Funding Update and Notice of Results

RNS Number : 7796Q

Independent Oil & Gas PLC

22 June 2015

 

22 June 2015

Independent Oil and Gas plc

Funding Update and Notice of Results

Independent Oil and Gas plc ("IOG" or the "Company"), (AIM: IOG.L), the North Sea focused oil and gas company, is pleased to provide a funding update to shareholders.

Funding

·   A further investment of £145,000.05 has been secured through the issue of 609,500 new ordinary shares in the capital of IOG ("IOG Shares") at 23.79p per new IOG Share, representing a 51.05 per cent. premium to the closing mid-market share price on 18 June 2015.

·   The Company is now adequately funded until 04 September 2015, when the remaining loan balance of £358,155 is due to be repaid to Darwin Strategic.

·   Long term financing discussions on the funding of Skipper, Cronx, Elgood and Blythe through to production are progressing well with an internationally listed group with a multi-billion dollar market capitalisation and all parties continue to work towards a completion date of 15^th August 2015.

·   It should be noted that the funding is subject to negotiation and the approval of various counterparties and IOG and that there can be no guarantee that IOG will secure such financing.

·   Application has been made for 609,500 new IOG Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission is expected to occur at 8:00 am on 25 June 2015.

·   Following Admission, there will be 69,857,264 IOG Shares in issue.  Accordingly this number may be used by shareholders 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 Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Notice of Results

·    The Company will publish its Annual Report and Accounts on 30th June 2015.

·    As previously advised the Company's AGM will be held at the offices of SGH Martineau LLP, 5th Floor, One America Square, Crosswall, London EC3N 2SG on 26th June 2015 at 3:30 pm. 

·    An Extraordinary General Meeting for shareholders to approve the accounts will be announced in due course.

Mark Routh, CEO of IOG commented:

"We are delighted to have secured further short term funding providing stability for the Company while we progress our long term funding discussions and projects."

-ENDS-

Enquiries:

Independent Oil and Gas plc Mark Routh (CEO) Peter Young (CFO)	[phone]
finnCap Ltd Matt Goode/Christopher Raggett (Corporate Finance)	[phone]
Camarco Billy Clegg / Georgia Mann	[phone]

 

Notes

About Independent Oil and Gas:

IOG is an oil and gas company with established assets focused on the UK North Sea.  The company's strategy is to deliver near term development and production assets in North West Europe, through its extensive technical and commercial expertise, whilst maintaining some exposure to exploration upside.  The company is looking to grow both organically and through acquisition.  After the completion of the Skipper acquisition from Alpha Petroleum Resources Ltd. ("Alpha") and the previously announced Cronx acquisition, the combined estimate of 2P reserves and 2C resources net to IOG will be 38.6 million barrels of oil equivalent ("MMBoe").

Post completion of the Cronx acquisition IOG will have five licences in the North Sea.  Four of these licences will now be owned 100% by IOG and subject to DECC/OGA approval will be operated by IOG.  The Blythe licence is co-owned 50% with Alpha which is the operator.  IOG has a 100% working interest in two other licences, one awarded in the 27^th licensing round and another in the recent 28^th licensing round.  One is to the east of Blythe containing the Truman prospect and Harvey discovery and the other is between the Blythe and Cronx licences which contains the Elgood and Hambleton discoveries and the Tetley and Rebellion prospects.  Both these 100% owned licences have potential resources that could be tied back to nearby infrastructure or to the Blythe development.

Further information can be found on www.independentoilandgas.com

About Blythe:

The Blythe gas discovery straddles Blocks 48/22b and 48/23a in the Southern North Sea in licence P1736 which is 50% co-owned by IOG and Alpha (operator).  Blythe needs no further appraisal and has independently verified gross 2P reserves of 34.3 BCF (6.1 MMBoe) which is 17.2 BCF (3.0 MMBoe) net to IOG.  (Source: ERC Equipoise Competent Person's Report ("CPR") dated September 2013.)

The partnership is working towards submitting a Field Development Plan for Blythe by September 2015.

About Skipper:

The Skipper oil discovery is in Block 9/21a in the Northern North Sea in licence P1609.  Skipper needs further appraisal by drilling a well to retrieve core and oil samples in order to design the optimum field development plan for the field.  Subject to the completion of the previously announced acquisition of Skipper from Alpha, IOG can now progress to the appraisal and development stage of this asset.  Skipper has independently verified gross 2C resources of 26.2 MMBbls.  The appraisal well will also target two exploration prospects directly beneath the Skipper oil discovery which may contain oil in place of 46 MMBbls.  (Source: AGR Tracs CPR dated September 2013.)

About Cronx:

IOG has agreed to acquire 100% of Cronx (Block 48/22a, licence P1737) which is subject to completion.  The Cronx gas discovery is 14km north-west of the Blythe field in which IOG owns 50%.  Cronx was discovered in 2007 by well 48/22b-6 drilled by Perenco UK Ltd.

IOG commissioned an independent CPR by ERC Equipoise on Cronx in July 2012 which shows a base case expected gas recovery of 17.6 BCF or 3.4 MMBOE 2C resource.  IOG anticipates drilling a well in 2016, subject to rig availability, the necessary permits and funding.  IOG expects the well to confirm the recoverable resources, which IOG believes has the potential to be larger than the 17.6 BCF base case in the CPR.  IOG is currently evaluating options for the development and export of the Cronx gas.

 

About Elgood and Hambleton:

The Elgood discovery (IOG 100%) (Block 48/22c, licence P2260) was drilled by Enterprise Oil in 1991 and tested gas to surface at 17.6 MMcfd but was not progressed by Enterprise due to size and gas prices at that time.  IOG's estimate of the recoverable reserves in Elgood is 2.1 MMBoe.

The Hambleton discovery, to the south of the same licence, was drilled by Century Exploration in 2005 but also was not progressed to development.  IOG estimates that Hambleton has recoverable resources of 6 BCF (1 MMBoe).  IOG believes that the reprocessing of existing 3D seismic data could increase recoverable resources up to 26 BCF.

There are prospective resources on licence P2260 of 5.3 MMBoe in the Tetley and Rebellion prospects.  Reprocessing of existing 3D seismic across 48/22a and 48/22c is required to determine whether Elgood connects to Cronx which would boost recoverable reserves significantly.  The new seismic interpretation will also determine the likely size of Hambleton.  IOG is now working on the potential development plans and will commission a CPR‎ to confirm the resources over this area.

Competent Person's Statement:

In accordance with the AIM Note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, IOG discloses that Mark Routh, IOG's CEO and Interim Executive Chairman is the qualified person that has reviewed the technical information contained in this announcement.  Mark Routh has an MSc in Petroleum Engineering and has been a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers since 1985.  He has 35 years' operating experience in the upstream oil and gas industry.  Mark Routh consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

 

END

 

 

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