1 Mar 2010 07:00
1 March 2010
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc
('VOG' or 'the Company')
(AIM: VOG)
Placing of New Shares and Directors' Share Interests
·; £14 million raised through an equity placing to institutional and private investors
·; Initial offering 40% oversubscribed
·; Testing underway at La-105
·; La-106 drilling on schedule and at 5,495 feet
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc, the AIM quoted oil and gas exploration company with assets in Cameroon and the FSU, is pleased to announce that the Company has completed, conditional on admission, an equity placing of 430,769,231 new ordinary shares at a price of 3.25 pence per share (the "Placing") raising £14 million before expenses through its brokers Fox-Davies Capital Limited. The Company shall also allot shares to Directors in lieu of cash salary.
The Placing, which was 40% oversubscribed, will allow the Company to complete drilling and testing operations at Logbaba and seek fast-track solutions for revenue generation. The funds raised will also be used for further passive seismic spectroscopy and geochemical surveys at West Med.
Another milestone has been achieved on Well La-106 at Logbaba. It has been drilled to the target depth for the 12 ¼" hole section of 5,495 feet. The next step is to run and cement the 9 5/8" casing before rigging up the 10,000psi blow-out preventer in preparation for drilling the final hole section. The target depth is anticipated to be reached within the 60 day schedule. Well La-105 is being tested and full results are expected to be available in early Q2 2010.
The Company has contracted a major international engineering firm to explore opportunities for early revenue generation in addition to the full-field development. VOG has signed in-principle agreements with selected customers for around 8 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day at a price of $16 per thousand cubic feet.
A further 911,542 shares will be allotted to Directors in lieu of cash salary for the six month period ended 31 January 2010 in accordance with their standard employment contracts at a weighted average month-end market price of 5.4 pence per share.
The effect of the above allotments on the holdings of the Directors is as follows:-
|
| Shares to be subscribed for or received in lieu | Total Shareholding in VOG following allotments | |
| Kevin Foo | 5,480,420 | 36,551,217 | 2.56% |
| Robert Palmer | 114,489 | 654,239 | 0.05% |
| George Donne | 307,692 | 2,590,833 | 0.18% |
| Austen Titford | 307,692 | 807,692 | 0.06% |
| Philip Rand | 461,538 | 1,294,872 | 0.09% |
* The shares are held by H J Resources Ltd on behalf of a discretionary trust, of which Mr Foo and his wife are possible beneficiaries
The Placing will be executed over two tranches. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for admission of the first tranche of 223,973,077 Placing shares and the 911,542 shares in lieu of cash salary to Directors ("First Admission") and a further application has been made for admission of the second tranche of 206,796,154 Placing shares ("Second Admission") to trading on AIM. It is expected that First Admission will become effective and that trading will commence on 5 March 2010 and it is expected that Second Admission will become effective and that trading will commence on 12 March 2010. Following these admissions, the Company will have 1,427,794,447 ordinary shares in issue. The new ordinary shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares.
Kevin Foo, Chairman of Victoria Oil & Gas, said today, "We took this opportunity to increase our working capital and we are most pleased with the response. The over subscription and the interest of major institutional investors into our Company vindicates our belief that VOG is managing its assets correctly."
For further information, please contact:
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7921 8820
George Donne / Kevin Foo
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 / 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 the Logbaba gas and condensate project in Cameroon and 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 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.
Further information on the company can be found at: http://www.victoriaoilandgas.com