Solo Oil Plc Update on Helium One Investment (4572C)
January 22 2018 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMSOLO
RNS Number : 4572C
Solo Oil Plc
22 January 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Embargoed until 7 am 22 January 2018
SOLO OIL PLC
("Solo" or the "Company")
Update on Helium One Investment
Solo Oil plc (AIM: SOLO), the natural resources investment
company focused on acquiring and developing a diverse global
non-operated portfolio of strategic oil and gas assets, is pleased
to announce recent progress being reported by Helium One Limited
("Helium One"), the pure play helium explorer in Tanzania in which
Solo currently holds a 15% equity interest.
Helium One has informed its shareholders of various financing
options available to fund ongoing exploration activities. One of
these options may involve undertaking an initial public offering
("IPO") on the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX") (the
"Listing"). To this end, Helium One has appointed PAC Partners Pty
Limited ("PAC Partners") to review the options associated with a
possible IPO and Listing on ASX.
Whilst the exact timing and nature of the capital raising is yet
to be finalised the current expectation is that Helium One will
target a listing in mid-2018, should this ultimately be the
preferred financing path.
PAC Partners is a leading stockbroker for emerging companies in
Australia, having raised over A$350m in new equity in 2017 and led
a number of successful IPO's. PAC Partners focuses on a limited
number of industry sectors, one of which is energy and
resources.
Helium One has also reported significant operational progress
with the ongoing reprocessing of seismic data adding improved
resolution and allowing further investigation of the observed
direct helium indicators ("DHIs"); such as bright spots. Once the
present reprocessing is completed a full reinterpretation of all
relevant data, including the airborne gravity gradiometry, will be
undertaken and a new resource report prepared. Helium One is
presently planning for drilling on the Rukwa project in the second
half of 2018.
The fundamentals of helium demand remain strong with Qatari
output restricted by the border restrictions in place with Saudi
Arabia and the US Federal Reserve still anticipated to close in
2021. Prices of bulk liquid helium have recently risen and as yet
no new material sources of helium have been reported, despite an
uptick in exploration efforts. Helium One also notes that other
known projects where helium potential has been identified by other
operators are not on the scale of Rukwa, which has close to 100
billion cubic feet ("bcf") of independently estimated helium
resource potential in association with inert nitrogen and at helium
concentrations up to over 10% by volume.
Neil Ritson, Solo's Chairman commented:
"We are delighted to see Helium One taking considerable strides
forward both corporately and operationally. Helium One's possible
IPO represents a real catalyst in terms of their growing profile
and their ability to fund an active near-term work programme in
Tanzania, which is expected to see drilling later this year."
Tom Abraham-James, Helium One's Chief Executive added:
"We have been reviewing our long-term funding options for some
time and are beginning to focus on an IPO as most suitable for us.
The ASX is a proven capital market and one in which our team has
considerable experience. We would like to thank Solo for their
continued support and guidance and look forward to an exciting year
ahead for Helium One and all its shareholders."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
For further information:
Solo Oil plc
Neil Ritson / Dan Maling +44 (0) 20 3794 9230
Beaumont Cornish Limited
Nominated Adviser and
Joint Broker
Roland Cornish / Rosalind
Abrahams +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
Shore Capital
Joint Broker
Jerry Keen
Beaufort Securities
Joint Broker
Jon Belliss
Buchanan (PR)
Ben Romney / Chris
Judd / Henry Wilson
PAC Partners Pty Ltd +44 (0) 20 7408 4090
Australian Corporate +44 (0) 20 7382 8300
Advisor and Broker +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
Tom Fairchild +61 3 8633 9867
Qualified Person's Statement:
The information contained in this announcement has been reviewed
and approved by Neil Ritson, Chairman and Director for Solo Oil
plc, who has over 40 years of relevant experience in geology,
resource estimation and the oil and gas industry. Mr. Ritson is a
member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), an Active
Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London (BGS).
Notes to Editors
Helium is used in hi-tech applications such as MRI scanners
(currently the largest application for helium), semiconductor and
optical fibre manufacturing, computer hard-drives, in the nuclear
and space industries, and for lifting, such as Lockheed Martin's
LMH1 hybrid airship. With around 57% market share, the US is the
dominant supplier. However, the US Bureau of Land Management
("BLM"), which manages the world's largest helium reserve, is
auctioning off an increasing percentage of the reserve annually
until it falls to 3.0 bcf or until 30 September 2021, when
commercial sales will cease. After that point the BLM will only
supply US government users, creating a supply shortage which will
force industrial consumers to look for other sources of helium.
This transformation of the industry has resulted in recent bulk
helium prices as high as US$200 per thousand cubic feet
("mcf").
Further information on helium and the Rukwa project can be found
at Helium One's website at www.helium-one.com and at Solo's website
www.solooil.co.uk.
Glossary:
A$ Australian Dollars
-------------------- -------------------------------------
ASX Australian Securities Exchange
-------------------- -------------------------------------
bcf billion cubic feet
-------------------- -------------------------------------
BLM US Bureau of Land Management
-------------------- -------------------------------------
DHI a direct indication of subsurface
helium gas, analogous to direct
hydrocarbon indicators in petroleum
exploration
-------------------- -------------------------------------
gravity gradiometry is the measurement of variations
in the acceleration due to gravity.
The gravity gradient is the spatial
rate of change of gravitational
acceleration
-------------------- -------------------------------------
IPO initial public offer, or listing
-------------------- -------------------------------------
mcf thousand cubic feet
-------------------- -------------------------------------
MRI magnetic resonance imaging is
a technique that uses a magnetic
field and radio waves to create
detailed images of, for example,
the organs and tissues within
your body
-------------------- -------------------------------------
seismic the use of sound waves generated
by a controlled source to ascertain
the nature of the subsurface
structure, lithology and fluid
content
-------------------- -------------------------------------
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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