September 8 (SeeNews) - UK-based Prospex Oil and Gas said on Friday it has raised £650,000 (709,175 euro) to fund a drilling project in Suceava county, in northeastern Romania.
Prospex has raised the sum via an oversubscribed placing of 185.7 million ordinary shares of 0.001 GBP each at a price of 0.35 pence per new ordinary share, the AIM-quoted investment company said in a press release.
The net proceeds of the placing will be used mainly to help fund the company's share of the 2017 work programme at the Suceava concession. This includes the drilling of the Bainet Prospect, a shallow, gas target mapped on 3D seismic that has been assigned internal gross prospective resources of approximately 1.5 billion cubic feet recoverable.
Bainet is one of several low cost and low risk exploration and development opportunities that Prospex has identified at Suceava.
In addition, the funding will go towards the ongoing evaluation of a number of potential projects, in line with the company's strategy to build a portfolio of investments in the European oil and gas sector, as well as general working capital purposes, Prospex said.
"To have raised these funds at no discount to the market price is, in our view, a reflection of the quality of the Suceava asset; the defined low cost programme that is in place to rapidly generate production; and also management's strategy to use Suceava as a cash generative platform with which to build a significant presence in a proven hydrocarbon region," Prospex non-executive chairman Bill Smith said.
In August, Prospex Oil and Gas acquired a 50% economic interest in the Exploration Area of the EIV-1 Suceava Concession through its 100% owned subsidiary PXOG Massey for 750,000 euro. The acquisition consists of the exploration area with the Grancesti SE-1 undeveloped discovery, a number of prospects at varying stages of development and some leads. The balance of the exploration area interest is held by Raffles Energy S.R.L, an established gas producer in Romania.
Prospex Oil and Gas is focused on high impact onshore and shallow offshore European opportunities with short timelines to production. The company's management acquires undervalued projects with multiple, tangible value trigger points that can be realised within 12 months of acquisition and then applying low cost re-evaluation techniques to identify and de-risk prospects.
(1 GBP=1.091 euro)