Independent Oil & Gas buys full control of Blythe gas find

Independent Oil & Gas has agreed to acquire the remaining 50% of the North Sea blocks that contain the Blythe gas discovery for an initial £1.5m that should rise by a further $5m when first gas is produced.

The purchase will make IOG the 100% owner and operator of Blocks 48/22b and 48/23a and immediately double its independently verified proven and probable (2P) reserves by 17.2bn cubic feet (BCF) to 34.3 BCF, or 6.1m barrels of oil equivalent (Boe).

Chief executive Mark Routh said the deal adds material 2P reserces at a cost equivalent to $2.31/Boe but stressed the importance of taking full ownership and control of the development of Blythe.

"We can now move ahead to co-develop Blythe with our other assets in surrounding licences which are 100% owned by IOG in line with our hub strategy."

IOG has begun working on preparing Blythe's field development plan for the UK Oil & Gas Authority.

As part of the 'hub' plans for Blythe, he added: "IOG's initial plan is to install a small unmanned platform at Blythe with pre-installed risers to tie-back nearby discoveries making Blythe the centre of a new hub.

"In addition it allows us to evaluate further the discovered gas in the Carboniferous beneath Blythe and the oil discovery above Blythe in the Zechstein fractured carbonates."

The AIM-listed company added that several directors, members of its technical team and contractors have accepted all or part of their salaries and fees in new shares or share options.

A total of 0.9m new shares were issued on Tuesday, some due to the exercising of previously issued option, and has also issued 2.9m options with an exercise price of 1p each.