Closing of £22m Jnr Facility & £2m Share Placing

RNS Number : 8476A

i3 Energy PLC

03 June 2019

 

3 June 2019

i3 Energy plc

("i3" or the "Company")

Closing of £22mm Junior Facility and £2mm Share Placing

i3 Energy plc, an independent oil and gas company with assets and operations in the UK, is pleased to announce that it has closed investments with funds managed by Bybrook Capital LLP, BP Oil International Limited, funds managed by Lombard Odier Investment Managers group, and James Caird Asset Management in a £22mm junior loan note facility, the key terms of which were announced by the Company on 1^st March 2019 ("Junior Facility" or "Loan Notes"). The £2mm ordinary share placing ("Share Placing") with funds managed by Lombard Odier Investment Managers group, announced on 30^th May 2019, has also now completed.

The successful closing of the £22mm Junior Facility and the £2mm share placing, in combination with the £16mm share placing announced on 12^th March 2019, means the Company is now funded for its summer 2019 drilling programme.

Participants in the Junior Facility and Share Placing received warrants totalling a notional amount of £24mm split proportionately across three series. £8mm warrants are exercisable at 40.7p/share, £8mm warrants are exercisable at 48.1p/share, and £8mm warrants are exercisable at 55.5p/share which, when fully exercised, will convert into 50,702,450 Ordinary Shares of £0.0001 each in the Company.

6,058,407 new Ordinary Shares in the Company ("New Ordinary Shares") will be issued for the Share Placing and to settle certain Junior Facility arrangement fees. Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the admission of the New Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM, expected to commence on 10^th June 2019.

In accordance with the provisions of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority, the Company confirms that, following the issue of the New Ordinary Shares on 10^th June 2019, its issued ordinary share capital will comprise 93,433,685 Ordinary Shares of £0.0001 each. All of the Ordinary Shares have equal voting rights and none of the Ordinary Shares are held in Treasury. The total number of voting rights in the Company will therefore be 93,433,685 on Admission of the New Ordinary Shares. The above figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations to determine if they are required to notify their interests in, or change to their interest in, the Company from 10^th June 2019.

Operational Update

Dolphin Drilling continues re-activation operations to ready the Borgland Dolphin semi-submersible drilling rig for mobilisation to the Liberator field, with drilling operations expected to commence as early as mid-July 2019. Concurrently the Company has secured all long-lead items required to commence drilling operations and continues to progress well planning to finalise each individual well drilling programme.

The Company has made good progress in its negotiations with RSRUK to finalise offtake terms for the Bleo Holm FPSO and continues to progress documentation with the OGA for the Liberator field development plan.

The Company is also pleased to announce it has executed a crude oil offtake and marketing agreement with BP Oil International Limited to market its crude production from the Liberator field. i3 continues to target first oil from the Liberator field in 2020 at approximately 20,000 bopd, initially from two development wells.

 Majid Shafiq, CEO of i3 Energy commented:

"We are very pleased to announce the closing of this £24mm funding package. The Company is now funded for its upcoming 94-day, 3-well drilling campaign this summer on its 100% owned Liberator field and Serenity prospect, which is targeting a combined STOIIP of over 500 MMbbls. The Company is now fully focused on delivering a successful 2019 drilling programme and execution of the Liberator development to deliver first oil in 2020."

ENDS

CONTACT DETAILS:

	i3 Energy plc
	Majid Shafiq (CEO) / Graham Heath (CFO)	c/o Camarco Tel: [phone]
	WH Ireland Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)
	James Joyce, James Sinclair-Ford	Tel: [phone]
	GMP FirstEnergy (Joint Broker)
	Jonathan Wright	Tel: [phone]
	Canaccord Genuity Limited (Joint Broker) Henry Fitzgerald- O'Connor, James Asensio	Tel: [phone]
	Camarco Jennifer Renwick, James Crothers	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors: i3 is an oil and gas development company initially focused on the North Sea. The Company's core asset is the Greater Liberator Area, located in Blocks 13/23d and 13/23c, containing 11 MMBO of 2P Reserves, 22 MMBO of 2C Contingent Resources and 47 MMBO of mid-case Prospective Resources. The Greater Liberator Area consists of the Liberator oil field discovered by well 13/23d-8 and the Liberator West extension, both of which i3 hold a 100% working interest in. The Company's strategy is to acquire high quality, low risk producing and development assets, to broaden its portfolio and grow its reserves and production. The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

 

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