MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Argos Resources negotiating its North Falkland Basin production license with Canadian company

Argos Resources confirmed the Board intends to seek shareholder approval for the Company to be wound up and a liquidator appointed ahead of the cancellation

Falkland Islands oil and gas exploration Argos Resources Ltd has announced changes in its board of directors, until a general meeting of shareholders is announced, and the executive directors finalize the sale of its PL001 production license interests in the North Falkland Basin to JHI Associates. The Argos sold asset is expected to be a shareholding in JHI.

 Meantime since July the company's shares have been suspended from trading on AIM London.

According to JHI Associates presentation they are a company based in Toronto, Canada, and is the premier Guyana-focused deepwater exploration company. With leadership actively exploring offshore Guyana since 1998, “our world-class technical team has experience around the Atlantic Margin, including with Guyana’s basin-opening discoveries”. JHI has been working with Super Major partners ExxonMobil and Total, and Guyana-based Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas, Inc.

Argos provided an update of the proposed disposal of the PL001 Production license to JHI Associates.

On 3 May 2023, Argos announced that it had entered into a License Acquisition Agreement (LAA) with JHI, pursuant to which JHI would acquire Argos' PL001 Production License interests in the North Falkland Basin in return for consideration primarily comprising new JHI Common Shares.  Assuming completion of the LAA, the Company's sole asset would be a holding in JHI Common Shares and in this scenario the Directors believed that it would be in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders to seek shareholder approval for cancellation of the admission of the Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM. The Disposal and the Cancellation were approved by Argos' shareholders at a general meeting of the Company held on 26 May 2023.

On 18 August 2023, the Company announced that to provide additional time for receipt of the required consent to the transfer of the License, Argos and JHI had signed an addendum to the LAA to extend the long stop date for completion to 30 September 2023.

 The Company also confirmed that the Board intends to seek shareholder approval for the Company to be wound up and a liquidator appointed ahead of the Cancellation, conditional on the LAA completing.

 In the Company's circular dated 3 May 2023, it was anticipated that the non-executive directors of the Company would resign as directors of the Company shortly after the Cancellation was effective.  As the Company now intends to seek shareholder approval for the Company to be wound up and a liquidator appointed ahead of the Cancellation, the Company confirms that Dennis Carlton, Christopher Fleming and James Ragg have all resigned as non-executive directors of the Company with immediate effect.

 Executive Chairman Ian Thomson, John Hogan, Managing Director, and Andrew Irvine Finance Director intend to remain as directors of the Company for the purposes of placing the Company into members voluntary liquidations, subject to the required shareholder approval being obtained, completion of the LAA and the Cancellation occurring.

 Argos Resources will set out further details of its intention for the Company to be wound up and a liquidator appointed in a circular and notice of meeting to convene the general meeting, which is expected to be posted to shareholders on or around 31 August 2023.