Escopeta Oil has announced that it is seeking additional partners to fund the use of a jack-up rig to explore the company’s offshore Cook Inlet oil and gas acreage. In 2005 the company formed a partnership with Johannesburg-based Centurion Gold Holdings for the jack-up rig proposal — Centurion was going to raise the necessary capital through an initial public offering on the U.K. AIM market, a London Stock Exchange market that deals internationally in small growth companies.
But the share launch did not succeed in attracting sufficient funds for the planned Cook Inlet exploration and Centurion has withdrawn the share offering.
Escopeta will continue to honor commitments to Centurion but will also entertain proposals from additional partners, said Escopeta President Danny Davis in a Dec. 1 statement.
In March 2006 Escopeta contracted with Songa Drilling for the use of the Tellus jack-up rig. At that time the Tellus rig was expected to leave the Gulf of Mexico in late May or early June for transportation to Cook Inlet. However, refurbishment of the rig went over schedule, thus delaying the move of the rig into early 2007.
The postponement of the rig move delayed the launch of the initial public offering on AIM into the fall. According to a Business Wire report the share offering created “a lot of private interest,” but only obtained commitments of $15 million.
Davis says that he is still confident about his company’s ability to raise the capital it needs for an offshore Cook Inlet drilling program.
Note: See full story in the Dec. 10 issue of Petroleum News which will be released online (www.PetroleumNews.com) this coming Friday.
