2 May 2012 07:00
For Immediate Release, 7 am
2 May 2012
LENI GAS AND OIL PLC
("LGO" or the "Company")
Update, Spanish Divestment and Trinidad
LGO today confirmed that it had granted the preferred bidder for its Spanish assets exclusivity until 31st May 2012 to complete definitive documentation.
Further to its previous announcement on the 22nd March; due diligence is now well advanced and the parties have had preliminary discussions on the structure of the deal, details of which are expected to be concluded in the coming week. Final agreement is expected to be concluded in May, although this cannot be guaranteed.
A further announcement will be made once a legally binding agreement has been signed between the parties.
The Company also reports that final arrangements for the farm-in to the Advance Oil Company Ltd leases in the Moruga North area of Trinidad, previously announced in August 2011, are now being concluded and the Company expects to commence field operations by July 2012. Initial operations to be conducted by LGO include the recompletion of two productive wells, MN-44 and MN-209, and the drilling of one new well.
Neil Ritson, Chief Executive commented:
"Following the Board's decision to divest the Spanish assets to the highest bidder we have now reached a point where we are more confident that a sale can be concluded on mutually advantageous terms and have therefore granted the bidder exclusivity in return for a cash deposit. We are optimistic about the successful conclusion of the divestment process and we look forward to being able to start reinvestment into our various new ventures in Trinidad."
Competent Person's Statement:
The information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Neil Ritson, Chief Executive Officer and Director for Leni Gas & Oil Plc who has over 35 years of relevant experience in the oil industry. Mr. Ritson is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, an Active Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London.
Enquiries:
Leni Gas & Oil plc
David Lenigas Neil Ritson | +44 (0)20 7440 0645
|
Beaumont Cornish Limited
Nomad and Joint Broker Rosalind Hill Abrahams Roland Cornish | +44(0) 20 7628 3396 |
Old Park Lane Capital Plc
Joint Broker Michael Parnes Luca Tenuta | +44(0) 20 7493 8188 |
Shore Capital
Joint Broker
Pascal Keane +44 (0) 20 7408 4090
Jerry Keen (Corporate Broking)
Pelham Bell Pottinger
Financial PR Mark Antelme | +44 (0) 20 7861 3232 |
Henry Lerwill |
Notes to editors:
Leni Gas & Oil Plc is an international oil and gas exploration, development and production company headquartered in London, trading on the London Stock Exchange's AIM index. LGO's strategy is to acquire projects and businesses within the oil and gas sector that contain a development premium which can be unlocked through a combination of financial, commercial, and technical expertise.
LGO operates a low risk portfolio of production expansion assets in the US Gulf of Mexico, Spain and Trinidad, and holds a minority stake in non-operated exploration acreage Malta. LGO's assets have significant play upside using similar strategies to leverage technologies and proven production enhancement techniques. LGO specifically targets near term production with upside exploitation potential and manages its portfolio to ensure all assets have production enhancement programmes.