Placing, Valkor opportunity & TurboShale Update

RNS Number : 5706V

TomCo Energy PLC

04 December 2019

 

4 December 2019

TOMCO ENERGY PLC

("TOMCO" OR THE "COMPANY")

 

Placing, Valkor oil sands opportunity and TurboShale Update

TomCo Energy plc (AIM: TOM), the oil shale exploration, development and technology group focused on using innovative technology to unlock unconventional hydrocarbon resources, announces that it has raised £925,000 (gross) by way of a placing ("Placing") of 142,307,692 new ordinary shares of no par value in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 0.65 pence per Placing Share ("Placing Price") through Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd ("TPI"), the Company's broker.  The number of Placing Shares to be issued represents approximately 107 per cent of the Company's current issued share capital.

Every two Placing Shares have one warrant attached, with each warrant having the right to acquire one new Ordinary Share at an exercise price of 1.5 pence for a period of two years from the date of the admission of the Placing Shares.

The Company intends to utilise the net proceeds of the Placing to undertake a proposed resources report and engineering study for the potential oil/tar sands opportunity referred to below, to complete the design revisions of the TurboShale system and to provide general working capital.

Valkor oil sands opportunity

Whilst the Company's focus has been on advancing TurboShale's RF technology, the Company has also continued to explore other opportunities for the Groups oil shale leases within the Uintah Basin, Utah, USA ("Leases").

The Company is therefore pleased to announce that it is has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding ("MoU") with Valkor LLC ("Valkor") pursuant to which the Company and Valkor will explore the oil/tar sands potential across the Leases.  Valkor is an international Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation ("EPCI") and field operations company, with operations in the US, South America and Africa both on and offshore and the owner and operator of gas and oil fields in Trinidad, USA, Turkey and the Ukraine.  Through their subsidiary, Valkor Energy Services, they have assisted with the design improvements of Petroteq Energy Inc's ("Petroteq") closed loop system for use in the recovery of oil from oil sands over the last 18 months and this will bring valuable experience and knowledge to TomCo in looking at the oil/tar sand opportunity across its Leases.

Oil/tar sands are present on several of the Leases and, as they tend to be present around the surface, the Board believes that they should be suitable for surface mining subject to completion of the applicable studies and analysis.  Unlike oil shale, which requires a heating process to convert the kerogen in the shale into oil, oil/tar sands already contain oil and so only require a separation process to separate it from the sand.

Under the MoU, the parties shall seek to agree the scope of a study, to be undertaken by a suitably qualified third party and managed by Valkor, on at least one of the Leases, to determine the location of any oil/tar sands, the potential quantum available to be recovered together with a plan for the mining and processing of any such oil/tar sands.  Subject to the findings of the study, Valkor shall also undertake an engineering study to determine the location for a proposed facility, preliminary plant design and economic analysis for the development of a 3,000 barrels of oil per day system from oil/tar sands on the Group's leases.

In addition, under the MoU, the parties shall explore the potential for the use of TurboShale's RF technology in an oil sands field operated by Valkor in Trinidad.

TurboShale update

Following the Company's announcement of 3 October 2019, the Company is pleased to confirm that Continental Electronics has completed its analysis of the antenna, as a result of which it has recommended a number of modifications to the setup of the antenna.  These will be incorporated into a revised design of the wellhead for which the Company will be engaging a third-party engineering company.  The revised wellhead will allow for a more efficient connection of the RF transmission line from the transmitters to the antenna, an integration of the nitrogen supply into the well via the antenna, to ensure its accurate delivery down the well, and a separation of the hydrocarbon recovery system from the antenna.

Admission

The Placing is subject to normal conditions including, inter alia, admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM.

The Placing Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares and application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission").  It is expected that Admission will become effective and dealings in the Placing Shares will commence at 8.00 a.m. on 10 December 2019.

Following Admission, the Company's issued share capital will consist of 275,759,235 Ordinary Shares with voting rights.  There are no Ordinary Shares held in treasury.  The figure of 275,759,235 may be used by shareholders, following Admission, as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

The Company has also issued 8,538,462 warrants to TPI, giving them the right to acquire such number of new Ordinary Shares at an exercise price of 0.65 pence for a period of two years.

John Potter, CEO, commented: "The introduction to Valkor provides a number of exciting opportunities to the Group.  Valkor's experience in the oil/tar sands space, given their work and relationship with Petroteq, provides TomCo with another avenue to potentially unlock the value of its Leases.  I am looking forward to working with Steve Byle and the Valkor team as we develop our working relationship."

Enquiries:

TomCo Energy plc

Andrew Jones (Chairman) / John Potter (CEO)                         [phone]

Strand Hanson Limited                                                                 (Nominated Adviser)

James Harris / Richard Tulloch / James Dance                          [phone]

Turner Pope                                                                                     (Broker)

Andy Thacker / Zoe Alexander                                                     [phone]

 

For further information, please visit www.tomcoenergy.com.

Note to Editors

Valkor LLC operates a 773-acre oil field, Parrylands Block E, in Trinidad with more than 120 wells and 80 million conventional barrels of heavy oil.  A reserve report was conducted with Chapman Engineering in 2019 to also confirm an additional estimated 69 million barrels of shallow oil sands on the property.  Valkor has developed RF in other technology areas, such as natural gas processing and Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) recovery, in cooperation with a major chemical company.  www.valkor.com

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.

 

END

 

 

MSCFSUEEDFUSESE