Bahamas Petroleum Company PLC Licence Update (0111A)

TIDMBPC

RNS Number : 0111A

Bahamas Petroleum Company PLC

21 March 2017

21 March 2017

Bahamas Petroleum Company plc

("Bahamas Petroleum" or the "Company")

Licence Update

Bahamas Petroleum Company, the oil and gas exploration company with a significant prospective resource in licences in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas is pleased to provide the following update on various activities.

Licence Extension

In June 2015 the Government of The Bahamas renewed the Company's four southern licences, for a second three year exploration term. The Company's principal work obligation under the renewal was to commence activity on an initial exploration well by April 2017.

The Government of The Bahamas has today extended the time for the performance of the obligations and requirements of BPC under its Licence Renewals for a further period of 12 months, as applies to its four co-joined southern licences. The impact of the above is that the Company will now not be obliged to commence activity on an initial exploration well until April 2018.

Farm-Out

The Company is singularly focussed on commencing responsible and safe drilling operations as soon as possible, and to this end remains in advanced discussions with various potential funding and operating partners. The Company considers that the licence extension provided by The Government will be an important consideration in further advancing these discussions.

Cash Position

The Company closed the end of 2016 with a freely available cash balance of approximately $1 million and a reserved cash position of an additional $0.5 million, retained by the Company's bank in the form of a performance bond issued in 2015 as part of the Licence Renewal, which will revert to the Company during 2017 (the Company has satisfied the relevant obligations this bond secured).

The Company has previously announced various cost saving measures, including that the Board and senior management have agreed to certain fee and remuneration deferrals, so as to preserve cash resources through any extended farm-out process. These cost saving measures and deferrals will continue until such time as future funding is secured.

As such, the Company's ongoing overheads are minimised, and the Board considers the Company has sufficient financial resources to take it through the conclusion of the farm out process.

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

 
 Bahamas Petroleum Company plc    Tel: +44 (0) 
  Simon Potter, Chief Executive    1624 647 882 
  Officer 
 Strand Hanson Limited - Nomad    Tel: +44 (0) 
  Rory Murphy / James Spinney      20 7409 3494 
 CAMARCO                          Tel: +44 (0) 
  Billy Clegg / Gordon Poole       20 3757 4983 
 

Notes to editors:

Bahamas Petroleum Company is an oil and gas exploration company with 100% owned offshore licences exclusively focused on the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The Company has significant prospective resources, which have been de-risked through both extensive 2D and 3D seismic. The four Southern Licences, with a newly agreed well obligation date of April 2017, run until 2Q 2018 when the licences may be renewed a further two times. The Company is intent on delivering safe and environmentally responsible exploration.

www.bpcplc.com

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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March 21, 2017 03:01 ET (07:01 GMT)