16 Nov 2010 07:00
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc
('VOG'or 'the Company')
(AIM: VOG)
Company Completes Fund Raising of £10.8 million
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc, the AIM quoted oil and gas exploration and production company with assets in Cameroon and the FSU is pleased to announce that it has raised £10.8 million before expenses by way of an Equity Placing and draw down under its Standby Equity Distribution Agreement ("SEDA"), (together the "Fund Raising"). The net proceeds of the Fund Raising will be used to bring forward the expansion phase of the Logbaba Gas Project, Cameroon, to extend the pipeline to the South Eastern and South Western areas of Douala and to facilitate ongoing working capital requirements until Logbaba first gas sales scheduled for Q1 2011.
The Company has placed 183,708,612 ordinary shares through Fox-Davies Capital Limited ("the Placing Shares") at a price of 4.9 pence each per share for gross proceeds of £9,001,722. The placing price represents a 12% discount to the 5 day VWAP as at the close of business on the 15 November.
To enable the Company to issue the Placing Shares, it needs to renew its authorities to issue ordinary shares. Shareholder approval for this is being sought at the Company's Annual General Meeting, which is to be held at 11.00 a.m. on 30 November 2010.
Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. It is expected that admission will become effective and that trading will commence on 1 December 2010. These shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing issued Ordinary Shares in the Company.
Under its existing authority, the Company has drawn down £1.8 million under its existing SEDA facility held with YA Global Master SPV Limited, announced on the 17 June 2009 and issued 40,322,581 shares based on a weighted average market price of 4.8 pence per share before deductions. Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the SEDA Shares to be admitted to trading on 19 November 2010. These shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing issued Ordinary Shares in the Company.
In addition, the Company has allotted 23,972,248 shares to its technical advisors, contractors and staff ("the Allotment") in compensation for work conducted during the last six months, at a weighted average price of 3.2p.
The total issued share capital of the Company following the Allotment and the Fund Raising will be 2,104,057,974 shares.
Victoria Oil & Gas Chairman, Kevin Foo commented, 'We are pleased with the level of support shown by investors in this equity financing. The Company is now well capitalised as we move to commence production from the Logbaba project early in the new year. The Company is continuing to sign up gas customers and we remain optimistic that the appropriate licenses will be awarded in the near future to enable the Company to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for liquids and natural gas in Cameroon.'
For further information, please contact:
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7921 8820
Kevin Foo/Jonathan Scott Barrett
Strand Hanson Limited - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494
Simon Raggett / Angela Peace
Fox-Davies Capital - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7936 5220
Daniel Fox-Davies
Phil Davies/David Porter
Conduit PR - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7429 6611
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 the Logbaba gas and condensate project in Cameroon and the West Medvezhye 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 encountered gas. West Medvezhye is situated in the prolific Yamal-Nenetsk hydrocarbon region in Siberia. An independent reserve audit estimated prospective resources for the field of over 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent.