U.S. Oil and Gas plc
(“USOIL” or the “Company”)
Placing & Updates
U.S. Oil and Gas plc (PLUS: USOP), the oil and gas exploration company with exploration assets in Nye County, Nevada, announces that it has today placed 5,095,545 new ordinary shares of €0.0001 each (the “Placing Shares”) at a price of 5.5p per share (the “Placing”). The Placing has raised gross proceeds of approximately £280,255 for the Company which will be used to complete the preparations for a drilling programme planned for later in the year.
USOIL’s Chief Executive Officer, Brian McDonnell, said:
“The current round of funding, which raised more than we originally anticipated, will enable us to complete the full work programme in preparation for our first well drilling target.”
Updates Regarding the Eblana Project and the Local Petroleum System:
In addition to the announcement of the Placing, the Company wishes to provide the following updates regarding its Eblana project and the local petroleum system. The Company is exploring in a proven prolific oil & gas region. Operators in Nye County’s Railroad Valley include: Shell Oil, Gulf Oil, Texaco (Chevron), Marathon Oil, Husky Oil, Amoco and Phillips Petroleum.
The evidence available to the Directors indicates that Eblana has the following characteristics:
• The source rock is five times richer in hydrocarbons than the Covenant field (an organic content of 5-6% vs. 1%).
• The site has a thermally mature source rock, which the Directors believe is ideal for oil generation. The site also has a good reservoir rock, which is porous and permeable.
• The potential oil in situ is of a low viscosity.
• The local geology is good for seals and traps.
• The drive mechanism is water.
Analogs to Railroad Valley oil fields in Hot Creek Valley are near intersections of lineaments with graben faults, within the deepest segments of the graben system. The Cenozoic rocks in Hot Creek Valley are probably a few thousand feet thinner than in Railroad Valley (i.e., probably 7,000-9,000 ft). The west side fault system is steeper than the east side in Hot Creek Valley (the opposite to the situation in Railroad Valley). The Directors believe that the Northern Nevada Rift is related to the Trap Spring & Railroad Valley oil.
Preliminary Analysis of Latest Geochemical Results in Hot Creek Valley:
USOIL has received the results of geochemical tests from its Eblana Phase 1, Sections 1 (West) and 3 (East) survey areas, and preliminary analysis of Section 3 (East) data confirms the presence of oil. This result confirms the company’s choice of Section 3 (East) as its second well-drilling target. Preliminary analysis of data from Section 1 (West) has not yet been undertaken.
The IPDS Passive Seismic Survey results reported on 26th February 2010 showed high DHI (Direct Hydrocarbons Indicator) readings for Section 3 (East) of up to 0.59 DHI, leading USOIL to nominate this section as its likely second well-drilling target. Section 2 (North), with DHI of 0.96, was identified as the likely first target.
Positive geochemical results for Section 2 (North) have already been reported. Seepage of hydrocarbons from the subsurface at Section 3 (East), is now also confirmed, correlating highly with IPDS and gravity/magnetic survey results. The full analysis of Section 3 geochemical results will be released shortly.
USOIL’s managing director Mr. Brian McDonnell said, ‘The correlations between these and other data sets are very encouraging. We are getting highly consistent results from each of our survey activities.’
The geochemical results for Section 3 (East) will now be integrated with the geophysical, geochemical and passive seismic information already collected, to complete the stratigraphic picture for the second of USOIL’s well-drilling targets.
Future Work Programme:
US OIL’s work programme over the next four months should include:
• integration of the results to date to complete a stratigraphic overview;
• progress an Application for Permit to Drill with Nevada’s Bureau of Land Management;
• complete geochemical survey over Eblana Sections 1 and 3;
• undertake additional seismic survey over Eblana Sections 2 and 3; and
• prepare Eblana Phase 1 Section 2 drilling programme
USOIL intends to spend approx. £2,200,000 on the Eblana Phase 1 Section 2 and 3well drilling programme and intends to be ready to drill targets identified in 2010.
Substantial Shareholdings:
The following table sets out details of changes in the percentage of voting rights held by Directors and Substantial Shareholders, subsequent to the Placing, which are disclosable under the Financial Services Authority’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules and the PLUS Rules.
Name
Number of Ordinary Shares held prior to the Placing
Number of Ordinary Shares currently held
Percentage of the voting rights in the issued ordinary share capital of the Company prior to the Placing (%)
Percentage of the voting rights in the issued ordinary share capital of the Company after the Placing (%)
*James T Guiry****
3,129,183
3,216,456
11.77%
10.15%
*Brian J McDonnell***
4,655,000
4,844,091
17.51%
15.29%
Liam T McGrattan**
4,053,576
4,053,576
15.25%
12.80%
Nial P Ring*
4,490,000
4,490,000
16.89%
14.18%
Denis O’ Sullivan
1,500,000
1,572,727
5.64%
4.97%
Humphry O’ Sullivan
1,500,000
1,572,727
5.64%
4.97%
Christopher K Comerford
0
100,000
0.00%
0.32%
HB Markets plc
0
1,250,000
0.00%
3.95%
SVS Securities plc
0
2,000,000
0.00%
6.31%
*Included in Brian McDonnell, Nial Ring and James T. Guiry’s holdings are shares owned by Spurt Concepts Limited, a company of which Brian McDonnell, Nial Ring and James T. Guiry are shareholders and directors.
**Included in Liam McGrattan’s holding is the holding of Wilhan Ltd., a company wholly owned by Liam McGrattan.
***Included in Brian McDonnell’s holding is the holding of Carrefour Training and Development Ltd., a company of which Brian McDonnell is a shareholder and director.
****James T. Guiry’s holding includes ordinary shares held by his wife via both joint and several holdings.
The above interests relate to legal and beneficial holdings.
Shares in Issue:
All Placing Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing fully paid ordinary shares. The Placing Shares and the existing ordinary shares each have one right to vote per share. Following the Placing the total issued share capital of the Company will increase to 31,674,807 ordinary shares.
The above figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company, under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules. The Company’s total issued share capital is now €3,167.48.
THE DIRECTORS OF THE COMPANY ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
—ENDS—
For further information contact:
US Oil and Gas plc
Brian McDonnell, Chief Executive Officer+353 (0) 872383419
[email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
SVS Securities plc – PLUS Corporate Adviser
Peter Ward / Alexander Brearley+44 (0)20 7638 5600
SVS Securities plc – Broker
Ian Callaway / Alex Mattey+44 (0)20 7638 5600
Conduit PR
Jonathan Charles +44 (0)20 7429 6611
[email protected] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it +44 (0)7791 892509
Notes to Editors
US Oil and Gas plc is a PLUS (Ticker: USOP) listed oil and gas exploration company with a strategy to identify and acquire oil and gas assets in the early phase of the upstream life-cycle and mature them into marketable opportunities for the medium- and large-sized oil companies. The Company’s main asset is in Nye County, Nevada where it holds the entire share capital of the US-based company Major Oil International LLC. Major Oil has acquired, and intends to acquire, rights to exploration and development acreage in two high potential resource areas in Hot Creek Valley, Nye County, adjacent to the oil and gas rich Railroad Valley area of Nevada, both of which are part of the Sevier Thrust of central Nevada and western Utah, USA.
For further information please refer to our website at: www.usoil.us
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