19th Apr 2006 09:06
Rift Oil PLC19 April 2006 RIFT OIL PLCPLACING AND ADMISSION TO AIM Rift Oil plc ("Rift" or "the Company") has raised £2.3 million before expenses,through a private placing of 24,080,000 new Ordinary Shares and a placing onadmission to the AIM Market ("AIM") of 22,200,000 new Ordinary Shares, both at£0.05 per share, giving the Company a market capitalisation at the placing priceof £17.3 million. The shares will begin trading on AIM today (19 April 2006).Insinger de Beaufort is the Nominated Adviser and Broker to the Placing. Rift was established in November 2004 to acquire a 65% interest in an oil andgas exploration licence, the petroleum prospecting licence number 235 ("PPL 235Licence"), in western Papua New Guinea. It acquired this interest in December2004 through its subsidiary Foreland Oil Limited ("Foreland Oil"), in return fora commitment to spend US$6 million (approximately £3.2 million) on theexploration and development of PPL 235. The remaining 35% interest in the PPL235 Licence is held by Trans-Orient Petroleum (PNG) Limited ("TOPPNG"), a whollyowned subsidiary of Austral Pacific Energy Ltd ("Austral"), a Yukonincorporated, oil exploration company operating in New Zealand whose shares arepublicly traded in the United States of America, Canada and New Zealand. In January 2005, the Company and Austral entered into a joint venture operatingagreement to constitute the joint venture between the Company and Austral (the "Joint Venture") in relation to the exploration activities to be undertakenwithin PPL 235. These include a commitment to drill one exploration well, whichhas already commenced as set out below. Between December 2004 and March 2005, the Company raised a total of £4,505,000at £0.25 per share from a range of private investors pursuant to an offer forsubscription to enable it to meet its initial obligations in relation to PPL235, and as general working capital. On 10 April 2006 the Company raised anadditional aggregate sum of £1,204,000 by way of a private placing also at £0.05per share. The Joint Venture experienced difficulties in securing an appropriate rig inorder to begin the proposed drilling program on PPL 235. This was due to thecurrent high demand worldwide for the hire of drilling rigs. This led to thedecision by the Joint Venture, in late July 2005, to purchase the Coral Sea-1Rig, a heli-transportable, free standing double for the purposes of the JointVenture. PPL 235 covers a total area of approximately 2,910 sq km and lies within theForeland Basin, an area southwest of the Papua New Guinea highlandsapproximately 500 km west from the capital, Port Moresby. The Company has chosenthe Douglas Prospect and the Puk Puk-1 (previously known as 'Kamu') Prospect("the Prospects") as the initial targets on PPL 235. Following extensive commissioning work, drilling on the Douglas Prospect, thefirst prospect on PPL 235, commenced on 4 April 2006. The Company expects toreach the planned total depth of around 2,000m after approximately 20 days ofdrilling. This will be followed by a 4 day wireline logging program to determinewhat further testwork may be required. Further analysis and interpretation ofthe results will be necessary during early May before an announcement can bemade. The Company will then decide whether the results are sufficientlyencouraging to either: (i) flow test the well; (ii) drill further appraisal well(s); (iii) shoot more seismic over the field; or (iv) drill the Puk Puk-1 Prospect, also on PPL 235. Rift has lodged an application, together with Austral, for a further PPL (APPL261) covering an area of some 3,958 sq km immediately north of PPL 235. Thisapplication is in the name of Foreland Oil (for and on behalf of Rift) as to50%, and TOPPNG (for and on behalf of Austral) as to 50%. Enquiries to: Rift Oil plcDavid Lees, Finance Director 020 7499 1400 Insinger de Beaufort 020 7190 7000Louis Castro/Alex Collins, This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Rift Helium