Update on the Angolan Acquisitions

RNS Number : 6089J

Afentra PLC

14 December 2022

 

14 December 2022

AFENTRA P L C

Update on the Angolan Acquisitions

Afentra plc ('Afentra' or the 'Company') provides the following update regarding the previously announced Angolan acquisitions.

Sonangol Acquisition

On 28 April 2022, the Company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Afentra (Angola) Ltd, had signed a sale and purchase agreement with Sonangol Pesquisa e Producao S.A. ('Sonangol') to purchase non-operating interests in Block 3/05 (20%) and Block 23 (40%), offshore Angola (the 'Sonangol Acquisition'). As set out in the admission document published by the Company on 10 August 2022, the Sonangol Acquisition is subject to a number of conditions precedent (the 'CPs'), including the receipt of governmental approvals and the extension of the Block 3/05 Production Sharing Agreement ('PSA') until at least 31 December 2040.

The Company remains in discussion with all relevant parties and is continuing to make good progress on the transaction.  An important CP for the transaction is the PSA extension process; ANPG and the Block 3/05 contractor group continue to progress this matter. Nevertheless, the PSA extension is now unlikely to be finalised before 31 December 2022 and the Company, together with Sonangol, are working on extending the long stop date for the Sonangol Acquisition in order to facilitate satisfaction of the remaining CPs to enable completion in Q1 2023.

INA Acquisition

On 19 July 2022, the Company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Afentra (Angola) Ltd, had signed an SPA with INA - Industrija Nafte d.d. ('INA') to purchase a 4% interest in Block 3/05 and an up to 5.33% interest¹ in Block 3/05A offshore Angola (the 'INA Acquisition'). As set out in the admission document published by the Company on 10 August 2022, the INA Acquisition also remains subject to a number of CPs.

Good progress has been made with INA and the relevant authorities. The transaction is now with the Ministry awaiting Governmental approval, and formal completion is anticipated to occur in early 2023. Given the progress made to date, there is not considered to be any requirement to extend the long-stop date pursuant to the INA Acquisition at this time, as set out in the Company's admission document.

Block 3/05 operational update

Block 3/05 production for the first nine months of 2022 has been stable and in-line with expectation at 19,160 bopd gross. This is equivalent to ~4,600 bopd net to Afentra upon completion of the Sonangol and INA Acquisitions. The Company looks forward to continuing to guide the market on operational performance.

Finally, we have made good progress in our search for a further independent Non-Executive Director and are in the final stage of this process, which will ensure a further strengthening of the Afentra Board as we expand the Company's portfolio. We hope to be in a position to finalise this appointment around the time of completion of the Sonangol Acquisition.

The Company looks forward to providing shareholders with further updates in due course.

Commenting on the update, CEO Paul McDade said:

"We expect governmental approval of the INA Acquisition shortly which will allow us to complete this acquisition, marking our entry into Angola in early 2023 and the inception of our partnership with Sonangol in Blocks 3/05 and 3/05A with whom we intend to work closely with to optimise production and to extend the life of this quality, long-life asset. We are pleased that significant progress has been made on the award of the license extension and look forward to this being completed so that we can proceed with the Sonangol Acquisition in the near future."

For further information contact:

Afentra plc [phone]

Paul McDade, CEO

Anastasia Deulina, CFO

Buchanan (Financial PR) [phone]

Ben Romney

Jon Krinks

Peel Hunt LLP (Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker) [phone]

Richard Crichton

Paul Gillam

David McKeown

Tennyson Securities (Joint Broker) [phone]

Peter Krens

About Afentra

Afentra plc (AIM:AET) is an upstream oil and gas company focused on opportunities in Africa. The Company's purpose is to support a responsible energy transition in Africa by establishing itself as a credible partner for divesting IOCs and Host Governments. Afentra has a current carried interest in the Odewayne Block onshore southwestern Somaliland.

Inside Information

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of Regulation 2014/596/EU (which forms part of domestic UK law pursuant to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018) ('UK MAR'). Upon publication of this announcement, this inside information (as defined in UK MAR) is now considered to be in the public domain. For the purposes of UK MAR, the person responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of Afentra is Paul McDade, Chief Executive Officer.

¹ Subject to final approval of the distribution of the China Sonangol International ('CSI') interest to the remaining joint venture partners, increasing Afentra's working interest in Block 3/05A from 4% to 5.33%

 

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