Sunda Energy, the AIM-quoted company focused on growing a portfolio of high value upstream oil and gas assets in the Asia-Pacific region, has announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026.
Chief Executive’s Statement
The first half of 2026 marked a period of transformation for the Company, with the announcement of a conditional production acquisition in New Zealand alongside continued efforts to source a rig to drill the Chuditch-2 appraisal well in Timor-Leste following the disappointment of an involuntary postponement of drilling operations during 2025. The full commencement of technical work in the two licences in the Philippines signed in Q4 2025 represents a further important milestone.
Key highlights from the period include:
- Conditional acquisition of an oil and gas production business in New Zealand
- Award of an Environmental Licence in Timor-Leste, and signature of a Letter of Intent for collaboration on securing a drilling rig, tempered by a notice of intention to terminate the PSC with a 120 day remedy period
- Commencement of detailed technical studies and seismic reprocessing in Philippines
- Financing in place to fund New Zealand acquisition, including major director loans and subscriptions
- Capital reorganisation by way of share consolidation
Details of main activities and financial highlights are described below:
New Zealand – proposed acquisition of Matahio Energy NZ Limited (“Matahio NZ”)
On 8 April 2026, Sunda announced that it had signed a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement with Matahio Ventures Pte. Ltd. (“MVPL”) for the conditional acquisition of Matahio NZ (the “Acquisition”) which, through two subsidiary companies, owns and operates 100% of a group of production permits located within the onshore area of the Taranaki Basin on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The Company also announced funding of the Acquisition through a capital raising, discussed in the Finance section below.
Key features of the Matahio NZ business and assets subject to the Acquisition include:
- Approximately 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (“boepd”) production (c. 80% oil and 20% gas)
- Significant operating cashflow generation anticipated from existing production and growth plans
- 100% working interest in four oil and gas production (mining) permits and one exploration permit
(subsequently converted to a mining permit) (the “Assets”)
- 2P Reserves of 2.6 MMboe (as at end 2025) and 2C Contingent Resources of 0.5 MMboe
- 2U Prospective Resources of 5.8 MMboe, including near-term, low-risk exploration drilling
- Highly capable, experienced operating team
- Multiple infield development and field re-start opportunities
- Successful pilot gas storage project and additional revenues from third-party gas processing
- Decommissioning fund already established for main production facilities
Key terms of the Acquisition were described in the announcement of 8 April 2026 and in the circular to shareholders published on 9 April 2026. The submission of an application for ministerial consent and payment of a deposit of US$1.5 million was announced on 14 April 2026 and, at a general meeting of shareholders on 29 April 2026, the acquisition and related financing was approved. The Acquisition has an effective date of 1 January 2026 and is currently pending New Zealand government approval for change of control of the Assets held by Matahio NZ’s subsidiary companies. Government consent is currently expected to be granted in late September or early October 2026 with completion to follow thereafter.
Since announcing the Acquisition, Sunda and MVPL have been working collaboratively towards a smooth and seamless handover. A joint transition team was established and has held regular virtual and physical meetings. As part of the transition plan, Sunda receives regular updates on all operational, production, HSE and finance matters concerning the New Zealand business. Overall average production for the reporting period from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026 was 1,053 boepd. Crude oil produced from the Assets is delivered to a tank farm near New Plymouth, with liftings and exports occurring on a roughly 3-month cycle. Two liftings occurred during the period, in February and May, and a further lifting in August, with oil realised sale prices significantly above the long-term average, reflective of the high oil price environment during 2026.
In anticipation of completion, Sunda and Matahio NZ are stepping up preparations for drilling the Oru-2 exploration well, which is now expected to spud in early 2027. The regulatory framework for drilling this well, as well as activities to restart production from the shut-in Puka gas and oil field, was established through the award to Matahio NZ of a Production Mining Permit, announced by the government on 13 August 2026, which replaced an earlier exploration permit that was due to expire. The low-risk Oru exploration prospect and the restart of the Puka Field are two of the key growth projects within the Matahio NZ portfolio partly responsible for attracting Sunda to the Acquisition.
Timor-Leste TL-SO-19-16 PSC (“Chuditch PSC” or “PSC”) (Sunda 60% interest)
The Chuditch PSC is located approximately 185km south of Timor-Leste, 100km east of the Bayu-Undan field and 50km south of the planned Greater Sunrise development. The PSC, operated by the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary SundaGas Banda Unipessoal Lda (“SundaGas”) covers approximately 3,571 km2 in water depths of 40-120 metres and contains the Chuditch-1 discovery well which lies in the southeast of the PSC area. Chuditch-1 was drilled by Shell in 1998 in 64m water depth and encountered a 30m gross gas column in the Jurassic Plover Formation sandstone reservoirs at a depth of 2,910m on the flank of a large, faulted structure. The discovery and neighbouring prospects are largely covered by a 3D seismic survey acquired in 2012 and subsequently reprocessed by Sunda. This 3D seismic reprocessing demonstrated Chuditch to be a field of significant scale, interpreted to be more than 20km long and around 150m in vertical relief, with a Pmean Contingent Resource of 1.16 Tcf of gas.
The Chuditch PSC is currently in Contract Year 3, which contains a commitment to drill a well to appraise the Chuditch gas discovery. A well location was selected for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well (“Chuditch-2”), that is 5.1km from the original Chuditch-1 discovery well in a water depth of approximately 68m. The predicted vertical column height of gas in the Jurassic reservoirs at this location is 149m, as compared with the 30m gross gas column encountered in the discovery well.
In the first half of 2025, SundaGas was close to finalising preparations for drilling Chuditch-2 and was ready to sign a rig contract for this purpose, when it had to involuntarily postpone the drilling campaign for logistical and local content reasons. Following this setback, SundaGas kicked off a process to locate a new drilling rig for a rescheduled drilling campaign for Chuditch-2 and, early in 2026, entered discussions with Finder TIMOR-LESTE B.V. (“Finder”) regarding possible rig-sharing arrangements. Finder is a wholly owned subsidiary of Finder Energy Holdings Limited (ASX:FDR) and operator of the Kuda Tasi and Jahal (“KTJ”) fields, offshore Timor-Leste. Finder is expected to drill at least three wells as part of its development of the KTJ fields, on which it is preparing to take a Final Investment Decision. On 8 April 2026, the Company announced the signature of a Letter of Intent with Finder to work together to secure a drilling rig for the two companies’ drilling campaigns. The opportunity to share a rig with Finder would result in a combined duration of operations of almost 200 days, making it a far more attractive commercial proposition for contractors, and would be expected to provide the opportunity for significant operational synergies and savings.
In parallel to the pursuit of a new drilling rig, SundaGas continued to work towards securing the necessary environmental permits for Chuditch-2 and, on 10 March 2026, the Company announced the approval by His Excellency the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the required Environmental Licence. This licence is valid until 9 March 2028 and includes certain conditions, principally around submission of a waste management plan to ANP prior to operations and for a post-drilling environmental survey.
Noting that KTJ wells are expected to be drilled in 2027, and given the time required to prepare for the amended drilling campaign, SundaGas submitted a request on 9 March 2026 on behalf of the Chuditch joint venture to ANP to extend the current contract period of the PSC. However, on 18 June 2026, ANP sent the joint venture a letter of notice of intention to terminate the PSC (the “Notice”), as announced on 19 June 2026. The Notice states that SundaGas is in breach of the PSC in that it has failed to fulfil its minimum exploration work requirements for contract year 3 of the PSC, namely, to drill Chuditch-2 by 18 June 2026 (the "Breach").
Pursuant to the Notice and the PSC, SundaGas is afforded the opportunity to submit written representations to ANP concerning the Breach within 120 days of the Notice, that is 16 October 2026, before ANP makes a final decision on termination at its sole discretion. The Notice also sets out that ANP may consider granting an extension for the period for the fulfilment of the minimum exploration work requirements for contract year 3 of the PSC, provided SundaGas provides evidence of a binding signed contract for a rig to drill Chuditch-2 in calendar year 2027.
Following receipt of the ANP letter and subsequent to the reporting period, Sunda has been conducting discussions with government-owned partner TIMOR GAP concerning operational and funding plans for Chuditch-2. Discussions are collaborative and positive, and the Company looks forward to providing further information in due course.
Philippines Service Contracts SC 80 and SC 81 (both Sunda 37.5% interest)
In October 2025, Sunda was awarded non-operated interests in two Petroleum Service Contracts, namely SC 80 and SC 81 (together the “Service Contracts”), covering offshore licence areas in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines. The Service Contracts are operated by Tetragon Energy Limited (ASX: TET), also with a 37.5% working interest, with other partners being PXP Energy Corporation (PSE:PXP, 12.5%) and The Philodrill Corporation (PSE.OV, 12.5%).
The two Service Contract blocks lie in the southern Sulu Sea, in water depths of <100m to >3000m, in an area where key members of the Sunda team have considerable prior technical knowledge. The area lies adjacent to the Malaysian province of Sabah, part of the large island of Borneo shared between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. The main geological play in the Service Contracts is the Upper Miocene turbidite sands trapped in toe-thrust anticline structures and basin floor stratigraphic traps in the deep-water areas (>800m), whilst secondary prospectivity exists in the Middle to Upper Miocene shallow water sandstones in the western shallow water areas and in deeper Miocene carbonate reef features.
SC 80 contains two significant gas finds, Dabakan-1 (75m net pay) and Palendag-1 wells (47m net pay), plus a minor gas discovery at Babendil-1 (39m net pay), which together de-risk the petroleum systems in the area. A key exploration target in SC 80 is the Halcon prospect, analogous to recent giant gas fields found around other parts of the island of Borneo, such as Geng North (2023) and Gegila (2026), both discoveries in Indonesia announced by Eni (BIT:ENI). SC 81, adjacent and to the south of SC-80, encompasses both a slope clastic play and a shallow water shelf play. It is expected that a variety of features identified on SC 81 will be de-risked, and new prospects emerge, through seismic reprocessing work planned. Five discovered fields in neighbouring Malaysian waters adjacent to SC 81 illustrate the gas potential of the block.
During the period, operator Tetragon commenced a number of new technical studies across the two Service Contracts and, after a period of data collation and export, contracted DUG Technology Ltd (DUG), an Australian seismic processing company based in Perth, to reprocess the four existing 3D seismic surveys on the two licence areas, plus some additional 2D surveys. This seismic data, obtained for free, would have cost more than US$20 million when originally acquired between 2005 and 2013. DUG has the expertise, state-of-the-art imaging technology, and a global supercomputing network which together should result in a high-quality reprocessed dataset which will be used to better define the prospectivity of the two permits and pave the way for discussions with potential farm-in partners. Initial fast track seismic products are expected to be delivered in early 2027, with the final processed dataset expected around 6 months later. On 3 September 2027, Tetragon announced a material increase in Prospective Resources for the Halcon prospect (“Halcon”) based on their own technical assessment, with Mid Case (2U) Prospective Resources now reported to be 8.0 Tcf gross (3.0 Tcf net to Sunda’s working interest). Tetragon also cited a revised estimate of geological chance of success of 24%.
Financial Highlights
Loss on ordinary activities after taxation of £1.99 million for the six months to 30 June 2026 (6 months to 30 June 2025: £1.13 million; year to 31 December 2025: £2.84 million), represented a loss of 0.57p per share (6 months to 30 June 2025: 0.43p; year to 31 December 2025: 1.02p).
On 10 February 2026, the Company announced that it had entered into an unsecured loan agreement (the “Facility”) with Dr Andy Butler (“Dr Butler”), CEO of Sunda, for up to £1.5 million with an initial draw down of £400,000 being used to fund the transaction costs associated with a proposed acquisition and to provide additional working capital for Sunda’s business activities. On 26 March 2026, the Company announced that it had drawn down a further £750,000 from the Facility, taking the total amount drawn down to £1,150,000.
On 8 April 2026, alongside announcing of the Acquisition, the Company announced the following financing arrangements:
- Draw down of the final £350,000 under the unsecured £1.5 million Facility with Dr Butler
- A firm subscription by Alumni Capital raising £900,000 at 0.02975 pence per share*
- A Convertible Loan Note (“CLN”) subscription by Alumni Capital, to raise gross proceeds of up to £4,250,000 in up to three tranches
- Conditional subscriptions totalling £800,000 at 0.02975 pence per share* comprising: (i) the conversion of £750,000 of the Facility from Dr Butler; and (ii) conditional subscriptions by three other directors, Gerry Aherne (Non-Executive Chair), Keith Bush (Non-Executive Director) and John Chessher (Non-Executive Director), totalling £50,000
- A WRAP retail offer to existing shareholders of the Company to raise up to £750,000 at 0.02975p*, conditional on shareholder approval. This retail offer resulted in new subscriptions by existing shareholders of £404,780
- A Capital Reorganisation, to consolidate and sub-divide existing Ordinary Shares, such that every 100 existing Ordinary Shares are consolidated into one New Ordinary Share.
*prior to taking into account the impact of the 100:1 share capital reorganisation so an effective price of 2.975 pence on a post capital reorganisation basis
The Acquisition, the conditional subscriptions, the WRAP retail offer, CLN subscription and Capital Reorganisation were all subsequently granted shareholder approval at a general meeting on 29 April 2026.
The firm and conditional subscriptions resulted in the grant by the Company in aggregate of 28,571,426 warrants, with each warrant entitling the holder to subscribe to one Ordinary Share at an exercise price of 4.4625p (post consolidation) for a period of three years from grant.
Following the general meeting on 29 April 2026, the Company drew down the first tranche of CLNs from Alumni Capital, with a value of £1,250,000. Subsequently, during the reporting period, Alumni converted £850,000 of these CLNs into equity, as follows:
- On 15 May 2026, £250,000 plus a £25,000 finance charge at a conversion price of 1.7827, resulting in issuance of 15,426,039 new Ordinary Shares, and the grant of 8,899,676 warrants at 2.3175p
- On 24 June 2026, £500,000 plus a £50,000 finance charge at a conversion price of 1.255p, resulting in issuance of 43,824,701 new Ordinary Shares, and the grant of 25,283,481 warrants at 1.6315p
Subsequent to the reporting period, on 17 July 2026, Alumni converted a further £100,000 plus a £10,000 finance charge at a conversion price of 0.9351p, resulting in issuance of 11,763,447 new Ordinary Shares, and the grant of 6,786,604 warrants at 1.21563p
Following the 17 July conversion of CLNs, Sunda CEO Dr Butler entered a negotiation in a private capacity to acquire from Alumni Capital the remaining issued but unconverted CLNs, with a value of £400,000. An off-market sale, including a £32,000 finance charge, was announced by the Company on 29 July 2026. In that announcement the Company reported that Dr Butler had indicated to the board of directors that he did not anticipate converting the acquired CLNs.
Unrestricted cash (excluding monies held as security for the Bank Guarantee in Timor-Leste) as at 30 June 2026 was £1.1 million (30 June 2025: £976,000; 31 December 2025: £328,000).
The cash-backed Bank Guarantee issued by Banco Nacional de Comércio de Timor-Leste (“BNCTL”), a bank wholly owned by the government of Timor-Leste for the Chuditch PSC remains at US$2.5 million (net US$2.0 million) as required by the regulator Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (“ANP”) for the work commitments in Contract Year 3 of the PSC. The use of BNCTL is part of the Company’s commitment to maximising local content inside Timor-Leste, but also indicative of its objective to broaden its business partnerships in-country.
Qualified Person's Statement
Pursuant to the requirements of the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, the technical information and resource reporting contained in this announcement has been reviewed by Dr Andy Butler, Fellow of the Geological Society of London and member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Dr Butler has 30 years' experience as a petroleum geologist. He has compiled, read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement and indicated where it does not comply with the Society of Petroleum Engineers' standard.
Gerry Aherne, Sunda Chairman, commented:
'The first half of 2026 was a truly transformational period for Sunda. The conditional acquisition of a cash flow generative production business in New Zealand with exploration and development upside takes the Group to a different level and positions the Company to realise significant value for shareholders from this new business and, we believe, from our existing assets. I look forward to successful completion of the Acquisition and an exciting period to the end of 2026 and into 2027.'
Source: Sunda Energy
