MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands' Sea Lion funding, Rockhopper's primary focus until end of 2018
Rockhopper CEO Sam Moody. “Good progress has been made on a range of commercial, fiscal, regulatory and financing matters associated with the Sea Lion project” Oil and gas business Rockhopper Exploration said on Thursday that its primary focus for the remainder of the financial year was to further progress funding proposals aimed at sanctioning its Sea Lion field project in the Falkland Islands by the end of 2018.
The firm swung to a pre-tax loss of US$7m over the six months leading to 30 June from a US$104.3m profit at the same time a year earlier, as the previous year's mark-up of the 'fair value' of the assets acquired from Falklands Oil & Gas failed to repeat.
Revenues were higher by 74% to US$5.1m, contributing to a small gross profit of US$728,000.
The firm said discussions with British export credit agency UK Export Finance were already underway over a proposed £800m in senior debt financing for Sea Lion, talks with potential contractors for the project were also said to be moving ahead as it had received non-binding proposals for much of the proposed finance with more expected to arrive in the near future.
Significantly, the outfit revised lower the estimated capex bill for the first phase of the project to £1.5bn, down from an initial projection of US$1.8bn.
In terms of production, Rockhopper doubled its oil production, moving from 0.6 thousand barrels of oil equivalents per day (kboepd) to 1.2 kboepd. Despite that, earnings per share sank further into the red, with the company reporting a 0.91p loss versus EPS of 23.77p at the end of the first half of 2016.
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Read all commentsDon't the Argentinians claim the waters around the Falkland Islands?
Sep 08th, 2017 - 09:48 am +1Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana stated in February 2010, that his Government would take 'all measures necessary to preserve our rights' and also reiterated that Argentina had a permanent claim' on the islands, saying 'Buenos Aires would complain to the UN over the oil project and might take the case to the International Courts of Justice in the Hague.' (British Drilling For Falklands Oil Threatens Argentine Relations, Pope, F. , 13 Feb 2010 and Potential Drilling off Falkland, Provokes Tension Between Argentina & UK, IRRU News, 17 Feb 2010).
Question. Why is it taking so long? Only one answer...
Falklands – Territorial Waters: https://www.academia.edu/10574593/Falklands_Islands_Territorial_Waters
England will return the Malvinas within 25 years.
Sep 11th, 2017 - 04:27 am 0Return? I do not believe that there is anyone to whom they have to return them!
Sep 12th, 2017 - 03:37 pm 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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