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Lekoil Nigeria Ltd, an oil and gas company and Niger, had not yet publicly responded to
with a focus on West Africa that is 40% owned the injunction. In February, the company had
by AIM-listed Lekoil Ltd, said on Wednesday reported that its wholly-owned subsidiary
(April 6) that the injunction had been granted Savannah Energy Investments Ltd made an
by the Federal High Court of Nigeria. investment in Lekoil Ltd, “which is not deemed
The court order prohibits “a substantially material to Savannah.” ™
dilutive issuance of equity and an option agree-
ment with Savannah Energy Investments Ltd,
which would have denied shareholders of sig-
nificant value,” it said.
Lekoil Nigeria Ltd had been joined by a num-
ber of third parties, including Lekoil Oil & Gas
Investments Ltd, Mayfair Assets & Trust Ltd,
Lekoil 276 Ltd and Lekoil Exploration & Pro-
duction Nigeria Ltd, in seeking the injunction.
Two resolutions due to be voted on at the
forthcoming Extraordinary General Meeting
(EGM) convened by Lekoil Ltd for Thursday
(April 7) were barred by the court order: (1)
approving the Option Agreement entered into
with Savannah Investments, in accordance with
the requirements of Rule 15 of the AIM Rules;
and (2) authorising the Directors to allot and
issue fully paid ordinary shares up to an aggre-
gate number of 151,755,547, which is approx-
imately 20% of the company’s current issued
ordinary share capital.
Lekoil Ltd said in reaction on April 6 that
the application had been made and the order
granted without it having the opportunity to
state its position. As such, the company “will
take appropriate legal advice so it can assess its
position,” it stated.
As of press time, AIM-listed Savannah
Energy Plc, which has operations in Nigeria Lekoil’s assets offshore Nigeria (Image: Lekoil)

AIM suspends VOG shares after ICC rules

against company’s Cameroon subsidiary

CAMEROON AIM-LISTED Victoria Oil & Gas Plc (VOG) uncertainty to continue as a going concern.”
has seen its shares suspended from trade after an A large part of the award is devoted to the
Arbitral Tribunal of the International Chamber treatment of the royalty payments made to
of Commerce (ICC) ruled against its subsidiary Cameroon Holdings Ltd (CHL) in the calcula-
Gaz du Cameroun SA (GDC), making an award tion of the payout date.
totalling approximately $12.1mn. The Tribunal concluded that VOG in early
GDC is an onshore gas producer and dis- 2016 wrongfully started to include the CHL
tributor in Cameroon with operations in the royalty as a recoverable cost in the calculation of
port city of Douala. VOG’s dispute was with the payout date, and as a result the payout date
contractor RSM Production Corporation and should be moved forward four months. It found
claims related to drilling costs in previous work that the consequence of this earlier payout date
programmes in Cameroon. is that RSM is now due $10.6mn plus interest.
Under ICC rules, there can be no appeals VOG chairman Roger Kennedy expressed
and awards must be paid without delay. But confidence the company can navigate through
VOG said in a statement that it could not pay what he called a legacy issue. “I am taking the
the $12.1mn without some delay. liberty of adding my comments, as I am the
As a result, VOG’s shares were suspended longest-serving Director on the current board,
from trading pending a resolution to what though I joined in H2 2016, after the payout cal-
the company described as a “fundamental culations had been made ,” he said.

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