23 September 2016
Baron Oil plc
("Baron" or the "Company")
Joint Venture in Southeast Asia
Baron Oil PLC (AIM: BOIL) ("Baron") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Joint Venture with SundaGas Pte Ltd ("SundaGas"), a Singapore-based company, to search for new business opportunities in Southeast Asia.
SundaGas is a new exploration and production company, founded by Dr Andy Butler, formerly VP Business Development at Mitra Energy Inc. Its management has many years of experience as an operator in SE Asia, where a number of material transactions were completed. SundaGas has already identified a portfolio of potential opportunities, ranging from new PSC applications to purchases of existing production. The company also has the great advantage of being able to bring an operating capability in SE Asia to the table.
Baron will pay SundaGas a monthly fee for an initial period of six months from 1 October 2016, after which the arrangement will be reviewed. In the event that opportunities that have already been identified by SundaGas or are identified during the initial period come to fruition, Baron will have the right to take an interest in them on the same terms as SundaGas.
NOTE: Andy Butler has a first class honours degree in Geology from Oxford and a PhD in Geology from Cambridge. He then spent 10 years at Hess Corporation in a variety of geological, new business and commercial roles covering the UK North Sea and Atlantic Margins, Norway, Denmark, Brazil and Libya. Andy then moved to BG Group, where he headed up Exploration New Ventures in Brazil. He joined Mitra Energy in 2011, where he took on broad technical and commercial responsibilities for Business Development for this Kuala Lumpur-based exploration company, including a successful floatation on the TSX-V exchange, multiple capital raises and a number of major farm-outs to companies including Total and Talisman. Although this is not a Related Party Transaction, Andy is the nephew of Dr Malcolm Butler, Baron's CEO.
Bill Colvin, Chairman of Baron, said:
"This offers a great opportunity for Baron to open up a new operation in one of the few areas of the World where there is both strong demand for oil and gas and the clear support of governments to make exploration and production easy to achieve. We are particularly interested in gas opportunities because of the stable, long-term pricing environment. Having access to the experience and deal flow of the SundaGas team gives Baron a head start that would take years to achieve if built from scratch."
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
For further information:
Baron Oil Plc
Bill Colvin (Chairman) Tel: +44 (0) 7780 684 108
Malcolm Butler (CEO) Tel: +44 (0) 7968 705 173
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe
Nominated Adviser and Broker
Sarah Wharry (Corporate Finance) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7894 7000
Alex Pollen (Corporate Broking)
