(Alliance News) - Bahamas Petroleum Co on Monday said it has changed some of the conditions to financing for drilling work at the Perseverance #1 well.
Bahamas Petroleum in October last year agreed a fundraise worth GBP10.3 million via a convertible loan note issue. In January, the deadline for all conditions to be met was pushed back to March 9 from February 15.
This date has now been moved back to April 15, the company added. There are two conditions outstanding: securing insurance for the drilling work, and hiring a drilling rig.
The date may also be pushed back further to May 15, Bahamas Petroleum continued.
Further, the firm said prior to March 31 it will have an option to reduce the size of the convertible loan note issue by 50%, at no extra cost, if it can find more advantageous financing.
Chief Executive Simon Potter said: "We continue to make steady progress toward drilling of the Company's 100% owned and operated Perseverance #1 well, targeting recoverable prospective resources of 700 million to 1.4 billion barrels of oil.
"As we prepare for drilling we are taking every opportunity to optimise a large number of moving parts, both financial and operational, and as part of this process we have successfully "reset" the timeline for our convertible notes while we work on finalising remaining conditions, at the same time seeking to only draw funds when they are actually required, with a view to reducing the overall cost of our comprehensive funding package."
"We have also been able to introduce a degree of optionality into those arrangements as we continue to pursue potentially more attractive options - for example, a farm-in - which would mean we could correspondingly scale back the convertible notes, consistent with our funding strategy to minimise costs and dilutionary impact," Potter continued.
Shares closed 30% lower on Monday in London at a price of 2.75 pence each.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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