LONDON (Alliance News) - MX Oil PLC shares fell on Thursday after it said it is considering a number of near-term, cash-generative investments in geographies outside of the Americas that could help fund its work programmes in Mexico, but ruled out entering the Indonesian market.
MX Oil shares were down 4.8% to 3.00 pence per share on Thursday morning.
It said due diligence was being carried out for an opportunity to acquire an indirect, non-operating, minority interest in a "substantial" development stage project with proven, flow-tested discoveries. MX did not state the name or location of the project. MX said the asset could start providing net cashflow from the first or second quarter of 2016.
"If successful, the directors anticipate completing this investment by the end of June 2015 at which point further details will be released to the market. The company, however, emphasises that discussions remain subject to contract and the completion of due diligence," it said.
"It is important to consider opportunities to acquire assets that have the potential to provide MX Oil with access to cash in the near term, which we would use to partly or fully fund the work programmes for our target Mexican assets," said Chief Executive Stefan Olivier.
The company's main focus is on the Mexican energy sector through the onshore licensing round now being carried out, which will allow foreign companies to own oil fields after 76 years of Mexican state monopoly.
The bid round has now reached phase three of bid round one, and MX Oil said it is currently preparing the pre-qualifying data for filing, which will allow the company to participate in the bidding.
MX Oil has previously said that it is confident of qualifying, as the criteria was changed to focus on experience and finances. It also has previously said it would not need to raise any further funds for the bidding, in which it has said it will target around 100.0 million barrels in total.
"Our focus remains on participating in the opening up of the Mexican energy market, but we remain open to opportunistic transactions that can assist us in positioning MX Oil as a strong participant in the forthcoming onshore bid rounds," said Olivier.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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