Placing of GBP14 million

18 Jan 2008 07:00

Nighthawk Energy plc18 January 2008 NIGHTHAWK ENERGY PLC PLACING OF £14 MILLION The directors of Nighthawk Energy plc ("Nighthawk" or "the Company") (AIM:HAWK), the US-focused hydrocarbon production and development company, arepleased to announce that the Company has raised £14 million (before expenses)through an institutional placing of new ordinary shares at a price of 46p pershare (the "Placing") by its broker, Hanson Westhouse Limited. The Placing has been undertaken principally to provide additional funding forthe extended development of the Jolly Ranch project in Lincoln County, Colorado,in which Nighthawk holds a 50 per cent. working interest. Running FoxesPetroleum Inc. ("Running Foxes") is the operator and also holds a 50 per cent.working interest. From an initial land base of 40,000 acres at Jolly Ranch, the project has grownthrough land acquisition to approximately 140,000 acres. As reported inNovember 2007, Nighthawk and Running Foxes have undertaken a 3-D seismicprogramme covering 21 square miles over key areas of the project acreage.Through the ongoing interpretation of the seismic data and other technicalstudies, numerous potentially high impact targets have been identified and asignificantly expanded drilling programme is now planned. Locations for the first four high priority wells, termed the Four Kings, namelyElizabeth, Henri, Phillip and Sixtus, have been selected. The wells will testmultiple stacked targets. Well permit applications have been submitted to theState of Colorado and approvals are expected in the near future. Elizabeth willbe the first well spudded. A total of 30,434,783 new ordinary shares of 0.25p each (the "Placing Shares")will be issued pursuant to the Placing. The Placing Shares are being issuedunder the existing authorities granted to the directors. The Placing isconditional on admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM occurring by8.00 a.m. on 22 January 2008 (or such time and/or date as the Company and HansonWesthouse Limited may agree but in any event not later than 5.30 p.m. on 4February 2008). Following the Placing, there will be 203,079,337 ordinary shares of 0.25p eachin issue. David Bramhill, Managing Director, commented: "We are delighted to have received such a positive response from both existingand new institutional investors. Nighthawk now has the financial resources inplace to cover comfortably the extended development of Jolly Ranch which has thepotential to transform the Company into a mid-tier hydrocarbon company in arelatively short timeframe. In addition, the development of our other projectsis proceeding in accordance with our plans." Enquiries: Nighthawk Energy plc 01271 882160David Bramhill, Managing Directorwww.nighthawkenergy.net office@nighthawkenergy.netHanson Westhouse Limited 0113 246 2610Tim Feather tim.feather@hansonwesthouse.comMatthew Johnson matthew.johnson@hansonwesthouse.comBishopsgate Communications Limited 020 7562 3350Dominic Barretto dominic@bishopsgatecommunications.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange