Page 9 - Euroil Week 07 2020
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EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil
Slovenia-focused Ascent unveils shake-up
SLOVENIA
Ascent’s development plans are up in the air as a result of permitting problems.
EMBATTLED London-listed oil and gas pro- ducer Ascent Resources unveiled a shake-up of its business on February 18, as its development plans in Slovenia remain up in the air.
In a statement, the company announced board changes, a fund-raise, debt restruc- turing and share consolidation through its subdivision.
Among the highlights, it appointed James Persons as its chairman, along with Ewen Ainsworth and Leonardo Salvadori as independ- ent directors. All three have signi cant experi- ence in the European oil and gas sector. Board members Louis Castro and Colin Hutchinson have meanwhile stepped down.
Ascent has also cancelled an equity share agreement (ESA) reached with UK-based RiverFort Global Opportunities in Septem- ber 2019. Its outstanding $422,000 loan from Riverfort has been renegotiated to a two-year coupon-free bullet with conversion rights for the lender at GBP0.075 per share. Riverfort will not be awarded the 43mn warrants agreed in September.
Furthermore, Ascent said it would con- vert every 100 shares into one share and raise GBP800,000 ($1mn) through the placement of 16mn shares at 0.05 pence apiece. is funding will help Ascent follow through with plans to tar- get new business opportunities outside Slovenia.
“As the oil and gas industry moves deeper into this period of profound change driven by
the energy transition, quality opportunities present themselves for nimble, well-financed micro-ca platforms,” Parsons said in a state- ment. “Ascent, with its underpinning Slovenian potential, restructured balance sheet and new team, is an ideal platform for growth, combining access to capital with the very best pre-identi ed near-term upstream opportunities and special situations.”
Ascent’s agship asset is the Petisovci gas pro- ject in eastern Slovenia, but its output saw steady decline last year. It had intended to boost recov- ery by carrying out hydraulic fracturing, but it was denied permits for doing so by the Slovenian authorities in June last year.
e rm posted a net loss to shareholders of GBP994,000 in the six months ending June 30, versus a loss of GBP611,000 a year earlier, largely because of lower output.
Ascent’s stock was down 34% at 0.062 [0.124] pence a er the proposed changes were announced.
“The shares have been marked down this morning. However, [they] remain at a strong premium to the proposed level of placing,” HydroCarbon Capital founder and market expert Malcolm Wood wrote in a research note. “Shareholders as I suggested have been keenly waiting for a shake-up; this seems to me to tick pretty much every box I would want if I was a shareholder in Ascentl; exciting times ahead....”
Midia gas to arrive on time if laws are improved
ROMANIA
Operations are behind schedule but Midia’s gas can still arrive in 2021, BSOG has said.
BLACK Sea Oil and Gas (BSOG), which has already made the nal investment decision to exploit the Midia o shore gas block in Roma- nia’s Black Sea, maintains its goal of bringing the rst gas to shore in 2021 despite the operations lagging slightly behind schedule, the compa- ny’s management told in an energy conference quoted by economica.net.
However, the executives mentioned expecta- tions from the Romanian authorities as well, specif- ically that the legislation on gas exploitation should be amended before BSOG starts delivering gas.
“We are a little late, the project is at 25% ver- sus 50% planned, but we will start the extraction in 2021,” said Mark Beacom, CEO of Black Sea Oil and Gas, at ZF Power Summit.
Midia has potential gas reserves of between 10bn and 20bn cubic meters.
Beacom explained that BSOG will spend another $300mn to start commercial gas extrac- tion, a er spending $200mn.
Commenting on the need to amend legisla- tion, Beacom added: “We insist, it is vital that by the time we start producing gas, things must be resolved, I hope common sense will prevail, I would not want to be perceived as a liar [and pull out of the project].”
e changes mentioned by Beacom target the reduction of the additional taxes set by the O shore Law, higher deductions for investments and the possibility of selling the gas freely on the market.
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