Settlement Agreement with Challenger Energy

RNS Number : 2063S

Predator Oil & Gas Holdings PLC

08 March 2023

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8 March 2023

  Predator Oil & Gas Holdings Plc / Index: LSE / Epic: PRD / Sector: Oil & Gas

  LEI 213800L7QXFURBFLDS54

Predator Oil & Gas Holdings Plc

("Predator" or the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries the "Group")

Update on Acquisition of Cory Moruga, future EOR collaboration and
settlement agreement with Challenger Energy Group Plc

  Highlights

· Fully termed long-form legal documentation for the conditional acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital of T-Rex Trinidad Limited ("T-Rex") entered into.

· Technical due diligence completed to support independent Competent Persons Report.

· Predator and T-Rex are a natural fit for a miscible CO2 enhanced oil recovery project ("CO2 EOR")

Predator Oil & Gas Holdings Plc (LSE: PRD), the Jersey based Oil and Gas Company with near-term gas operations focussed on Morocco, is pleased to announce an update that, further to entry into a binding term sheet with Challenger Energy Group PLC and relevant subsidiary entities ("CEG") as announced on 19 December 2022 ("the Transaction"), the Company has now completed all confirmatory due diligence and the Company and CEG have subsequently entered into fully termed long-form legal documentation.  

The terms remain unchanged from those previously announced on 19 December 2022, being:

· The Company will acquire 100% of the issued share capital of T-Rex Trinidad Limited ("T-Rex"), an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of CEG that holds CEG's 83.8% interest in, and operatorship of, the Cory Moruga licence;

· CEG will retain the option in the future to repurchase 25% of Predator's share in T-Rex on an agreed basis;

· Predator and CEG have established a collaboration in relation to CO₂ EOR activities and projects in other areas in Trinidad; and

· the Company and CEG have agreed to a mutual settlement and discharge of all disputes and claims in relation to the Inniss-Trinity CO₂ EOR pilot project.

Completion of the Transaction is conditional on consent of the Trinidadian Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries ("MEEI") to a revised work programme for the Cory Moruga licence proposed by the Company, as well as agreement of MEEI to a revision of future fees for the Cory Moruga licence and a settlement / cancellation of past claimed dues pertaining to the Cory Moruga licence. Completion will occur 7 days after satisfaction of this condition. The parties have agreed to work together to secure the required consents and agreements with MEEI and thus achieve completion as soon as reasonably practicable on or before 30 May 2023, with a long stop date of 31 August 2023.

Competent Persons Report

Following receipt of extensive technical data from CEG and the completion of the Company's more in depth in-house technical due diligence, including an analysis of the 3D seismic data with integration of past wells drilled on the Cory Moruga Licence, the Company has updated the material available for a Competent Persons Report ("CPR") and expects to have this completed well in advance of the required MEEI  regulatory consents and Completion.

Paul Griffiths, Executive Chairman of Predator Oil & Gas Holdings Plc commented :

"We are delighted to have had the opportunity to evaluate the Cory Moruga technical database and are extremely upbeat about the opportunity for unrealised potential in Cory Moruga, both for conventional appraisal and production and for the application of our CO2 EOR expertise. Cory Moruga is a near-virgin field unlike many of Trinidad's onshore oil fields. As a result it is an excellent candidate for miscible CO2 EOR projects.

The CPR will be important for independently validating these potential resources." 

For further information visit www.predatoroilandgas.com

Follow the Company on twitter @PredatorOilGas.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse

For more information please visit the Company's website at  www.predatoroilandgas.com : 

Enquiries:

Predator Oil & Gas Holdings Plc Paul Griffiths  Executive Chairman Lonny Baumgardner  Managing Director	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]
Novum Securities Limited David Coffman / Jon Belliss Optiva Securities Limited Christian Dennis, CEO Ben Maitland, Corporate Finance	Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone] Tel. [phone]
Flagstaff Strategic and Investor Communications Tim Thompson  Mark Edwards Fergus Mellon	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]

Notes to Editors: 

About Cory Moruga field

· The Cory Moruga licence is a direct licence from the Trinidadian Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries ("MEEI") in which Challenger Energy's wholly owned subsidiary T-Rex Resources (Trinidad) Limited ("T-Rex"), holds an 83.8 % interest, alongside its partner Touchstone Exploration Inc. which has 16.2% interest. T-Rex is operator.

· The Cory Moruga licence includes the Snowcap oil discovery, with oil previously having been produced on test from the Snowcap-1 and Snowcap-2ST wells. On the basis of the production tests, a development plan was submitted in 2018, prior to Challenger Energy taking control of the asset, however, the block was not further developed. Subsequent to the acquisition of Columbus Energy Resources PLC in 2020, Challenger Energy undertook a detailed technical review of its Trinidad portfolio and assessed that Cory Moruga field required further appraisal before a commercial development decision could be made.

· Challenger Energy considers the Cory Moruga licence to be non-core to its cash flow generative production-focused business in Trinidad, and therefore no further work has been planned for the Cory Moruga field in the near-term. At the same time, Predator considers that the Cory Moruga field represents an ideal candidate for a CO₂ EOR project.

Predator is operator of the Guercif Petroleum Agreement onshore Morocco which is prospective for Tertiary gas in prospects less than 10 kilometres from the Maghreb gas pipeline.  The MOU-1 well has been completed and a follow-up testing programme is being finalised to coordinate with a further drilling programme beginning in 2022.

Predator is seeking to further develop the remaining oil reserves of Trinidad's mature onshore oil fields through the application of CO2 EOR techniques and by sequestrating anthropogenic carbon dioxide to produce "greener" oil.

In addition, Predator also owns and operates exploration and appraisal assets in licensing options offshore Ireland, for which successor authorisations have been applied for, adjoining Vermilion's Corrib gas field in the Slyne Basin on the Atlantic Margin and east of the decommissioned Kinsale gas field in the Celtic Sea.

Predator has developed a Floating Storage and Regasification Project ("FSRUP") for the import of LNG and its regassification for Ireland and is also developing gas storage concepts to address security of gas supply and volatility in gas prices during times of peak gas demand.

The Company has a highly experienced management team with a proven track record in operations in the oil and gas industry.

 

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AGRUBOBROWUORAR