13 June 2024
Orcadian Energy plc
(“Orcadian Energy”, “Orcadian” or the “Company”)
Long Term Loan Agreement
Orcadian Energy (AIM:ORCA) is pleased to announce that, further to the announcement on 22 May 2024, it has entered into a secured long term loan agreement with an industry partner (the “Partner”). The Partner has agreed to loan Orcadian up to £1,150,000 for a period of two years. As announced on 22 May 2024, the loan is intended to be settled from the completion payment due under a proposed farm-in or joint venture arrangement on Orcadian’s recently offered SNS licence.
Interest shall accrue from the drawdown date to the date the loan is repaid in full. The interest rate will be determined at drawdown and is expected to be between 6% and 9%.
It is expected that drawdown will occur before 30 June 2024. The purpose of the loan is to enable Orcadian to repay the outstanding loan to Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (“STASCO”). STASCO has agreed an extension to its facility agreement with Orcadian so that the repayment date on that loan will now be 30 June 2024. Upon repayment of the STASCO loan Orcadian will provide the Partner with a security over its 18.75% interest in the Pilot field.
Steve Brown, Orcadian’s CEO, said:
“We are delighted to have finalised this facility agreement with our Partner, and we are looking forward to updating the market on our plans to build upon this partnership in the future.”
For further information on the Company please visit the Company’s website: https://orcadian.energy
Contact:
Orcadian Energy plc |
+ 44 20 7920 3150 |
Steve Brown, CEO Alan Hume, CFO |
|
Zeus (Nomad and Joint Broker) |
+44 20 3829 5000 |
Dan Bate / Alex Campbell-Harris (Investment Banking) Simon Johnson (Corporate Broking) |
|
Novum (Joint Broker) |
+44 207 399 9425 |
Colin Rowbury / Jon Belliss |
|
Tavistock (PR) |
+ 44 20 7920 3150 |
Nick Elwes / Simon Hudson |
About Orcadian Energy
Orcadian is a North Sea focused, low emissions, oil and gas exploration and development company. Orcadian may be a small operator, but it is also nimble, and the Directors believe it has grasped opportunities that have eluded some of the much bigger companies. As we strike a balance between Net Zero and a sustainable energy supply, Orcadian intends to play its part to minimise the cost of Net Zero and to deliver reliable energy to the UK.
Orcadian’s key asset is the Pilot oilfield, Pilot was discovered by PetroFina in 1989 and has been well appraised. The field has excellent quality reservoir and contains 263MMbbl of a viscous oil ranging in gravity from 17º API in the South of the reservoir to 12º API in the North. In planning the Pilot development, Orcadian has selected polymer flooding and wind power to transform the production of viscous oil into a cleaner and greener process. Polymer significantly reduces fluid handling requirements and hence energy consumption as well as boosting recovery. Ithaca Energy, operator of the Captain field in the Inner Moray Firth, has enjoyed consistent success in applying polymer flood to the highly analogous Captain field. Following the recent farm-down of Pilot, the project is now under the stewardship of Ping Petroleum UK PLC (“Ping”) and is intended to be amongst the lowest carbon emitting oil production facilities in the world.
Ping is progressing a low-emissions, phased, field development plan for Pilot based upon a polymer flood of the reservoir, a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) and provision of power from a floating wind turbine or a local wind farm.
Orcadian has an 18.75% fully carried interest in licence P2244 (block 21/27a) and a 100% interest in licence P2482 (blocks 28/2a and 28/3a). Ping is operator of P2244 and the Pilot development project. As noted above Orcadian has also been offered three licences in the 33rd licensing process and expects formal issues of these licences in due course.
The Mid-North Sea High licence contains shallow gas leads. Orcadian applied in partnership with Triangle Energy, an Australian listed energy company. Orcadian would be licence administrator and would hold 50% of the offered licence. The Mid-North Sea High licence covers blocks 29/16, 29/17, 29/18, 29/19, 29/21, 29/22, 29/23, 29/27 and 29/28.
The Fynn licence contains a very substantial heavy oil discovery. About 88% of the resource on a best technical case is estimated to lie within the area of the offered licence. Orcadian has been offered a 50% working interest in the Fynn licence to be operated by the Parkmead Group. The Fynn licence covers blocks 14/15a, 14/20d and 15/11a.
The SNS licence, 100% Orcadian, contains the Earlham discovery, a low-calorie gas discovery with 114bcf of methane resources on a P50 basis, the Clover prospect which has P50 prospective resources of 153bcf, and the decommissioned Orwell field which has redevelopment potential, alongside a number of smaller prospects.