Sacoil Regulatory News (SAC)

SACOIL HOLDINGS LIMITED

(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)

(Registration number 1993/000460/06)

JSE share code: SCL     AIM share code: SAC

ISIN: ZAE000127460

("SacOil" or "the Company" or "the Group")

6 June 2012

Johannesburg

SacOil's Appeal against US$2m Identiguard Claim Upheld

Summary

·     South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal dismisses Identiguard's claim to US$2m from SacOil's subsidiary and awards SacOil costs

Background

SacOil previously reported on the application instituted by Identiguard International (Proprietary) Limited ("Identiguard") against South Africa Congo Oil (Pty) Limited ("SacOil Pty"), a subsidiary in which the Company owns 50% of the issued share capital. Identiguard obtained a judgment against the DRC Government and in partial execution of that judgment, Identiguard sought to attach the payment of the supplementary signature bonus (US$2 million) under the Block III Production Sharing Agreement that was concluded between SacOil Pty and the DRC Government.

The South Gauteng High Court delivered judgment in favour of Identiguard during May 2011 and authorised the notice of attachment. SacOil Pty applied for leave to appeal against the South Gauteng High Court judgment and was granted leave to appeal to the South African Supreme Court of Appeal ("SCA"). The appeal was heard by the SCA on 15 May 2012 and the SCA reserved judgment.

SacOil is pleased to inform shareholders that the appeal by its subsidiary, SacOil Pty, against the judgment delivered in May 2011 by the South Gauteng High Court in favour of Identiguard was successful. The appeal was heard by the SCA on 15 May 2012 and judgment was delivered on 31 May 2012. The SCA overturned the High Court order and replaced it with an order dismissing Identiguard's application with costs.

Identiguard had also prior to the allocation of a date for the hearing of the SCA appeal, launched an application in terms of Rule 49(11), requesting the South Gauteng High Court not to allow the judgment granted in its favour to remain suspended pending the outcome of the appeal, but instead to order SacOil Pty to pay the amount of US$2 million into Identiguard attorney's trust account.  This Rule 49(11) application was heard by the South Gauteng High Court on 20 March 2012 and judgment was reserved.  Bearing in mind that the SCA appeal has since been heard and was successful, Norton Rose Inc., the attorneys acting on SacOil Pty's behalf have sent a copy of the SCA appeal judgment to the South Gauteng High Court and have submitted that in the circumstances, the application in terms of Rule 49(11) should also be dismissed with costs.

SacOil's title to Block III is uncontested and the Company will continue its focus on bringing the asset to account with its partners Total and DIG Oil (Pty) Limited. Block III is a highly attractive exploration concession, adjacent to the approximate 1.2 billion contingent resource oil discoveries that were made in the Ugandan territory of Lake Albert.

ENDS

About SacOil

SacOil is an African independent upstream oil and gas company, focused on African assets, with a dual listing on the JSE and AIM. SacOil's vision is to build a balanced hydrocarbon exploration and production portfolio using the Company's African heritage to bring about a competitive advantage at the point of entry. SacOil's primary strategic objective is the development, exploration and production of discovered assets, with existing or near-term production, cash and revenue potential.   

SacOil is focussed on oil and, where there is a defined access to market, gas in proven hydrocarbon bearing basins. The company seeks to build a portfolio of assets across the E&P spectrum from potentially high-impact exploration through to undeveloped discoveries with near-term cash flow potential and to production with defined upside.

The Company is willing and able to operate through the exploration phase but will continue to focus on the establishment of strategic industry partnerships in order to maximise its opportunity set, manage portfolio risk, and ensure that the optimum technical and operating skills are applied to each opportunity.

Consistent with this strategy, SacOil has built up an E&P portfolio including oil discoveries in Nigeria and potentially high-impact exploration in the DRC detailed as follows:

Ø in Block III DRC, through its partnership with Total and DIG Oil, it is envisaged that the work program committed to will demonstrate prospectivity which could lead to the discovery of hydrocarbons;

Ø in to OPL 281 Nigeria, SacOil is in the process of evaluating and appraising existing oil discoveries through the reprocessing of seismic data with a view to drilling an appraisal well; remaining conditions precedent to the farm-in agreement include perfection of title and all the necessary Nigerian government and Nigerian National Petroleum Company consents in relation to the licence;  and

Ø in OPL 233 Nigeria, the Joint Venture Committee consisting of SacOil, NIGDEL and EER is committed to acquiring 3D OBC seismic data during 2012, which should assist in evaluating and appraising the size of the existing oil discovery, as well as delineating additional prospectivity in the concession.

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