Exploration firm Petrel Resources plans to float on London's alternative investment market (AIM) before the end of the month, its secretary Mr Jim Finn said yesterday.
The company chaired by Dr John Teeling also revealed that it raised about £800,000 sterling through a share placement and the disposal of oil assets in Uganda.
Mr Finn said Petrel's application to join the AIM, which is being processed by Bristol firm Rowan Dartington, was at an advanced stage. The listing would value the company at £3.5£4 million sterling, he added.
Its chairman Dr John Teeling told last month's a.g.m. that the listing was being sought because "institutions find it difficult to invest" in companies trading on the OFEX exchange, the over-the-counter market in London where Petrel is currently listed. "Our directors institutional and City contacts have indicated strong interest in Petrel's Iraqi opportunities," Dr Teeling told the meeting.
Dr Teeling had already signalled that its interests in Nambia, offshore Ireland and Uganda will play "little or no part in our immediate future" as the company would concentrate on securing licences to drill oil at two fields in northern Iraq.
Mr Finn said the £450,000 yield from its Ugandan oil assets represented the value of its 10 per cent interest in an exploration bloc it co-owned with Heritage Oil & Gas Inc., which bought Petrel out. The money used was generated from the placement institutions and private clients of 4.5 million 10p shares in Petrel owned by Heritage.
In a related transaction Petrel raised £357,400 sterling before expenses from a private placement of some 3.574 million 10p shares with institutions and private clients.
Both placements were managed by Petrel's brokers, London-based firm Keith, Bayley, Rogers & Co.
The company is carrying out a technical and commercial feasibility study, which it plans to submit, along with a work proposal, to the Iraqi authorities in the second half of the month. "Following the submission, Petrel management will commence negotiations on commercial terms," it said in a statement.