LONDON (Alliance News) - Oil & gas firm Ophir Energy PLC said Wednesday it has increased and extended its debt facility after the acquisition of assets in south-east Asia.
Ophir increased its reserved-based lending facility by USD100 million to USD350 million. In addition, the maturity of the debt was extended by a 18 months to the end of 2025. This restored the seven-year maturity of the initial debt facility.
The increase follows the acquisition of a bundle of assets in south-east Asia from Australian oil & gas firm Santos Ltd for USD205 million in September. This saw production assets in Vietnam and Indonesia and exploration assets in Malaysia, Vietnam and Bangladesh join its portfolio.
The new extended facility will be secured against its newly-acquired assets.
The facility funds will be used to fully repay the 18 month bridge facility that Ophir signed in August to fund the Santos asset buy.
"We are pleased with the ongoing strong support of our relationship banks, evidenced by the integration of Santos assets into the company's long-term debt facility," Ophir Chief Financial Officer Tony Rouse said. "Our balance sheet remains strong and we expect to have greater liquidity at year end than previously guided."
Following "strong" production in 2018 and commodity prices ahead of expectations for most of the year, the firm now expects to end the year with USD65 million in net debt. This is after it expects to be USD250 million drawn on the facility by early January.
Ophir had previously guided for USD110 million net debt.
After securing the extended facility, Ophir also expects gross liquidity - that is, total cash and undrawn borrowings - to be USD360 million compared to the previous expectation of USD260 million.
Shares in Ophir were 2.0% higher at 35.80 pence on Wednesday.
