Preparing for operations in West Africa

January 2, 2020

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). Upon publication of this announcement via a regulatory information service ("RIS"), the inside information contained in this document is now considered to be in the public domain.

ZENITH ENERGY LTD.

("Zenith" or the "Company")

Preparing for operations in West Africa

Zenith Energy Ltd., ("Zenith" or the "Company"), (LSE: ZEN; TSX.V: ZEE; OSE: ZENA-ME), the international oil & gas production company, is pleased to update the market on its progress in preparing for operations in West Africa, following the decision of the board of Anglo African Oil & Gas plc ("AAOG") to recommend to its shareholders the disposal of an interest of 80 per cent of its wholly owned subsidiary, Anglo African Oil & Gas Congo S.A.U. ("AAOG Congo") to Zenith under an SPA announced on December 27, 2019 and subject to the approval of AAOG shareholders.

Zenith is pleased to announce that it has appointed Mr. André-Brice Boumbendje to its Advisory Committee. 

Mr. Boumbendje started his career at Schlumberger, later worked at Marathon Petroleum Corporation, and then became Senior Manager for Planning & Budget at Maurel & Prom, a leading French independent recently purchased by the national oil company of Indonesia, Pertamina.

After returning to his home country, Gabon, and after a period of teaching, he worked for the Ministry of Defence and later for the Ministry of Hydrocarbons & Mines of the Republic of Gabon, where he is currently employed. In 2016, he was appointed as Diplomatic Counsel for the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and the representative of the Republic of Gabon at OPEC in Vienna.

Mr. Boumbendje's appointment is expected to help Zenith in its management of governmental relations in the French speaking countries of Central Africa, especially the Republic of the Congo (where the Tilapia oilfield is located).

Gabon is one of the oldest sub-Saharan African OPEC members, having become a full member in 1975.

The Republic of the Congo recently became one of the newest members of OPEC, having obtained full membership on June 22, 2018. This is evidence of the country's desire to focus on the development of its hydrocarbon industry and increase its already important oil production, amounting today at approximately 335,000 barrels of oil per day.

Andrea Cattaneo, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We are delighted to welcome Mr. Boumbendje to Zenith.

He will help us in selecting high quality African executives, who after having accumulated valuable experience working with majors in Africa and overseas, will be able and ready for the exciting challenge of developing Zenith into becoming a mid-cap independent oil & gas company.

We believe that, to operate successfully in the Congo, it is important to adopt the local language and culture, specifically by engaging personnel with acute technical ability and extensive local knowledge of ministerial requirements and regulations.

Zenith intends to invest in people to create a long-term success story using our drilling rigs and working in a public and governmental Congolese environment fully supportive of our efforts, which is expected to create local economic development and new employment.

The Board of Zenith believes that the Company possesses the financial, linguistic, geopolitical and technical skills to enhance production in the Congo and to achieve, if the geology allows, success at the Tilapia oilfield. This includes the significant financial obligations that come with developing Tilapia.

For these reasons, Zenith believes the transaction to be in the best interests of all parties.

We shall provide further updates to the market in due course regarding the names of further appointments the Company intends to make to manage our future operations in West Africa."

Further Information:

Notes to Editors: 

Zenith Energy Ltd. is an international oil and gas production company, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX.V:ZEE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE:ZEN). In addition, the Company's common share capital was admitted to trading on the Merkur Market of the Oslo Børs (ZENA:ME) on November 8, 2018. The Merkur Market is a multilateral trading facility owned and operated by the Oslo Børs. 

The Company was assigned a medium to long-term issuer credit rating of "B+ with Positive Outlook" on October 9, 2019 by Arc Ratings, S.A. On November 18, 2019, the Company was assigned a "B+" with Stable Outlook debt issuer credit rating by Rating-Agentur Expert RA.

The Company operates the largest onshore oilfield in Azerbaijan by cumulative acreage following the signing of a 25-year REDPSA, (Rehabilitation, Exploration, Development and Production Sharing Agreement), with SOCAR, State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in 2016. 

The Company's primary focus is the development of its Azerbaijan operations by leveraging its technical expertise and financial resources to maximise low-cost oil production via a systematic field rehabilitation programme intended to achieve significantly increased revenue. Zenith also operates, or has working interests in, a number of natural gas production concessions in Italy. The Company's Italian operations produce natural gas, condensate and electricity.