Update re Greenfield and Director Disclosure

RNS Number : 2190U

TomCo Energy PLC

01 April 2021

 

1 April 2021

TOMCO ENERGY PLC

("TomCo" or the "Company")

 

Update re Greenfield and Director Disclosure

TomCo Energy plc (AIM: TOM), the US operating oil development group focused on using innovative technology to unlock unconventional hydrocarbon resources, is pleased to provide a further update in respect of the work being undertaken by Greenfield Energy LLC ("Greenfield"), the Company's 50/50 joint venture with Valkor LLC ("Valkor"), with respect to Petroteq Energy Inc's ("Petroteq") existing oil sands plant at Asphalt Ridge, Utah (the "POSP").

As previously announced, Greenfield has been established with the principal initial aim of developing a FEED (Front-End Engineering and Design) study for a potential 10,000 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") plant consisting of two 5,000 bopd trains utilising the design improvements and knowledge gained from utilising the POSP's closed loop system for the recovery of oil from oil sands (the "Oil Sands Technology").  A potential site on which to build Greenfield's first 10,000 bopd plant has also been identified (the "Potential Site") which remains under assessment.

In order to better inform the FEED study, the joint venture has recently decided to start processing ore from the Potential Site, which has different physical characteristics to the ore previously processed by the POSP.  Accordingly, Greenfield has identified certain additional enhancements that are required to be made to the POSP in order to allow for a more efficient and optimised operation, in particular to address issues caused during periods of cold weather, as recently experienced in Utah.  Such requirements for additional heating within the process and the inclement weather experienced, have prevented  the  test production rate of the POSP from reaching the optimised target of 250 bopd per single shift.  The additional equipment required to address the aforementioned issues, is now on site and being installed with completion expected shortly after Easter.  Greenfield believes that this will then enable the POSP to produce at higher rates of production than achieved to date, particularly during periods of cold weather, and that the oil produced by the POSP will be of a higher overall quality.

In light of these requisite enhancements to the POSP and the subsequent input of the resulting operational data into the FEED study, it is now anticipated that the FEED will take approximately a further six weeks to be completed.  The planned third-party verification work will commence upon completion of the FEED.

Commenting, John Potter, CEO of TomCo, said : "We took the decision to process ore from the Potential Site we have identified for the proposed 10,000 bopd plant in order to ensure that the FEED is more meaningful for our future plans.  In doing so, during the period of cold weather that has been experienced recently in Utah, we have identified the requirement for further enhancements and therefore additional equipment which is now on site.  This is all part of the learning process for a test operation of this nature and we are confident that once the identified solution has been implemented Greenfield will be  better informed and prepared to pursue construction of its first commercial scale plant once funding has been secured.  We look forward to providing a further update in the coming weeks."

Director Disclosure Update

The Company provides the following updated disclosure in relation to John Potter, CEO of TomCo, pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule Two, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.  On 14 January 2021, Reform Energy plc, a company of which John Potter is a director, appointed a voluntary liquidator.

Enquiries:

TomCo Energy plc

Malcolm Groat (Chairman) / John Potter (CEO)                     [phone]

Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated Adviser)

James Harris / Matthew Chandler      [phone]

Novum Securities Limited (Broker)

Charlie Brook-Partridge/Jon Belliss                                            [phone]

IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR)

Tim Metcalfe / Graham Herring  [phone]

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

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

 

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