Source - LSE Regulatory
RNS Number : 4525K
88 Energy Limited
02 September 2021
 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS RESTRICTED AND IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICES AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR ISSUE OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, SUBSCRIBE FOR OR OTHERWISE ACQUIRE ANY NEW ORDINARY SHARES OF 88 ENERGY LIMITED IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT AN OFFER OF SECURITIES FOR SALE INTO THE UNITED STATES. THE SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN HAVE NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES, EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN APPLICABLE EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION. NO PUBLIC OFFERING OF SECURITIES IS BEING MADE IN THE UNITED STATES.

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN ARTICLE 7 OF THE UK VERSION OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO. 596/2014 ("MAR"), WHICH IS PART OF ENGLISH LAW BY VIRTUE OF EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED. UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

 

88 Energy Limited

 

Result of Placing

 

88 Energy Limited ("88 Energy" or the "Company") (ASX, AIM: 88E) is pleased to announce that, further to the notification on 31 August 2021,the Company has successfully completed a bookbuild to domestic and international institutional and sophisticated investors to raise A$23.96 million (£12.71 million), before costs (the "Placing") through the issue of 855,856,369 fully paid ordinary shares of no par value (the "Placing Shares") at a price of A$0.028 (equivalent to 1.49 penceper Placing Share (the "Placing Price").

 

The net proceeds of the Placing, together with the Company's existing cash reserves (A$14.9 million as at 1 September 2021), will strengthen the Company's balance sheet and finance the drilling and logging of the Merlin-2 appraisal well in Q1 2022, targeting 652 million barrels in the N20, N19 and N18 horizons, fund lease acreage payments and enable identification and execution of potential new project opportunities.  Following completion of the proposed Placing, the Company will have sufficient cash to fund its ongoing working capital requirements and general and administrative overheads for at least 12 months.

 

Following the success of the Merlin-1 drilling program earlier this year (see 88 Energy's announcement dated 16 August 2021, "Merlin-1 well confirms light oil with appraisal well planned for Q1 2022"), the Merlin-2 appraisal well will be designed to test the Nanushuk formation further to the east, where enhanced reservoir thickness and quality are expected. The Merlin-2 well will target a net entitlement mean Prospective Resource of 652 million barrels of oil (unrisked)¹ and is scheduled to be drilled in Q1 CY2022.

 

Details of the Placing

 

The Placing does not require shareholder approval and the issue and allotment of the Placing Shares will rely on the Company's placement capacity pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 7.1.

 

The Placing Shares, which will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in the Company, have been conditionally placed subject to admission to trading on both the ASX and AIM ("Admission"). Application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on both the ASX and AIM, with Admission expected to occur on 10 September 2021.

 

Following the issue of the Placing Shares, the Company will have 14,400,403,996 ordinary shares in issue, all of which have voting rights. The figure of 14,400,403,996 ordinary shares 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 change their interest in, the Company.

 

Euroz Hartleys Limited (Euroz Hartleys) acted as Sole Lead Manager and Sole Bookrunner to the Placing. Inyati Capital Pty Ltd (Inyati) acted as Co-Manager to the Placing. Cenkos Securities Plc (Cenkos) is acting as 88 Energy's Nominated Adviser and Sole Broker to the Placing in the United Kingdom. Commission for the Placing was 6% (plus GST) of total funds raised across Euroz Hartleys Limited, Cenkos and Inyati. In addition, the Company will issue 50,000,000 Unlisted Options (exercisable at $0.05 on or before the date which is 3 years from the date of issue) to the managers of the Placing (Broker Options). The Broker Options will be subject to shareholder approval at a General Meeting.

 

88 Energy Managing Director and CEO, Ashley Gilbert, commented:

 

"Completion of this placing positions 88 Energy strongly as planning and preparations continue for drilling of the Merlin-2 appraisal well in Q1 CY2022. We will continue to evaluate potential strategic partners for the Peregrine Project, in which we maintain a 100% working interest. However, ensuring our ability to fully fund Merlin-2 via this placing delivers us excellent commercial leverage and optionality with respect to these discussions.

 

Other key activities over the coming months include the targeted unlocking of value in our Yukon acreage via advancing negotiations with nearby resource owners for a joint development area, optimisation of historic Umiat oil field development plans, and reassessment of our Icewine acreage following the neighbouring Talitha-1 well drilled earlier this year.

 

Permitting remains on schedule for Q1 2022 spud of the Merlin-2 well. We would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support as we enter into this exciting phase."

 

¹ Please refer to the 88E's announcement dated 16 August 2021 for full details of the Company's Prospective Resource estimate, associated risking and applicable Cautionary Statement

 

 

For further information please contact:

 

88 Energy Ltd

admin@88energy.com

Ashley Gilbert, Managing Director

Tel: +61 8 9485 0990

Finlay Thomson, Investor Relations

Tel: +44 7976 248 471

 

Fivemark Partners

Investor and Media Relations

Andrew Edge/ Michael Vaughan

 

 

Tel: +61 410 276 744

Tel: +61 422 602 720

EurozHartleys Ltd


Dale Bryan

Tel: +61 8 9268 2829



Cenkos Securities Plc


Neil McDonald

Tel: +44 (0)131 220 6939 / +44 (0)20 7397 8900

Derrick Lee


Pearl Kellie


 

Pursuant to the requirements of the ASX Listing Rules Chapter 5 and the AIM Rules for Companies, the technical information and resource reporting contained in this announcement was prepared by, or under the supervision of, Dr Stephen Staley, who is a Non-Executive Director of the Company. Dr Staley has more than 35 years' experience in the petroleum industry, is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a qualified Geologist/Geophysicist who has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style and nature of the oil prospects under consideration and to the activities discussed in this document. Dr Staley has reviewed the information and supporting documentation referred to in this announcement and considers the prospective resource estimates to be fairly represented and consents to its release in the form and context in which it appears. His academic qualifications and industry memberships appear on the Company's website and both comply with the criteria for "Competence" under clause 3.1 of the Valmin Code 2015. Terminology and standards adopted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers "Petroleum Resources Management System" have been applied in producing this document.

 

Cautionary Statement

 

The estimated quantities of petroleum that may be potentially recovered by the application of a future development project relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration, appraisal and evaluation are required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially movable hydrocarbons.

 

About 88 Energy

 

88 Energy is an oil and gas exploration company with assets on the North Slope of Alaska. It operates ~193,000 net acres at Project Icewine and ~195,973 net acres at Project Peregrine.  Additional information can be found on the Company website www.88energy.com.

 

 

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