Alaska-focused oil and gas explorer 88 Energy, formerly Tangiers Petroleum, has announced it will raise $6.75 million through a share placement to fund operations at its flagship Project Icewine venture.
The announcement comes nearly a month after the company recruited UK oil and gas independent Premier Oil as its farm-in partner at the 214,000-hectare project in Alaska's North Slope region.
The placement will issue up to 540 million shares at 1.25 cents per share to domestic and international investors, with Hartleys acting as sole lead manager and brookrunner in Australia.
Funds raised, together with the company’s existing cash reserves of $6.5 million as at June 30, will fund potential costs at the Charlie-1 (Malguk-1 appraisal well), which will be drilled in the first quarter of 2020.
Drilling will test the reservoir deliverability of Malguk-1, which was drilled by BP in 1991.
The company said the placement would also strengthen its balance sheet and provide it with sufficient capital to fund lease rental payments, new venture opportunities, and finance ongoing working capital requirements as well as general and administrative overheads.
88 Energy managing director David Wall said the placement strongly positioned the company as it prepared for the drilling.
“Charlie-1 will be funded up to $US23 million by Premier Oil Plc, a highly credentialed partner that has recently farmed in,” he said.
“Drilling the Charlie-1 well will be a pivotal moment for the company as it seeks to unlock the large potential of the conventional plays on the acreage.”
Project Icewine conventional acreage has estimated gross mean prospective resources of 2.9 billion barrels of oil.
Shares in 88 Energy are trading at 1.4 cents per share as at 1:50 AEST.