14th Sep 2011 07:23
14 September 2011
Sirius Petroleum plc
("Sirius" or "the Company")
Directorate Changes and Subscription
Sirius (AIM: SRSP.L) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ed Johnson as Chief Executive. Ed was recently appointed to the board of directors of Sirius (the "Board") as Commercial Director to advise the Company on its acquisition strategy, where Siriusis currently considering a number of opportunities in the oil and gas sector with a particular focus in Nigeria. The Board has decided to accelerate Ed's appointment to Chief Executive in order to drive the Company's development programme and build out the operational management team in line with the Company's strategy to grow its oil & gas assets under management. Toby Hayward will revert to Non-Executive Director with immediate effect. The Company also announces a Subscription of 12,500,000 new ordinary shares in Sirius ("New Ordinary Shares") raising £487,750 (net of expenses) to complement the Company's existing working capital resources as the management team accelerates the operational infrastructure ahead of the Company's first asset acquisition.
Nigeria Oil & Gas Industry
The Company's investment strategy has been to target discovered oil fields in Nigeria in partnership with existing indigenous Nigerian petroleum companies. These fields tend to fall below IOC commerciality thresholds and typically have no development plan despite having established reserves and existing wells. There are estimated to be over six billion barrels of proven undeveloped fields in Nigeria, which establishes an enormous opportunity set for independent E&P companies with existing technical expertise and knowledge of the Nigerian business environment. The Nigerian government has taken strong measures to incentivise indigenous companies to participate in the development of marginal fields, and as a result, indigenous companies and their partners enjoy unique and very favourable fiscal terms for these assets.
The Company has partnerships with a number of oil & gas operating companies indigenous to Nigeria which will enable Sirius to access a pipeline of discovered undeveloped oil fields, and the pending Petroleum Industry Bill ("PIB") will both further improve fiscal terms and enable preferential access for indigenous companies to onshore and shallow offshore licensing. The Ministry of Petroleum Resources has stated there will be a new Marginal Field bid round held shortly which will be exclusive to indigenous companies, and it is the stated intention of various of Sirius's partners to participate in this bid round.
Trading
On 22nd August 2011, the Company announced it had commenced trading activities and completed the sale of a cargo of Fuel Oil (Premium Motor Spirit) which has generated a net profit in excess of $140,000. The Company intends to continue to import cargos of increasing size and on a more frequent basis to generate a secondary, reliable income stream. Whilst the Company has deliberately made a small and cautious start to this activity, we look forward to developing this business activity into a significant revenue stream.
Subscription and Funding Resources
The Company has completed a Subscription of 12,500,000 New Ordinary Shares at 4.0p per shareto raise £500,000 gross with institutional and other investors. Application for the admission of the New Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM has been made and is expected to occur on 20 September 2011. The proceeds of the Subscription will be used to provide the Group with additional funding for its working capital requirements and to add to its existing cash resources (which stood at $3.9 million at the half year ended 30 June 2011). The Subscription Shares will represent 1.66 per cent. of the Enlarged Share Capital and will rank equally in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares. Furthermore, the Company has an agreement with EMMEF Investments Limited to provide or procure an $80 million debt facility to meet the requirements of future field development costs if required.
Commenting, Jack Pryde, Chairman of Sirius Petroleum, said:
"We have decided to accelerate Ed's appointment to Chief Executive as we start to plan for the next stage of the Company's development ahead of our strategy to acquire our first marginal field oil & gas asset. We have also taken this opportunity to both meet the demand from existing shareholders and top-up our financial resources as we build the operational infrastructure of the Company.
Ed Johnson, Chief Executive, said:
"The marginal field opportunities in Nigeria make this area of operation very scaleable for Sirius and supports our strategy to deliver significant value for our shareholders as we acquire high-quality marginal fields and build a strong upstream business. The combination of high-quality assets and extremely favourable fiscal terms makes Nigeria one of the most attractive petroliferous provinces globally for independents like Sirius, and we look forward to building and delivering a strong pipeline of opportunities."
-ends-
www.siriuspetroleum.com
Enquiries:
Sirius Petroleum plc Ed Johnson
| +44 (0) 20 7451 9800 |
Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker) James Harris / James Spinney
| +44 (0) 20 7409 3494 |
Gable Communications John Bick / Justine James | +44 (0) 20 7193 7463 |
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Sirius Pet