Director/PDMR Shareholding

RNS Number : 9322A

Hurricane Energy PLC

26 February 2014

 

Embargoed: 0700hrs 26 February 2014

Hurricane Energy plc

("Hurricane" or the "Company")

Award of Shares under the Share Incentive Plan and Directors' purchase of Shares

Hurricane Energy plc (AIM: HUR.L), the UK-based oil and gas company focused on hydrocarbon resources in naturally fractured basement reservoirs,announces that it received notification on 25 February 2014 that, following payroll contributions made on 25 February 2014, MM&K Plan Trustees Limited ("SIP Trust"), trustee of the HMRC approved Hurricane Energy plc Share Incentive Plan ("SIP"), awarded 326,577 ordinary shares of £0.001 each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") to participants in the SIP at a price of 31 pence per share.

The SIP award has been satisfied in part by Ordinary Shares already held by the SIP and the issue of 282,729 new Ordinary Shares issued to the SIP at a subscription price of 31 pence per share, being the mid market closing price on 24 February 2014.

Each participating employee will receive an allocation of Partnership Shares (being shares acquired at market value using contributions deducted from employees' pre-tax salaries; "Partnership Shares"), Matching Shares (being ordinary shares of twice the number of Partnership Shares acquired by an employee which are paid for by the Company; "Matching Shares") and Free Shares (being ordinary shares to a value not exceeding £3,000 in the current tax year, which are paid for by the Company; "Free Shares").

Under the SIP, the following directors of the Company purchased or were awarded the following number of new Ordinary Shares:

Name	Number of Partnership Shares	Number of Matching Shares	Number of Free Shares
Dr Robert Trice	4,838	9,676	9,677
Nicholas Mardon  Taylor Keith Kirby Neil Platt	4,838 4,838 4,838	9,676 9,676 9,676	9,677 9,677 9,677

The Company further announces that on 24 February 2014 the Board approved the purchase of 102,903 new Ordinary Shares by the Chairman, John Hogan, at a subscription price of 31 pence per share, being the mid market closing price on 24 February 2014.

Accordingly, for the Directors who have purchased or been awarded new Ordinary Shares, their holdings are now as follows:

Name	Number of Ordinary Shares	%
John Hogan Dr Robert Trice	102,903 24,822,317	0.02 3.97
Nicholas Mardon Taylor	2,442,386	0.39
Keith Kirby Neil Platt	97,131 47,746	0.02 0.01

Application has been made for the 385,632 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission is expected to take place on 3 March 2014.  The shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares.

Following the SIP Awards and the purchase of new Ordinary Shares by the Chairman, Hurricane's total issued and voting share capital will comprise 632,267,788 Ordinary Shares.  This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, securities of the Company.

Contact Details:

Hurricane Energy plc	Keith Kirby, Chief Administrative Officer	[phone]	[e-mail]
Cenkos Securities plc	Derrick Lee Beth McKiernan	[phone]	[e-mail] [e-mail]
Vigo Communications	Patrick d'Ancona Ben Simons	[phone] [phone]	[e-mail] [e-mail]

Notes for Editors:

Hurricane is an oil and gas company focused on hydrocarbon resources in naturally fractured basement reservoirs. The Company intends to discover, appraise and develop oil reserves in basement rock and has successfully found oil on the UKCS. The Company has circa 450 MMboe of 2C Contingent Resources and 440 MMboe P50 Prospective Resources on acreage it controls 100% under licences P1368, P1485, P1835 and P1884.

Hurricane was founded in 2004 by Dr Robert Trice, alongside a private investor, in the belief that fractured basement reservoirs represent a significant untapped resource. The Company is headquartered in Godalming, Surrey and has office facilities in Aberdeen. The history of the Group is set out below:

2005          Formed a 50:50 joint venture partnership with Sunshine Oil plc. The joint venture applied for nine blocks West of Shetland in the 23rd Offshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round and was awarded operatorship of these blocks under frontier licence P1368.

2006          Drilled a dry well (Wellington sandstone prospect) fulfilling the work commitment on P1368 and securing the licence on the Lancaster, Whirlwind and Lincoln basement prospects.

2007          Awarded five licence blocks under the 24th Offshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round. Hurricane obtained ISO 14001 Environmental Management System accreditation.

2008          Hurricane raised approximately £43 million via an equity fundraising and acquired joint venture partner Sunshine Oil plc (now Hurricane Exploration (UK) Limited). Awarded two licences (PEDL 160 and PEDL 229) in the 13th Onshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round.

2009          Drilled successful Lancaster well under frontier licence P1368 and discovered light oil in fractured basement.

2010          Successful equity fundraising of £60 million to fund Lancaster and Whirlwind drilling. Awarded block 204/23c under traditional licence P1835 in 26th Offshore Oil and Gas Licencing Round. Hurricane undertook drilling and testing of the Lancaster sidetrack well which flowed at approximately 2,500 bopd (the well was suspended for future operations). Hurricane drilled the Whirlwind basement prospect and suspended the well for subsequent testing.

2011          Hurricane raised approximately £20 million through an equity fundraising. Relinquished its onshore licences. Hurricane re-entered Whirlwind for testing and successfully brought light oil and gas to the surface confirming a volatile oil or gas condensate discovery (the well was suspended for future operations).

2012          Raised approximately £28 million through an equity fundraising. Awarded 10 blocks West of Shetland under frontier licence P1884 in the 26th Offshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round.

2013          Completed a fundraising of approximately £31 million (through the issue of Convertible Loan Notes and new equity together with a Warrant to subscribe for equity) including a material contribution by BP. Changed name to Hurricane Energy plc. Entered into a rig contract to drill Lancaster appraisal well in 2013 but subsequently withdrew from the rig contract due to delayed availability of the rig. Relinquished offshore frontier licence P1884 and extended the third term of frontier licence P1368 to 21 December 2019. The Company extended the term for licence P1485 (Typhoon) to 31 December 2014.

2014          Entered into the Assignment Agreement to obtain the use of a rig to drill the Lancaster appraisal well in 2014.

Strategy and Focus

The Group's primary objective is to increase shareholder value through the exploration, appraisal and development of fractured basement reservoirs. The Directors' strategy to achieve this is as follows:

1)             Concentrate on basement in proven petroleum systems

To date, the Group's basement exploration approach has been to focus on areas where oil had been found in basement structures by previous operators but not progressed on the basis that the prevailing opinion at the time was that such discoveries were not commercial. Once such potential areas have been identified, the Group undertakes a high grading process involving the evaluation of existing geotechnical data to establish if, and where, suitable prospects may be present.

The Directors believe this approach serves to reduce exploration risk on basement prospects by ensuring a working hydrocarbon system is present and by having available a comprehensive geotechnical database (both seismic and well data).

2)             Regional focus on West of Shetland

Hurricane has established an attractive portfolio of exploration and appraisal projects, focused on fractured basement prospectivity West of Shetland. DECC believes that the West of Shetland/Atlantic margin contains the most significant remaining UK resources yet to be discovered, at approximately 7.9 billion boe. This prospectivity has led to the significant interest generated by the 27th Offshore Oil & Gas Licencing Round. The Directors believe that the potential scale of the recoverable resource within these fractured basement reservoirs presents the UK oil and gas industry with a significant opportunity to secure a material strategic asset.

3)             Ownership and operatorship during exploration and early stage appraisal

Hurricane has maintained 100% ownership and operatorship of all of its assets to date. The Directors believe that this puts the Company in a strong position to invite other industry participants to participate in the assets and share costs, in preparation for field development that will lead to producing assets.

4)             Maintain an influential equity position

As Hurricane progresses the Group's assets towards development it intends to seek potential partners through a farm-out or other process to assist in future development and implementation of the FDP whilst maintaining an influential equity position.

5)             Opportunities to acquire exploration licences in existing and new regions

Hurricane intends to participate in applications for new licence areas where the Group will be able to apply its technical expertise in basement reservoir evaluation to create value for its Shareholders. The Directors believe that the Group's skill set and its track record to date leave it well positioned to secure further licences in countries with low geopolitical risk.

 

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