88 Energy Limited (“88 Energy” or the “Company”) (ASX, AIM: 88E) today announces that it proposes to raise up to A$10.0 million (£5.8 million) (before expenses), with the ability to accept over-subscriptions of up to A$4.99 million (£2.8 million) within the Company’s existing placement capacity, pursuant to a placing (the “Placing”) of new ordinary shares of no par value in the Company (the “Placing Shares”) at a price per Placing Share of A$0.009 (equivalent to 0.5189 pence) (the “Placing Price”).
The Placing Price is equivalent to a discount of 18.2% to the closing price of the Company’s shares on the Australian Securities Exchange (“ASX”) on 9 August 2022, being the latest practicable date prior to this announcement, and a discount of 18.9% to the volume weighted average price on theASXfor the ten days to 9 August 2022. The Company alsoannounces that its shares have been placed in a trading halt on the ASX pending the release of an announcement in relation to the completion of the Placing.
The Placing is being conducted through a bookbuilding process (the “Bookbuild”), which is being managed by Cenkos Securities plc (“Cenkos”) in the UK (the “UK Placing”) and EurozHartleys Ltd (“EurozHartleys”) in Australia (the “AustralianPlacing”).
The Bookbuild will open with immediate effect following release of this announcement. The number of Placing Shares to be issued in the UK (the “UK Placing Shares”) and in Australia (the “Australian Placing Shares”) will be agreed by Cenkos, EurozHartleys and the Company at the close of the Bookbuild. The timing of the closing of the Bookbuild, the amount to be raised and allocations are at the discretion of Cenkos, EurozHartleys and the Company. Details of the number of Placing Shares to be issued will be announced as soon as practicable after the close of the Bookbuild. The Company intends to rely on the Company’s placement capacity pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 7.1 to issue up to a maximum of 1,665,558,611 new ordinary shares (equivalent to maximum gross proceeds of approximately A$ 14.99 million (£ 8.6 million )), such that shareholder approval will not be required for the Placing.
Current trading and activity
The Company released its financial results for the half-year ending 30 June 2022 (“H1 2022”), including the events occurring after the period end, on 10 August 2022, and recently the Company released its second quarter report on 14 July 2022, and as at 30 June 2022 had cash resources of A$10.5 million.
Project Icewine East: Maiden Independent Prospective Resource Estimate of 1.03 Billion Barrels*
Highlights
· Maiden Independent Prospective Resource estimate completed at Project Icewine East.
· Total estimated Prospective Resource of 1.03 billion barrels (Bnbbls) of oil* recoverable from multiple reservoir zones.
· Independently certified prospective resource estimate prepared by Lee Keeling & Associates, Inc., a US based independent expert petroleum and engineering firm.
· Substantial oil volumes noted across all mapped play fairways, in particular the Seabee – Lower Basin Floor (BFF) and the Shelf Margin Delta (SMD) reservoirs.
· 88 Energy Limited is intending to drill an exploration well on the acreage in 2023.
88 Energy Limited (ASX:88E, AIM:88E, OTC:EEENF) ( 88 Energy or the Company ) is pleased to report a maiden, independently certified Prospective Resource estimate of 1.03 Bnbbls of oil (gross mean, unrisked) for Project Icewine East (~75% net working interest).
Significant prospective resources have been estimated across all the recently mapped Shelf Margin Delta ( SMD ), Slope Fan System ( SFS ), Basin Floor Fan ( BFF ) and Kuparuk ( KUP ) play fairways on the Icewine East acreage. Importantly, these are mapped as the same Brookian / Beaufortian reservoirs that nearby Pantheon wells – Alkaid-1, Talitha-A and Theta West-1 – have flowed 35⁰ to 40⁰ API oil. Pantheon’s previous well tests have also confirmed reservoir deliverability of light, sweet oil (see Pantheon releases of 7 February, 21 February and 24 March 2022), which 88 Energy believes is positive for the prospectivity of the adjacent Icewine East acreage.
The maiden Independent Prospective Resource Report was completed by Lee Keeling and Associates, Inc. ( LKA ). The initial total prospective resource follows a period of review of an extensive data suite that included seismic data, well logs from Icewine-1 and nearby wells adjacent to the Icewine East acreage, recent petrophysical analysis and mapping. LKA are an independent US based expert petroleum geoscience and engineering consulting firm who have significant and recent experience in providing resource estimates globally as well as more specifically in Alaska.
* Gross mean unrisked prospective resource
Managing Director, Ashley Gilbert, commented:
“This maiden, independently certified 1.03 Bnbbls of oil resource estimate is a great result for 88E and its shareholders. Resources of this magnitude present our shareholders with significant upside potential and opportunity, which is why we continue to focus on our Alaskan portfolio and believe significant value exists in our Icewine East acreage.
Importantly, it is worth noting that the Icewine East acreage has been significantly de-risked by the recent Pantheon drilling and flow tests on their adjacent acreage, as well as data from the Icewine-1 well logs, and more recently the leased Franklin Bluffs 3D data set. This work substantially increases our confidence in unlocking the potential of the Icewine East acreage and is by far, the most compelling data suite the Company has analysed ahead of drilling any well.
Full interpretation of the recently licensed FB3D data is ongoing, including AVO analysis, to define ‘sweet spots’ for each play and determine optimal future exploration and appraisal drilling locations, the first of which is planned for 2023.”
Prospective Resources Estimate – Icewine East
The assessed maiden Prospective Resource estimate associated with 88 Energy’s Icewine East acreage (~75% net working interest) is summarised below.
1. 88 Energy net resources have been calculated using a 75.227% working interest and a 16.5% royalty.
2. The unrisked means, which have been arithmetically summed, are not representative of expected total from the prospects and implies a success case in all reservoir intervals. 88 Energy cautions that the arithmetically summed 1U estimate may be a conservative estimate and the arithmetically summed 3U estimate may be optimistic when compared to a statistical aggregation of probability distributions.
3. COS represents the geological chance of success as assessed by 88 Energy and reviewed and endorsed by LKA.
4. Prospects are subject to a phase risk (oil vs gas). Chance of oil has been assessed as 100% for all targets except for the Kuparuk Formation which has been assessed as 70%. Phase risk has not been applied to the unrisked numbers.
5. The Prospective Resources have not been adjusted for the chance of development. Quantifying the chance of development (COD) requires consideration of both economic and other contingencies, such as legal, regulatory, market access, political, social license, internal and external approvals and commitment to project finance and development timing. As many of these factors are outside the knowledge of LKA they must be used with caution.
Cautionary Statement : The estimated quantities of petroleum that may be potentially recovered by the application of a future development project relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration, appraisal and evaluation are required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially movable hydrocarbons.
The data used to compile the independent prospective resource report includes reprocessed 2D seismic data, basin modelling, petrophysical analysis of publicly available wells and historical geological records. The data was compiled and interpreted by 88E and was reviewed, validated and in some cases modified independently by LKA.
LKA’s methodology for determining Prospective Resources for Project Peregrine
LKA has determined Prospective Resources by examining the areas of consistent bright amplitude that were mapped by independent consultants to 88E, Jordan and Pay, using the reprocessed 2D seismic data within the Icewine East area. Parameters including potential pool area and thickness, porosity, hydrocarbon saturation, oil expansion and recovery factor were estimated on a probabilistic low, mid and high basis. The Prospective Resources distributions were then aggregated into four (4) prospects, on the basis that one (1) well could effectively test all the mapped prospective intervals. The unrisked prospective resources estimates (and associated geological chance of success) were modelled using Monte-Carlo analysis on the assumption there was no economic minimum and that volumes and risks of each of the prospective intervals within each prospect were independent.
The Prospective Resources have not been adjusted for phase risk or chance of development. 88 Energy and LKA have considered the chance of discovering oil over gas to be 100% for all targets except for the Kuparuk Formation which was assessed to be 70%. Chance of development has not been estimated.
Please refer to the disclaimers attached as Schedule 1 of this ASX release for more information on the prospective resource report.
About LKA
LKA is a U.S. based independently owned petroleum Reserves and Resources auditor and engineering consultants, providing expert consultancy services to the upstream oil and gas industry since 1957. LKA technical staff include a wide range of professionally qualified engineers and geologists, who provide geoscience, reservoir, facilities and cost engineering and economic/commercial expertise in conventional and unconventional projects. Examples of current clients are noted on their website ( https://www.lkaengineers.com/clients/ ) and include independent oil and gas operators, international, state and federal government agencies, bank and financial institutions, as well as legal and accounting firms.
Media and Investor Relations:
88 Energy Ltd
Ashley Gilbert, Managing Director
Tel: +61 8 9485 0990
Email:[email protected]
