very successful outcome for Pantheon. Our team has spent close to a decade working this acreage, enhanced recently with advanced geophysical evaluation which was only available to Pantheon because of its proprietary 3D seismic over that area. The downdip SMD is also significant for the company, adding resource potential and value."

"The geological plays identified by Pantheon are stratigraphic Brookian & Kuparuk targets, based on known oil in three wells. We are particularly excited that we have substantially extended our acreage position in our new Brookian play called Theta West. Our understanding of the Theta West project has advanced considerably over the past 12 months and is emerging into a project of outstanding potential."

Jay Cheatham, CEO of Pantheon, said: 

"I'm pleased to add significant resource potential to our portfolio with the successful acquisition of this acreage. The geographic location contiguous to our current acreage and in close proximity to the export infrastructure were important considerations. I look forward to working with the   State of Alaska   on these leases. In addition to the Theta West acreage acquisitions, the downdip SMD extends across our acreage onto the eastern blocks just added, which abut the Dalton Highway giving us the potential for year round activity. Overall a great day for the Company."

-Ends-

Cautionary Statement: The estimated quantities of petroleum that may be potentially recovered by the application of a future development project relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration, appraisal and evaluation are required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially movable hydrocarbons.

Further information:

Pantheon Resources plc	[phone]
Jay Cheatham, CEO
Justin Hondris, Director, Finance and Corporate Development
Canaccord Genuity plc (Nominated Adviser and broker)
Henry Fitzgerald-O'Connor, Adam James, Angelos Vlatakis	[phone]
Blytheweigh
Tim Blythe, Megan Ray, Alice McLaren, Madeleine Gordon-Foxwell	[phone]

In accordance with the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies - June 2009, the information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and signed off by Jay Cheatham, a qualified Chemical & Petroleum Engineer, who has over 40 years' relevant experience within the sector.

Notes to Editors

Pantheon Resources plc is an AIM listed Oil & Gas exploration and production focused on several large projects located on the North Slope of Alaska ("ANS"), onshore USA. A major differentiator to other ANS projects is its close proximity to transport and pipeline infrastructure. The Group's stated objective is to create material value for its stakeholders through oil exploration, appraisal and development activities in high impact, highly prospective conventional assets, in the USA; a highly established region for energy production with infrastructure, skilled personnel and low sovereign risk. All operations are onshore USA, with drilling costs materially below that of offshore wells.

On the North Slope of Alaska, Pantheon holds working interests of 89.2% - 100% in projects  covered by c.1,000 square miles of proprietary 3D seismic. The Company has received Independent Expert Reports certifying a Contingent Resource of 76.5MMBO (million barrels of oil) recoverable on its Greater Alkaid project and 302MMBO Prospective Resource at its Talitha project.

Information contained within this RNS is considered to be inside information prior to its announcement. For further information on Pantheon Resources plc, see the website at: www.pantheonresources.com . The information contained within this RNS is considered to be inside information prior to its release. Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

END

 

 

ACQFIFFDLLISLIL