2 Apr 2009 08:42
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc
('Victoria Oil & Gas' or 'the Company')
(AIM: VOG)
Victoria Oil & Gas Secures Funding Package for approximately £5.7m
Victoria Oil & Gas completes a £5m SEDA facility with Yorkville Advisors and an Equity Placing of £675,000 before expenses
Drill rig secured and exploration license extension granted until August 26 2009
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc, the AIM quoted oil and gas exploration company with assets in Cameroon and FSU is pleased to announce that it has raised £5.7 million by way of a SEDA facility and an equity placing.
The Company has entered into a £5,000,000 Standby Equity Distribution Agreement ('SEDA') with YA Global Master SPV Limited who was advised by Yorkville Advisors, LLC. The SEDA enables the Company, at its discretion during the next 2 years, to draw down funds under the SEDA in tranches as and when it deems appropriate and in accordance with restrictions set by the terms of the Agreement.
In addition the Company has placed 22,500,000 ordinary shares ('the Placing Shares') at a price of 3 pence each ('Placing Price') (together, 'the Placing') for gross proceeds of £675,000 through Fox-Davies Capital Limited ('FDC'). A further 8,968,115 ordinary shares will also be issued to advisers and service providers in lieu of cash payments ("Fee Shares")
Victoria Oil & Gas will utilise the funds at the Logbaba project in Cameroon. A drill rig has been secured and the first well at Logbaba is due to be spudded mid year. In addition the exploration license for Logbaba has been extended by the Government until 26 August 2009.
Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares and the Fee Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. It is expected that admission will become effective and that trading will commence on 8 April 2009.
The issue of new ordinary shares represent 7.0% per cent of the existing issued share capital of the Company. Following the admission of the new ordinary shares to trading on AIM, the Company will have 479,096,232 ordinary shares in issue.The new ordinary shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares.
Victoria Oil & Gas's Chairman Kevin Foo commented: "Raising almost £6 million in these difficult markets is an endorsement of the potential of the company and its projects. These funds, along with the support of our largest shareholders, Noor Petroleum will allow us to accelerate development of Logbaba. With existing off take arrangements in place with a number of industrial consumers in Cameroon, VOG expects first production later this year and positive cash flow in early 2010."
For further information, please contact:
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7921 8820
George Donne / Kevin Foo
Strand Partners Limited - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494
Simon Raggett / Angela Peace
Fox-Davies Capital - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7936 5220
Daniel Fox-Davies / Oliver Stansfield
Conduit PR - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7429 6607
Jonathan Charles / Ed Portman
Background Information on Victoria Oil & Gas Plc:
Victoria Oil & Gas is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with projects in Africa and the FSU. The Company's principal assets are 60% of the Logbaba gas and condensate project in Cameroon and 100% of the West Medvezhye gas field in Siberia, Russia. Logbaba is located in Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon. The field was discovered in the 1950s and all four exploration wells flowed gas at rates of up to 62Mmcf/d. West Medvezhye is situated in the prolific Yamal-Nenetsk hydrocarbon region in Siberia. An independent reserve audit estimated prospective resources for West Med of over 1.1 BnBOE.
Further information on the company can be found at: http://www.victoriaoilandgas.com