March 12 (SeeNews) - UK-based Prospex Oil and Gas has raised 800,000 British pounds (899,562 euro) via a share placing to help fund its work in 2019 at the Suceava concession, in northeastern Romania, it said on Tuesday.
The oil-and-gas company placed 400 million new shares at 0.2 pence each, Prospex said in a press release.
The net proceeds of the placing will help finance the company's share of the 2019 work programme at the Suceava concession following an enlargement of the exploration area.
In a separate press release on Tuesday, Prospex announced that Romania's National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) has granted permission for an enlargement of the exploration area in Suceava, which also includes a new gas prospect.
The additional area is located near the Bainet discovery and extends the concession west towards the Bilca Gas Processing plant. It also covers a new gas prospect that is similar to the Bainet discovery where concession operator Raffles Energy and Prospex successfully drilled in November 2017 and started production in September 2018.
"With the addition of a look-a-like Bainet structure, the enlargement of the Suceava Concession immediately increases the inventory of low cost, low risk gas prospects already mapped on the licence. With a less than a year cycle between drilling, completion and production start-up, the rapid development of Bainet demonstrates Romania's credentials as a good jurisdiction to invest in," Prospex' non-executive chairman Bill Smith said.
"Furthermore, we continue to evaluate additional opportunities that match our investment criteria, specifically late stage European onshore projects with short timelines to value-generating activity, such as drilling."
Prospex has agreed to reimburse Raffles a 50% share of the back costs incurred maturing the prospect, in amount of 125,000 euro ($140,556), payable from production, after a well is drilled in the additional area.
According to Prospex, the new exploration well would require permitting approvals for drilling, site preparation and civil engineering works and flowline connection to the gas processing facility. Prospex Oil & Gas owns a 50% interest in the enlarged concession via its wholly-owned subsidiary PXOG Massey Ltd.
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 British pound = 1.1558 euro)