UK Oil & Gas
PLC
("UKOG" or the
"Company")
Placing and Retail Offer to
fund new H2 storage site
UK Oil & Gas PLC (London AIM:
UKOG) is pleased to announce that it has successfully raised
gross proceeds of £0.5 million by means of a placing (the
"Placing") of new Ordinary Shares (the "Placing Shares") at a price
of 0.025 pence per share (the "Issue Price"). The Issue Price
represents a discount of approximately 26 per cent to the Closing
Price of 0.034 pence per Ordinary Share on 18th November
2024, being the latest practicable business day prior to the
publication of this Announcement.
In addition to the Placing, as the
Company greatly values its existing retail shareholder base, the
Company also intends to offer its existing retail shareholders a
"Retail Offer" of new Ordinary Shares at the same Issue Price as
the Placing (the "Retail Offer Shares" and together with the
Placing Shares the ("Fundraising Shares").
The Company will release a separate
announcement regarding the Retail Offer and its terms. For the
avoidance of doubt, the Placing is separate from and does not form
part of the Retail Offer.
Use
of Proceeds:
The Placing's proceeds will firstly
be employed to enable the acquisition of the Company's first salt
cavern hydrogen storage site in the East Yorkshire salt basin, the
UK's most extensive and thickest salt deposit and a key nationally
strategic area for future hydrogen and existing natural gas
storage. The acquisition of this site, along with the Company's
Dorset sites, would provide the Company with one of the
largest single portfolios of potential salt-cavern storage sites in
the UK.
The Company has a unique window of
opportunity to acquire long term purchase and leasehold rights to
the property, which lies firmly in the Government's East Coast
Track #1 Hydrogen cluster and within the UK's largest CO2 emissions
cluster, both prime targets within the Government's Clean Power
2030 strategy. The property also lies adjacent to the first
construction phase of the proposed Project Union national hydrogen
pipeline network, planned to connect hydrogen producers,
hydrogen-to-power stations, hydrogen storage and end users in the
East Coast Cluster and Teesside.
The envisaged surface development
area, which lies in farmland with direct access to the North Sea
for the brine necessary to dissolve the caverns, benefits from
strong planning precedence in the area for similar material
infrastructure projects, greatly increasing the likely probability
of securing the necessary Development Consent Order ("DCO"). A
future development would be of a similar material storage capacity
to the Company's primary Dorset project.
The proceeds will also permit the
Company to acquire all or some of the relevant Intellectual
Property relating to prior consented infrastructure developments in
the area, as well as helping materially advance the Company's
overall hydrogen storage portfolio towards applications for DCO and
Government Revenue Support in the First Hydrogen Storage Allocation
Round, now expected to launch in Q1 2025.
Additionally, the Company continues
in advanced discussions with an energy infrastructure investor
regarding participation in UKEn's current Dorset and new Yorkshire
projects. We look forward to providing further updates in due
course.
Placing Summary
·
The Placing raised £500,000 (before expenses)
through the issue of 2,000,000,000
Placing Shares at the Issue Price.
·
The net proceeds of the Placing will be utilised
as described above.
·
Participants in the Placing have subscribed on the
basis of the customary terms and conditions of the
Placing.
Stephen Sanderson UKOG's Chief Executive
commented:
"The company has decided to call on additional capital to take
advantage of the unique and timely opportunity to further its
acquisition of a new hydrogen storage development site in East
Yorkshire. The property is located firmly within the government's
E. Coast Track #1 hydrogen cluster and adjacent to the first phase
of connection to Project Union, the planned national hydrogen
pipeline network. Together with our primary Dorset project, the
addition of this site will help grow the Company's hydrogen storage
portfolio to one of the largest in the UK and position us to take
advantage of the government's planned Hydrogen Storage Allocation
Round in 2025."
Placing Information
The Placing has not been
underwritten by CMC and is conditional inter alia on the placing
agreement dated 18 November 2024 between the Company and CMC (the
"Placing Agreement") not having been terminated or breached and the
Admission of the Placing Shares to trading. CMC Markets UK Plc ("CMC"),
trading as CapX, acted as the Company's sole placing agent in
respect of the Placing.
The Placing Shares will be issued,
credited as fully paid, and will rank pari passu with the existing
Ordinary Shares in issue in the capital of the Company, including
the right to receive all dividends and other distributions (if any)
declared, made or paid on or in respect of such shares after the
date of their issue.
Admission to trading
Application will be made to AIM for
Admission, which is expected to become effective and dealings
in the Placing Shares to commence at, 8.00 a.m. on or around
25th November 2024.
Following Admission, the total
voting rights in the Company will therefore be 13,140,761,833 and
Shareholders will be able to use this figure as the denominator by
which they are required to notify their interest in, or change to
their interest in, the Company under the Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules.
For
further information, please contact:
UK Oil &
Gas Plc
Stephen Sanderson / Matt
Cartwright
Tel: 01483 941493
Zeus
(Nominated Adviser and
Broker)
James Joyce / James Bavister / Andrew de
Andrade
Tel: 020 3829 5000
CMC Markets
(Joint Broker)
Douglas
Crippen
Tel: 0203 003 8632
Communications
Brian Alexander
Tel:
01483 941493
The
information contained within this announcement is deemed by the
Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse
Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon
publication of this announcement, this information is now
considered to be in the public domain.
