Jersey Oil to raise £20m via accelerated bookbuild

Jersey Oil & Gas announced on Friday its intention to raise fresh capital via a discounted share offering to fund the company's Verbier appraisal programme and Cortina exploration drilling.

The £20m placing would be undertaken via an accelerated bookbuilding process at a minimum price of 200p per share, with
Arden Partners plc and BMO Capital Markets Limited acting as joint brokers and joint bookrunners.

In parallel, Jersey all qualifying participants would have the opportunity to subscribe new shares at the issue price, with a view to raising another £4.0m gross.

Proceeds from the financing round would fund the "expected" Verbier appraisal programme and Cortina exploration drilling.

They would also help strengthen the company's balance sheet as it continued to pursue its production focused acquisition strategy in the UK continental shelf, the company said.

Andrew Benitz, CEO of Jersey Oil & Gas, commented: "Jersey Oil & Gas is in a unique position with an 18 per cent. interest in Licence P.2170 containing the Verbier oil discovery which Statoil, the operator, initially estimates has gross recoverable resources of between 25 and 130MMboe, with a minimum proven recoverable volume in the immediate vicinity of the wellbore of 25 MMboe.

"Evaluation of the well results alongside the existing 3D seismic data is ongoing and today's placing ensures that we are able to fund our working interest in this highly attractive licence once the appraisal drilling programme is confirmed by the operator.

"Alongside this we have a strong pipeline of asset opportunities and are encouraged by the active deal flow in the North Sea. The additional funds will allow us to maintain our balance sheet strength as we continue to pursue a production-led acquisition strategy within the UKCS."

As of 1147 BST, shares of Jersey Oil&Gas were down by 12.01% to 223.50p.