14 Mar 2019 07:01
14 March 2019
Eland Oil & Gas Plc
("Eland" or the "Company")
Accordion Facility and Increased Borrowing Base
Eland Oil & Gas PLC (AIM:ELA), an oil & gas production and development company operating in West Africa with an initial focus on Nigeria, is pleased to announce a new accordion facility and increased borrowing base.
In November 2018, the Company announced that it had successfully refinanced its existing reserve-based lending facility (the "RBL Facility") with a new 5-year syndicated RBL facility in an amount of US$75 million, with the option to increase it to up to $200m via an accordion, subject to incremental production and reserves.
We are pleased to announce today that following a redetermination, the borrowing base amount has increased from $103 million to $134 million and an initial accordion increase of $50 million is being underwritten by The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, resulting in the commitments under the facility increasing from $75 million to $125 million. Of the commitments, $50 million is currently drawn.
Standard Advisory London Limited and Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited (as Bookrunners) have been mandated to manage the primary syndication of the initial accordion increase. Principal repayments will commence Q4 2019(consistent with the statement in the November RNS that there is a one-year grace period on principal repayments from execution of the facility which occurred in November 2018).
Ron Bain, CFO, commented:
"I am pleased to announce the large increase in borrowing base on our RBL facility which demonstrates the hugely accretive quality of the new wells drilled on the OML 40 asset and the growth in value they bring to our shareholders. Since refinancing the RBL in 2018 into a longer-term facility we have the flexibility to diversify the capital structure of the company leveraging our position comfortably within our debt parameters and lowering the overall cost of capital."
For further information:
Eland Oil & Gas PLC (+44 (0)1224 737300)
www.elandoilandgas.com
George Maxwell, CEO
Ronald Bain, CFO
Finlay Thomson, IR
Peel Hunt LLP, Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker (+44 (0)20 7418 8900)
Richard Crichton / David McKeown
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited, Joint Broker (+44 (0)20 7710 7600)
Callum Stewart / Nicholas Rhodes / Ashton Clanfield
Camarco (+44 (0) 203 757 4980)
Billy Clegg / Georgia Edmonds / Tom Huddart
Notes to editors:
Eland Oil & Gas is an AIM-listed independent oil and gas company focused on production and development in West Africa, particularly the highly prolific Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Through its joint venture company Elcrest, Eland's core asset is a 45% interest in OML 40 which is in the Northwest Niger Delta approximately 75 km northwest of Warri and has an area of 498 km².
In addition, the Company has a 40% interest in the Ubima Field, onshore Niger Delta, in the northern part of Rivers State.
The OML 40 licence holds gross 2P reserves of 82.2 million barrels, gross 2C contingent resources of 50.7 million barrels and a best estimate of 252.1 million barrels of gross un-risked prospective resources*
The Ubima field holds gross 2P reserves of 9.3 million barrels of oil and gross 2C resource estimates of 4.2 million barrels *
Net production figures relate to Elcrest Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd ("Elcrest"), Eland's joint venture company. Production rates, when oil is exported via Forcados, are as measured at the Opuama PD meter, are subject to reconciliation and will differ from sales volumes.
*Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc CPR report 31 December 2018*
The information contained within this announcement is considered to be inside information prior to its release, as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014, and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.