EastSiberian Plc (TSXV: ESB) Announces the Lifting of the Trading Halt of ESB Shares on TSX Venture Exchange with the Completion of the NI 51-101 Reserve Report and License Title Opinions
ST. HELIER, Jersey, Feb. 11, 2013 /CNW/ – EastSiberian Plc
(“EastSiberian ” or the “Corporation”), an international junior oil
exploration company incorporated in the Bailiwick of Jersey, is pleased
to announce that the NI51-101 Reserve Report (the “Reserve Report”) on
the licences within the previously announced Farm-in Agreement with
East Siberian Resources Ltd. (“ESR”) has been completed by DeGolyer &
MacNaughton and submitted to the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”).
Title opinions (the “Opinions”) on these licences have also been
completed and submitted to the TSXV. It is anticipated that trading in
the Corporation’s stock will resume on or about February 12, 2013, as
the TSXV has accepted the reserve report as part of the required
documentation. Resumption of trading of the Company’s stock does not
guarantee the transaction will be completed or accepted by the TSXV.
Farm-in Agreement
The Farm-in Agreement between EastSiberian and ESR was announced on June
27, 2012. The Farm-in Agreement provides that the Corporation may earn
up to a 51% equity stake in two wholly-owned Cyprus subsidiaries of
ESR, Elranio Holdings Ltd. (“Elranio”) and Lesona Holdings Ltd.
(“Lesona” and Elranio and Lesona collectively, the “Holding
Companies”). Elranio indirectly holds, through CJSC Pacific Oil
Resources (“Pacific Oil”), a Russian entity, a 100% interest in an
exploration and production license located on the eastern onshore
portion of the Sakhalin Island. Lesona indirectly holds, through LLC
Mezhregionalnaya Toplivnaya Kompaniya (“MTK”), a Russian entity, one
oil production licence and one exploration and production licence
located in Eastern Siberia. ESR is owned 100% by the Alltech Group
(“Alltech” www.alltech.ru) of the Russian Federation, a private direct investment company.
The Corporation is pursuing a fund raising for approximately USD$50
million to fully fund the work program contemplated by the Farm-in
Agreement (the “Work Program”) and for general corporate purposes. The
fund raise is being pursued by a brokered private placement of common
shares of the Corporation (the “EastSiberian Shares”) at a market
determined price (the “Private Placement”). The original Farm-in
Agreement terms requires that an initial fund raise of at least USD$15
million was raised by December 31, 2012. On January 28, 2013, the
Corporation announced that it and ESR had signed an Addendum to the
Farm-in Agreement extending the Initial Fund Raise deadline to March
31, 2013 under the same terms and conditions as originally agreed..
The farm-in for 51% of the Elranio shares is based upon the funding of
the following potentially staged earn-in work programs to be performed
in relation to the Prizalivnaya Licence held by Elranio:
1. a 20% shareholding in Elranio will be earned following a US$15MM
investment by the Corporation in Elranio for drilling the first
development well. This development well will be drilled to the
target reservoir zone of interest and tested, to a minimum depth
of 4,000 metres;
2. a 20% shareholding in Elranio will be earned following an
additional US$10MM investment by the Corporation in Elranio for
drilling of the second development or delineation well. This
second development or delineation well will be drilled to the same
reservoir zone of interest and tested, to a minimum depth of 4,000
metres; and
3. an 11% shareholding in Elranio will be earned following an
additional US$5MM investment by the Corporation in Elranio for
shooting 200 km of 2D seismic or an equivalent agreed upon 3D
seismic program.
The farm-in for 51% of the Lesona shares is based upon the following
potentially staged earn-in funding for work program performed in
relation to the Verkhnepitskaya Licence and Borschevskaya Licences held
by Lesona:
1. a 26% shareholding in Lesona will be earned following a US$10MM
investment by the Corporation in Lesona for drilling the first
delineation well (1P) on the Borschevskaya Licence. This well will
be drilled updip from the oil water contact in the reservoir zone
of interest and tested, to a minimum depth of 2,700 metres ;
2. a 25% shareholding in Lesona will be earned following an
additional US$10MM investment by the Corporation in Lesona for
shooting 300 km of 2D seismic on the Borschevskaya Licence; and
shooting 700 km of 2D seismic on the Verkhnepitskaya Licence.
The earn-in period as defined in the Farm-in Agreement is three (3)
years after the date that the Initial Fund Raise closes. The Initial
Fund Raise proceeds will be used to drill the first development well on
the Prizalivnaya Licence and for general corporate purposes.
Reserve Report
The Reserve Report completed by DeGolyer & MacNaughton is as of August
31, 2012 and contains the evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential
including two fields within two of the three licence areas defined in
the Farm-in Agreement. These licences are the Prizalivnaya Licence
located on Sakhalin Island and the Borschevskaya Licence located in
East Siberia. DeGolyer & MacNaughton are independent of the issuer and
vendor East Siberian Resources Ltd. and the reserve estimates are in
accordance with NI 51-101 and the COGE Handbook reserve definitions.
Possible reserves are those additional reserves that are less certain
to be recovered than probable reserves. There is a 50 % probability
that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the sum of
proven plus probable reserves and a 10% probability that the quantities
actually recovered will equal or exceed the sum of proved plus probable
plus possible reserves.
Mezhdurechenskoye Field
The Mezhdurechenskoye field was discovered in 1990 and is located within
the Prizalivnaya Licence Area on the south shoreline of Nabil Bay,
close to giant offshore Lunskoye field, operated by Sakhalin II
(Gazprom). It is 35km south of the town of Nogliki. Alltech acquired
the licence for exploration and production within the Prizalivnaya
License Area at auction in April 2008, and the license is not due to
expire until 1 April 2033. Two wells, M-1S and M-3, have penetrated the
P3dh oil reservoir to date and are structurally low in the closure.
Sakhalin Island is part of the north western Pacific rim, adjacent to
the south eastern most coast of mainland Russia, directly north of
Japan’s Hokkaido Island, and between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Tatar
Strait. The North Sakhalin Basin geologic province includes much of the
northern half of the island plus north western and north eastern
offshore areas. The 84,000km2 province area is 72% offshore and 28%
onshore.
The producing hydrocarbon reservoirs are the fractured reservoirs of the
Lower Miocene and Upper Oligocene Dayekhurinskaya and Lower
Uyininskayaya Formations, analogous to the Okruzhnoye reservoirs
elsewhere in the basin.
The North Sakhalin Basin Province has 32 onshore gas fields, 29 onshore
oil fields, five offshore gas fields, and two offshore oil fields.
Another two gas fields and three oil fields straddle the coastline.
Offshore fields are larger both in closure areas and in petroleum
volumes than fields onshore. Onshore seeps are common along the trends
of the major north-south faults, and production occurs to depths
exceeding 4,000m. Producible hydrocarbons or hydrocarbon shows are in
more than 30 stratigraphic zones of Tertiary sandstones and fractured
siliceous shales, and in pre-Tertiary serpentinites that are
unconformably juxtaposed with Tertiary source rocks.
The Reserve Report concludes that the Mezhdurechenskoye field contains a
mean estimate proved undeveloped reserves of 1.716 million barrels of
oil, probable reserves of 47.746 million barrels of oil, and possible
reserves of 68.324 million barrels of oil.
Borschevskoye Field
The Borschevskoye field lies within the Baykit High province, located in
the southwestern part of the East Siberian craton, which also includes
the Katanga structural saddle to the east. The saddle connects the
Baykit and Nepa-Botuoba highs. The area of the province is
approximately 220,000km(2). The Baykit High is bounded by the Yenisey Ridge foldbelt to the west,
the Cis-Sayan basin to the south, and the Tunguska basin to the north.
Uplift, fracturing, and weathering of Riphaen platform dolomites,
followed by the unconformable deposition of sealing Vendian and
Cambrian sediments, has produced major productive reservoirs in the
nearby Yurubcheno-Tokhomskoye and Kuyumbinskoye fields. The overlying
Vendian sediments include shales and sandstones of the Vanavarskaya
formation, followed by porous dolomites, anhydrites, sandstones, and
shales of the Oskobinskaya Formation (Borschevskoye reservoir).
Pinchouts of sandstones and dolomite reservoirs toward the top of the
Kamov Arch provide stratigraphic traps within the Vendian. Capping this
sequence, Cambrian salt and carbonates provide a seal for the regional
petroleum system.
For the Borschevskoye field, the Reserve Report concludes that this
field contains a mean estimate probable reserves of 37.118 million
barrels of oil, and possible reserves of 27.056 million barrels of oil.
Estimated Present Worth
The Reserve Report estimated the mean present worth of future net
revenues at US$314.9 million at a 10% discount rate, at 100% interest
to ESR. This estimate is based on Proved plus Probable reserves for
both fields using forecast pricing and after income tax.
The mean present worth was calculated assuming that 100% of oil
production was exported and the forecast netback price at each field
was net of the export tax imposed by the Russian federation on oil
exported out of the country and the Mineral Extraction Tax.
The netback price for the Mezhdurechenskoye field ranged from USD$419.09
per metric ton (MT) (USD$57.33 per barrel) to USD$359.36/MT (USD$49.29
per barrel). This price range reflects the close proximity of the
field to tidewater and developed export capacity on Sakhalin Island.
The netback price for the Borschevskoye field ranged from USD$354.06/MT
(USD$48.57 per barrel) to USD$296.28/MT (USD$40.64 per barrel). This
price range reflects the more remote area of East Siberia and the
higher transportation costs to ship the oil to export markets.
The estimated undiscounted future gross revenues from developing the
mean estimated reserves (proved undeveloped plus probable) of the
fields is USD$3.774 billion. The estimated undiscounted total capital
expenditures to fully develop the mean estimated reserves (proved
undeveloped plus probable) of both fields is USD$787.9 million. The
undiscounted future net revenue from developing the mean estimated
reserves (proved undeveloped plus probable) of the fields is USD$1.049
billion. The estimated values disclosed do not represent fair market
value.
Title Opinions
The Corporation has also received legal title opinions on all three
licences within the Farm-in Agreement. These Opinions determined that
these licences are all lawfully owned by ESR through its subsidiary
corporations in Cyprus and Russia.
The Reserve Report will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Forward looking Statements or Information
Certain statements included in this news release constitute
forward-looking statements or forward-looking information under
applicable securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements or
information are provided for the purpose of providing information about
management’s current expectations and plans relating to the future.
Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be
appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions.
Forward-looking statements or information typically contain statements
with words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “expect”, “plan”, “intend”,
“estimate”, “propose”, “project” or similar words suggesting future
outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking statements
or information concerning EastSiberian in this news release may
include, but are not limited to statements or information with respect
to: business strategy and objectives; development, exploration,
acquisition and disposition plans, and the timing and results thereof.
Forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of
factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such statements
and information but which may prove to be incorrect. Although
EastSiberian believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements or information are reasonable, undue
reliance should not be placed on such statements because EastSiberian
can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
In addition to other factors and assumptions which may be identified in
this news release, assumptions have been made regarding, among other
things: the timely receipt of any required regulatory and shareholder
approvals; the ability of EastSiberian to obtain qualified staff,
equipment and services in a timely and cost efficient manner; and the
ability of EastSiberian to obtain financing on acceptable terms.
Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all
factors and assumptions which have been used.
Forward-looking statements or information are based on current
expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks
and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially
from those anticipated by EastSiberian and described in the
forward-looking statements or information. These risks and
uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements or information.
The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news
release are made as of the date hereof and EastSiberian undertakes no
obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements
or information, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise unless required by applicable securities laws. The
forward-looking statements or information contained in this news
release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider
(as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE EastSiberian Plc
