Ascent Resources raises £500,000 in discounted placing

Shares in Slovenia-focused Ascent Resources dived about 30% after it raised £500,000 in a discounted placing of 83.33m shares, giving it sufficient working capital until the end of third-quarter 2016.

The oil and gas exploration and production company raised the money at 0.6p a share. Proceeds would also enable Ascent to order certain long-lead items required to achieve an alternative route to market for gas from the Petisovci field.

The company said its preferred route to market had for some time been one cheaper, quicker and independent of the Integrated Pollution Prevention & Control application process in Slovenia, and which did not require a standalone processing plant.

"In the past few days one of the two legal agreements required to progress this route has been agreed by the project team and is now with the various boards of the entities concerned for formal approval," the company said

"The second agreement is at an advanced stage and the expectation of the project group is that it will be approved before the end of June. Signing the agreements on schedule means that the company will be positioned to achieve its goal of commercial gas production in 2016.

"Accordingly, the company has begun to issue purchase orders for some of the longer-lead items required to commence production and looks forward to providing shareholders with a more detailed explanation of the route once contracts have been signed."

Earlier in May, Slovenia's Administrative Court rejected a June 2015 environmental permit issued for a gas processing plant at Petisovci.