Kea Petroleum PLC Mercury Permit and Strategic Review Update (3348H)
March 13 2015 - 3:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMKEA
RNS Number : 3348H
Kea Petroleum PLC
13 March 2015
13 March 2015
Kea Petroleum plc
("Kea" or "the Company")
Mercury Permit and Strategic Review Update
Kea Petroleum plc (AIM: KEA), the oil and gas company focused on
New Zealand, announces the relinquishment of its Mercury permit,
PEP 52333, offshore Taranaki, and an update on the ongoing
strategic review.
Mercury permit
This permit was awarded to Kea on 13 October 2010. The permit
covers an area of 232.5 km(2), mainly offshore in the north
Taranaki area.
As part of an agreed work program Kea acquired about 119 km(2)
of 3D seismic data and, following interpretation of the data,
identified a 16 km(2) 3-way dip and fault closed prospect with
original resource potential estimated by management to contain 108
- 688 (P(90) - P(10) ) million barrels of oil in place.
Kea has presented the prospect to a number of potential farm-in
partners; however, given the present challenging environment
resulting from the fall in the oil price and lack of success in
recent offshore exploration in New Zealand, it has not been
possible to reach a satisfactory agreement to commit to drilling an
offshore well before September 2015.
Therefore the Board has decided to surrender the permit to New
Zealand Petroleum and Minerals and to stop any further expenditure
on the prospect.
Strategic Review
Following Kea's announcement on 16 February 2015 (the
"Announcement"), the strategic review continues under the advice of
Rockpoint Corporate Finance Limited ("Rockpoint") and, within the
context of the "formal sale process" (as described in the
Announcement and in accordance with note 2 on rule 2.6 of the City
Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the "Code")), a number of potential
funding partners have reviewed the technical data on the Shannon
and Mauku prospects.
Ian Gowrie-Smith, Chairman of Kea Petroleum, commented:
"We are disappointed that we have been unable to conclude a
farm-out of the Mercury prospect but it is prudent to surrender the
permit. Our limited resources must be focussed on our lower cost
onshore permits at Mauku and Puka as we seek to secure funding to
enable the drilling of our Shannon prospect. Rockpoint's strategic
review process is at an early stage and we will provide further
updates in due course."
This release has been approved by non-executive director Peter
Mikkelsen FGS, AAPG, who has consented to the inclusion of the
technical information in this release in the form and context in
which it appears.
In accordance with Rule 26.1 of the Code, a copy of this
announcement will be available on the Company's website at
www.keapetroleum.com as soon as possible and in any event no later
than 12:00 noon (London time) on 16 March 2015 (being the business
day following the date of this announcement). The content of the
website referred to in this announcement is not incorporated into
and does not form part of this announcement.
For further information please contact:
Kea Petroleum plc Tel: +44 (0)20 7340 9970
David Lees, Executive Director
WH Ireland Limited (Nomad) Tel: +44 (0)20 7220 1666
James Joyce
James Bavister
Buchanan Tel: +44 (0)20 7466 5000
Mark Court
Sophie Cowles
Notes to Editors:
Kea Petroleum is an AIM listed oil and gas exploration company
with interests in two petroleum exploration permits in the Taranaki
Basin of New Zealand. Kea listed on the London AIM market in
February 2010.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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