Jersey Oil and Gas plc Final Results
Thursday 20 April 2017
Jersey Oil & Gas (AIM: JOG), an independent upstream oil and gas company focused on the UK Continental Shelf region of the North Sea, is pleased to announce its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2016.
Highlights
Successful, high impact, promoted farm-out of interest in Licence P.2170, Blocks 20/5b & 21/1d ("Licence P.2170") to Statoil (U.K.) Limited ("Statoil"), which contains the material Verbier prospect
o Retained an 18% equity interest with Statoil to fund all costs up to US$25 million in respect of the first exploration well
o US$540,000 received by JOG after payment made to the Athena Consortium Partners
o JOG benefits from an additional 10% carry from co-venturer CIECO Exploration and Production (UK) Limited ("CIECO")
o Site survey completed on Verbier prospect
o Firm well commitment made to the Oil & Gas Authority
Successful farm-out of JOG's 50% interest in Licence P.1989, Blocks 14/11, 12 & 16, to Azinor Catalyst Limited ("Azinor") in return for contingent payments of up to US$4 million
Interests in Licence P.1610, Block 13/23a ("Liberator"), Licence P.1666, Block 30/11c ("Romeo") and Licence P.1889, Blocks 12/26b & 27 ("Niobe") relinquished, with Niobe relinquishment effective 31 December 2015
A very active year for JOG engaged in pursuing multiple asset acquisition opportunities
Oversubscribed equity placing of £1.6m (gross) in November 2016 to new and existing shareholders
Cash at 31 December 2016 of £1.9m
Arden Partners plc appointed as Broker
Post period end
The Company has conducted further technical studies to improve and update it's understanding of the Verbier prospect
Independent assessment of resource estimates in relation to Licence P.2170 and its associated prospects (Verbier and Cortina), has been completed by ERC Equipoise Ltd ("ERCE")
o Mean Prospective Resources attributed to Licence P.2170 for Verbier increased to 162 Million barrels of oil equivalent ("MMboe") from 118 MMboe and the chance of success increased to 29% from 26%
o Contingent Resources attributed to Verbier for discovery well 20/5a-10Y
o Mean Prospective Resources attributed to Licence P.2170 for the Cortina prospect increased to 124 MMboe from 91 MMboe with a chance of success of 19%
Statoil has awarded a contract to Transocean Drilling UK Limited for the semisubmersible rig, Transocean Spitsbergen
Azinor has stated its intention to drill an exploration well to test the Partridge prospect (previously named Homer) on Licence P.1989, Blocks 14/11, 12 &16 later this year
BMO Capital Markets appointed as Joint Broker
Outlook
Exploration well to be drilled on Verbier prospect in Summer 2017
Discussions continue with a major bank and other funding partners, who remain keen to support JOG as possible providers of capital for acquired production assets
The Group continues to work actively on several acquisition opportunities, with the aim of securing UK producing oil and gas assets
Andrew Benitz, CEO of Jersey Oil & Gas, commented:
"2016 has been another transformational year for Jersey Oil and Gas, during which we have achieved what we believe to be the first promoted farm-out of an exploration licence in the UK North Sea in over two years. With a rig contract announced post period end, Verbier is now expected to be drilled during Summer 2017 and we eagerly await the results."
"We continue to be involved in multiple sales processes and are confident that we are well placed to deliver further shareholder value through our production focused acquisition strategy. I am particularly grateful to JOG's management team and employees who have adeptly demonstrated that good people can lead to great achievements. We have only recently started on JOG's journey and I believe that our team, supported by our shareholders, is capable of developing the Company much further from where we are today."