Sale of West Coast Assets Update

RNS Number : 2897X

Trinity Exploration & Production

23 November 2017

 

Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement that contains inside information according to REGULATION (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR).

Trinity Exploration & Production plc

("Trinity" or "the Group" or "the Company")

Sale of West Coast Assets Update

Trinity, the independent E&P company focused on Trinidad and Tobago, provides an update regarding the proposed sale of its West Coast Assets. On 11 August 2017, Trinity announced that it had entered into a binding sale and purchase agreement ("SPA") to sell its interests in the Brighton Marine and the Point Ligoure - Guapo Bay - Brighton Marine Exploration and Production Licences and related fixed assets (the "West Coast Assets") to a subsidiary of AIM quoted Range Resources Limited ("Range") for a cash consideration of US$4.55 million (the "Transaction").

This Transaction was subject to various conditions including regulatory approvals to assign operatorship of the West Coast Assets to Range. The regulators were unable to gain sufficient comfort on the transfer of ownership and operatorship, and therefore have not approved the assignment.  Without regulatory approvals the sale of the West Coast Assets to Range will not complete, and the deposit of US$4.55 million, currently held in escrow, is expected to be released to Range under the terms of the SPA and related escrow agreement. 

It is still Trinity's aim to divest of these assets and to that end the Company will now revert to the other relevant parties that took part in the sale process and we shall make further announcements as and when appropriate. In the interim the West Coast Assets continue to be profitable and are performing as expected having averaged 264 bopd (gross) or 217 bopd (net) over the third quarter of 2017. 

As previously announced on 13 November, at end Q3 2017 Trinity had cash balances of US$12.3 million and a daily production rate of 2,754 bopd in October 2017.  The drilling programme remains on course to commence in Q1 2018, which will help grow production to a 3,000 bopd run rate.

Bruce Dingwall, CBE, Executive Chairman of Trinity, commented:

"We continue to focus on maximising shareholder value and plan to further grow production while maintaining financial discipline. As such, we aim to further increase profitability and returns as we maintain our development strategy. We look forward to commencing drilling in the next quarter and will update the market regarding the divestment of these non-core assets in due course."  

Enquiries:

Trinity Exploration & Production Bruce Dingwall CBE, Executive Chairman Jeremy Bridglalsingh, Chief Financial Officer	Tel: [phone]
SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (NOMAD & Financial Adviser) Mark Brady Miriam Greenwood James Keeshan	Tel: [phone]
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Broker) David Porter Sebastien Maurin	Tel: [phone]
Whitman Howard Limited (Equity Adviser) Nick Lovering	Tel: [phone]
Walbrook PR Limited Nick Rome	[e-mail] or Tel: [phone]

About Trinity (www.trinityexploration.com)

Trinity is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused solely on Trinidad and Tobago.  Trinity operates producing and development assets both onshore and offshore, in the shallow water West and East Coasts of Trinidad. Trinity's portfolio includes current production, significant near-term production growth opportunities from low risk developments and multiple exploration prospects with the potential to deliver meaningful reserves/resources growth.  The Company operates all of its nine licences and, across all of the Group's assets, management's estimate of 2P reserves as at the end of 2016 was 21.3 mmbbls (excluding the Guapo-1 license which was disposed of in April 2016). Group 2C contingent resources are estimated to be 21.1 mmbbls. The Group's overall 2P plus 2C volumes are therefore 42.3 mmbbls.

Trinity is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker TRIN.

 

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