LONDON (Alliance News) - Independent Oil and Gas PLC shares rose on Friday after the company said it hopes to formally complete the acquisition of the Skipper licence in the UK North Sea imminently after being given clearance from the Oil and Gas Authority.
The UK-focused oil and gas company expects to formally complete the deal "early next week".
Independent Oil shares were trading up 13% to 11.01 pence per share on Friday afternoon, having touch a high of 11.85p earlier.
"This is a huge step forward for Independent Oil and Gas in line with our stated strategy. Qualifying as an exploration operator opens up many more opportunities for Independent Oil and Gas and is of course essential for our near-term objective of drilling the Skipper well which is on track to commence drilling at the end of January or early February 2016," said Chief Executive Mark Routh.
"Independent Oil and Gas also anticipates becoming a qualified production operator in due course either via acquisition or organically as we develop our portfolio of oil and gas assets," he added.
Independent Oil already owned a 50% stake in the Skipper licence, but will wholly-own the asset next week when it legally acquires the other 50% stake from Alpha Petroleum Ltd.
The company signed a rig contract with Transocean Drilling UK Ltd earlier this week in order to procure the Transocean John Shaw semi-submersible rig to drill the company's appraisal well on the Skipper oil discovery, with Routh describing it as "the breakthrough" the company had been waiting for.
The rig will drill a vertical well to 5,600 feet which is expected to take about 25 days.
The skipper well is behind schedule, with the company originally hoping to drill the well before the end of the year, which forced Independent Oil to recently seek financing worth around GBP5.55 million from GE Oil and London Oil.
Back in October, Independent Oil's financial position became dire as it warned it only had enough funds to last a month or two, before raising GBP150,000 to keep it ticking over.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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