22nd May 2007 07:01
Roxi Petroleum Plc22 May 2007 Roxi Petroleum PLC Admission to AIM Roxi Petroleum ("Roxi" or "The Company"), the Kazakhstan based oil explorationand development/production company, is very pleased to announce its admission tothe AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange today. At Admission, Roxi raised£38.9 million (gross of expenses) and is capitalised at approximately£63.9million at the placing price of 38p per share. WH Ireland is acting asNominated Adviser and Broker to the Company. Overview: • Roxi will use IPO funds to build a portfolio of joint ventures in Kazakhstan, primarily previously discovered oil fields with both development and exploration upside • Company strategy is to upgrade and increase initial booked reserves through appraisal, exploration seismic, and drilling. • Post IPO, a significant portion of the funds will be used to begin building the portfolio by acquiring 50% economic interest in two oil fields and one exploration block in the Caspian region of Kazakhstan • The contracted areas will total approximately 295 squared km. • The initial acquisitions are in different stages of development, facilitating efficient utilization of resources, personnel, and services. • Roxi intends to add to its portfolio and acquire further fields with development potential with respected business partners in Kazakhstan Roxi was created to acquire controlling interests in and develop oil and gasassets in Central Asia, with a focus on Kazakhstan. The initial strategy willbe to target projects which have oil discoveries and exhibit a potential forconsiderable development and / or exploration upside. This strategy will allowthe Company to rapidly add value to its projects by upgrading reserves levelsand planning for the earliest possible production date. The Company's senior management team has significant experience in the regionand industry having worked across a diversified number of countries and climatesincluding Kazakhstan, the Middle East, Europe, the former Soviet Union, Russia,Africa, and the United States with major oil companies including Royal DutchShell, BP, Mobil, and a variety of joint venture operations. Roxi will acquire a 50% economic interest with contractual and operationalcontrol over three previously agreed contract areas located in the Caspianregion of Kazakhstan, each of which is at a different stage of its explorationprogramme. In aggregate, the Contract Areas cover approximately 295 squarekilometres, and currently have probable and possible gross reserves ofapproximately 24.8 Mmbbls of oil as well as contingent resources of up to 10Mbbls of oil. The Ravninnoe Contract Area covers 121 km2 and is located approximately 100 kmnortheast of the Tengiz field in the south Emba sub-basin of the Pre-CaspianBasin, in the Atyrau Oblast of West Kazakhstan. Roxi is committed to drilling 5wells in the exploration phase of the licence. In addition to the appraisal andthe potential for early production from the established pre-salt reservoirs,there is also a significant upside in deeper fractured targets making Ravninnoean exciting block. North Karamandybas Contract Area: covers approximately 7.2 km2 and is situatedin the South Mangishlak Basin, Karakigansky Rayon of the Mangistau Oblastapproximately 120 km east of Aktau. Roxi is committed to drilling 3 wells.Situated close to existing infrastructure the field is ideally located for earlydevelopment. Beibars Contract Area: covers approximately 167 km2 and is situated on thecoastline of the Caspian Sea approximately 40 kilometres south of Aktau in theMangistau Oblast. Beibars is a pure exploration play, which the Directorsbelieve has significant upside potential. The acquisition of the Ravninnoe and Beibars Contract Areas will be completedfollowing Admission and the payment of consideration. The acquisition of theNorth Karamandybas Contract Area will be completed at the discretion of theCompany pending the successful resolution of legal proceedings in connectionwith title to the area. Expansion Strategy In addition to the current acquisition and work programme, the managementbelieve there are significant opportunities to acquire additional interests infurther fields in Central Asia and aim to take advantage of its management,operational and transportation expertise in addition to relationships with jointventure partners and the management's acquisition experience in the region tobecome a significant oil and gas concern. Details of placing Placing Price 38p per shareNumber of Placing Shares 102,444,332Number of Ordinary Shares on Admission 168,207,490Estimated cash proceeds of the Placing receivable by the £36.1mCompany (net of expenses)Market capitalisation of the Company at Admission at the £63.9mPlacing PriceAIM symbol RXPISIN for the Ordinary Shares GB00B1W0VW3 Rob Schoonbrood, CEO of Roxi Petroleum commented, "We are delighted to have gained such positive support from the market for ourdevelopment plans. With modern oil company management and technical work we believe there isconsiderable development and exploration upside available in multiple fieldsthroughout the region. We believe that as Kazakhstan continues to develop its oil and gasinfrastructure, more opportunities for development will come our way. We willconstantly evaluate new ventures, with the intention of becoming a significantcompany in the regional oil business and London AIM market." 22 May 2007 Enquiries: Company name Roxi Petroleum plc Rob Schoonbrood, CEO 020 3159 5315 UK / 7 327 278 1022 KZ David Barker, COO 020 3159 5315 UK / 7 327 278 1022 KZ College Hill Paddy Blewer 020 7457 2020 Nick Elwes 020 7457 2020 WH Ireland James Joyce 020 7220 1666 Biographies of the management Clive Carver (aged 46) Non-Executive Chairma Mr Carver qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers and Lybrand in London1986. Since then, he has focused on the corporate finance and corporate brokingarena, including working for Kleinwort Benson and Price Waterhouse CorporateFinance. He spent five years at Seymour Pierce, where he was a director and head ofcorporate finance and five years at Williams de Broe, where he was head ofcorporate finance and corporate sales. At Williams de Broe he led the teamfloating and fund raising for a number of natural resource companies. Additionally, Clive is a qualified corporate treasurer Rob Schoonbrood (aged 62) Chief Executive Officer Mr Schoonbrood has nearly 40 years energy sector experience, primarily in oiland gas exploration and production, having spent the first 30 years of hiscareer with the Royal Dutch Shell Group. He has held a variety of positionsincluding Business Development Manager of Oil Products East for ShellInternational Petroleum Company in London and Chief Executive of Shell MarketsMiddle East/ Shell Trading Middle East in Dubai. He left the Royal Dutch Shell Group in 1999 and since then has acted as anindependent business consultant, advising on a number of deals and for a varietyof companies in Kazakhstan. This includes initiating and implementing a CrudeOil swap agreement between Kazakhstan and Iran on behalf of CJSC Munai Impex andacting as a Senior Advisor to the management of PetroKazakhstan, with anemphasis on business with Iran, Kazakhstan and China. He also acted as President of Unioil AG, an independent oil transport andtrading company focusing on niche business around the Caspian Sea, from2002-2003 and was Operations Director of Cobalt Energy Group, a US basedwholesale company, from 2004-2005. David Barker (aged 52) Chief Operating Officer Mr Barker has nearly 30 years experience in the oil and gas industry. His earlycareer included petroleum operations and production engineering positions withMobil Oil Corporation and Mitchell Energy Corporation. He has served in seniormanagement positions in publicly traded companies for over 15 years includingPresident of an oil and gas company in the United States. More recently he hasdirect experience in Kazakhstan initially as an oil and gas consultant. Heserved as the General Director of Operations in Kazakhstan and as the Directorof the local subsidiaries for Big Sky Energy Corporation. Kuat Rafikuly Oraziman (aged 45) Non-Executive Director Mr. Oraziman has nearly 20 years of business experience in Kazakhstan and abroadand nearly 10 years of oil and gas experience in Kazakhstan. Mr. Oraziman'sexperience has included the operation of import and export businesses, theestablishment and operation of an international brewery in Kazakhstan, and asthe Kazakhstan representative of Phillips and Stork. Since 1991 Kuat Oraziman has been a director of ADA OIL LLP a joint venture oiland gas partnership with LG International which owns and operates explorationand production oil and gas assets located in Kazakhstan. Kuat Oraziman alsoholds a doctorate in science and is a trained geologist Duncan McDougall (aged 48) Technical Director Mr McDougall has 25 years international experience of exploration, appraisal,and development of oilfields in a variety of environments. He began his careerin the North Sea with Charterhouse Petroleum and BP Exploration as explorationand development geologist. For the past 15 years, he has been advising, throughhis firm Saxford Limited, a large variety of companies on the purchase anddevelopment of oil and gas assets in Africa, Europe, the Far East and Asia, withthe large majority in the Former Soviet Union region. Brian Martin Paul Garvey CIMA, Group Financial Manager, age 55 Brian Garvey is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants(C.I.M.A). He has over 30 years of financial and management accountingexperience. Over the last 12 years he has worked in Kazakhstan, Russia and otherareas of the former Soviet Union as Financial Controller/Director of publiclytraded and private companies. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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