VOG.L Regulatory News (VOG)

27 July 2020

Victoria Oil & Gas Plc

("VOG" or the "Company")

Q2 2020 Operational Update

Victoria Oil & Gas Plc, whose wholly owned subsidiary, Gaz du Cameroun S.A. ("GDC"), the onshore gas producer and distributor with operations located in the port city of Douala, Cameroon, is pleased to provide shareholders with an operations update of the Company for the second quarter of 2020.

SUMMARY

· The Company remains vigilant in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic and adherent to the authorities' guidelines in the jurisdictions in which it works: the lockdown in Cameroon was eased in May 2020, but a restrictive lockdown persists in the YaNAO region of the FSU where our West Medvezhye asset is located.

· Daily average gross gas sales rate for the quarter of 4.6 mmscf/d (Q1 20: 5.1 mmscf/d) of natural gas plus gross 3,548 bbls (Q1 20: 1,343 bbls) condensate was produced safely and sold to industrial customers, resulting in net revenues of US$6.8 million (unaudited) (Q1 20: US$5.3 million).

· The grid power customer ENEO Cameroon S.A. ("ENEO") was served notice of termination, having been given further opportunities to clear its debts.

· In the short-term, we have lined up sales to replace over 30% of the grid power customer's Take-or-Pay volumes at a higher price margin via increased demand from existing customers, and at least 2 new customers expected to be tied in within the next 3 months. These increased sales already represent replacement of over 50% of the revenue lost through the termination of the ENEO contract.

· Following an analysis of the current well stock, and recognizing there are no short-term plans for further drilling at this time, management has reduced its estimated Proved Reserves ("1P") for the Logbaba Field.

· The large, in-place resource estimate remains unchanged, and the revised 1P Reserves, without additional drilling, still provide for several years of supply with or without the grid power demand.

· Following an extensive prospect evaluation and derisking of the Matanda Licence, management has materially increased its estimate of Prospective Resources for the Onshore part of the Licence, which is contiguous with Logbaba.

· The Matanda partners, GDC and Afex Global Ltd, continue discussions with the Government in Cameroon and remain optimistic of obtaining an extension as previously guided.

Roy Kelly, Chief Executive of the Company, commented:

"We are pleased with the resilience the Cameroon business has shown through recent times and the early strides made to replace the gas sales volumes previously allotted to ENEO. The Logbaba reserves reduction reflects adjustments based on the current well stock but leaves the Company with years of supply with or without the grid power demand even without further development drilling. The work programme on Matanda has yielded encouraging and significant prospectivity on the licence, in what is a rich hydrocarbon province. We are also encouraged by the unsolicited interest in the SGI asset."

LOGBABA UPDATE

Quarterly Production

GDC continues to safely produce and sell natural gas to a variety of customers in the Douala area, most of whom would have previously burnt diesel or fuel oil, with liquid fuels currently selling at twice the price of our gas. Quarterly gross and net gas and condensate sales at Logbaba are as follows (amounts in bold are net gas and condensate sales attributable to GDC (57%)):

Customer Base

Absent ENEO, we continue to supply gas continuously to 30 or more customers. In addition, now that we do not have to reserve gas for ENEO, we are able to grow demand in a step-wise fashion:

· Stage I: increase supply to those existing customers who have requested more gas; Company is currently in receipt of several such requests;

· Stage II: tie-in new customers near our infrastructure. We expect to tie in 2 new customers between now & September; and

· Stage III: look to tie in customers some distance from our infrastructure in clusters to justify the expenditure.

GDC has some 10 km of pipeline in stock, along with the necessary valves & fittings, plus the operational skills to carry out much of this work itself.

This short-term increase in supply should amount to an incremental 1.5 mmscf/d or so, or 31% of the ENEO Take-or-Pay levels, notwithstanding any natural swings in demand. This increase represents over 50% of the revenue lost through the termination of the ENEO contract.

Beyond this, we continue to pursue the "low hanging fruit" type opportunities of high value, tie-back opportunities to satisfy a growing energy demand for natural gas, which remains both cleaner and cheaper than liquid fuel options such as imported, carbon-emitting heavy fuel oil or diesel

Capital Projects

La-108 Remediation: We await the return of the workover crew, noting that some scheduled flights to Cameroon have just recommenced.

Facilities Enhancement Project: Design of the project continues, and lower pressure tests of the plant have been successful in terms of maintaining the sales gas specification at lower process operating pressures.

Reserves

The Company has carried out a review of the 1P reserves on the Logbaba Field and given the analysis of the well stock and recognising that there are no plans to drill further wells at present, the Company has reduced estimates of its 1P Reserves per the table below. The overall Resource estimates remain unchanged as the Company has not amended the volumetrics from the previous third party report.

All nine penetrations of the primary reservoir in the Logbaba field have encountered mobile gas in reservoir quality sands in what is undoubtedly a significant in-place resource. Our reduction in Proved reserves at this time reflects our finite well stock, an assessment of the La-107 performance which did not meet our pre-drill expectations, and recognition that the project was designed to be a staged development involving more wells drilled through time in line with improved understanding of the reservoir and growth in demand. The Proved reserves level would support sustained production at current demand levels (which excludes grid power). Additional wells in previously undrilled areas of the field would immediately add to the Proved Reserves.

MATANDA UPDATE

We are pleased to report a material increase of management's estimate of Prospective Resources onshore Matanda, with gross unrisked, mean Prospective Resources increased to 1,196 Bcf in the Matanda Licence (onshore) from the previously reported 903 Bcf (ERCL Consultants Evaluation: 'Prospectivity and Volumetrics Report, Matanda Block, Cameroon', 2017). This increase is the result of a detailed internal prospect evaluation which has identified 19 gas prospects in shallower Tertiary-aged reservoirs, plus 7 prospects in deeper, Cretaceous-aged prospects. The Company believes the larger of these prospects has mean unrisked, Prospective Resources of over 65 Bcf, with geological Chance of Success estimated at better than 40%. This acreage is contiguous with the greater Logbaba license, offering an easy monetisation route for gas discoveries.

GSAs with Aksa Enerji Uretim A.S. ("AKSA") and New Age (African Global Energy) Ltd ("New Age")

Aksa is progressing its in-country applications and agreements for the power plant to be located at Bekoko, a brownfield site which is already equipped with a high voltage substation on the outskirts of Doula. 

New Age and the other Etinde licence owners continue to progress their development towards Final Investment Decision and have stated publicly that they are targeting FID in the next 9 months.

SVERGAZINVEST ("SGI") UPDATE

The Company is pleased to announce that a third party Technical Report has been completed by Well Energy Group (Russia) on the Company's 100% owned Western Medvezhye Licence in YaNAO, Russia. Based on this Technical Report, the Company has commenced a formal process to divest the Western Medvezhye Field and is in discussions with buyers of the field. Whilst a prospective buyer is conducting due diligence, the Company expects an extended sales process due to the COVID-19 crisis and the volatility of crude prices.

BOARD CHANGES

Andrew Diamond, Finance Director of VOG, tendered his resignation as a Director and employee of the Company in May 2020. He stepped down from the Board of Directors and is working out his six months' notice period assisting the Company in the finalisation of its Annual Report and Accounts to 31 December 2019 ("2019 Results"), among other things. The Company will make an announcement on his replacement in due course.

GM AND ANNUAL REPORT

The Company received approval from AIM Regulation and Companies House to extend its filing requirements for the 2019 Results to the end of September 2020. The Company held its AGM at the end of June 2020 under the restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and is in the process of finalising its Annual Report for 2019 (which has been delayed due to the pandemic as previously announced). The General Meeting to approve the Annual Report may have similar restrictions to those at the AGM. The Company will advise shareholders as events unfold.

For further information, please visit www.victoriaoilandgas.com or contact: 

Victoria Oil & Gas Plc

Roy Kelly Tel: +44 (0) 20 7921 8820

Kate Baldwin

Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated and Financial Adviser)

Rory Murphy / James Dance / Jack Botros Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494

Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited (Broker)

Mark Percy / Toby Gibbs (corporate advisory) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 4090

Jerry Keen (corporate broking)

Camarco (Financial PR)

Billy Clegg Tel: +44 (0) 20 3757 4983

Nick Hennis Tel: +44 (0) 20 3781 8330

Sam Metcalfe, the Company's Subsurface Manager has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this announcement in his capacity as a qualified person under the AIM Rules. Sam has over 30 years of industry experience, has prepared CPRs for the LSE in the past, and has an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

1P Reserves and Prospective Resources set out above are stated in accordance with the PRMS.

The PRMS is available on the SPE website at:

https://www.spe.org/en/.

Definitions

1P Reserves

Proven - Reserves, which on the available evidence, are virtually certain to be technically and economically producible. For the purpose of this definition it has a better than 90% chance of being produced

Bcf

Billion cubic feet 1bcf = 0.83 million tonnes of oil equivalent

mmscf

Million standard cubic feet

Prospective Resource (Mean)

Prospective Resources are those quantities of petroleum which are estimated, on a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations. The mean represents the average using probabilistic methods.

Reference:

https://www.spe.org/en/industry/reserves/