United Oil & Gas, the full-cycle oil and gas company with a portfolio of production, development, exploration and appraisal assets, has issued the following Corporate and Jamaica update.
Corporate Update
The Company is pleased to announce that Simon Brett has been appointed Interim Chief Financial Officer (non board appointment) and Company Secretary, effective immediately. Simon brings a wealth of sectoral and public market experience having worked fourteen years in Barryroe Offshore Energy in a senior executive position and latterly ten years as CFO. Before Barryroe, Simon held senior finance positions with Coca Cola Bottlers Ireland Limited, USC Europe Limited and Sega Europe Limited. The Company has commenced a selection process for a permanent CFO with a permanent appointment to be made in due course. Peter Dunne will step down from the Board on 15th December and will leave the Company effective 31st December in order to take up the position of Chief Financial Officer of daa plc, as previously announced.
Jamaica Update
Further to the announcement of 9th November, the Company has been informed by the counterparty that had been identified as a preferred potential partner, that they no longer wish to pursue further discussions in relation to participation in the Walton Morant Licence. The Company will now focus on the recent positive interest that has been shown by other parties in potentially participating in this high impact exploration opportunity and United and our advisors will continue in our efforts to secure a partner. The Board believes that the renewed interest in exploration opportunities worldwide which is being driven by the strong future demand for oil and gas, will support our farmout efforts.
The Company continues to engage with the Jamaican authorities to secure an extension to the current licence period which expires at the end of January 2024, with a negotiated work programme that comprises additional technical work that would further de-risk the licence prior to the drilling of the exploration well. This work is aimed at materially enhancing the risked value of the Company's interest in the Licence. Additional updates on both the farmout process and licence extension will be provided in due course.
United Chief Executive Officer, Brian Larkin commented:
'Although the potential partner that we had been in discussions with for a number of months has taken the decision to withdraw from the process at this time, we remain committed to delivering value from this potentially high impact exploration opportunity. Our efforts are now firmly focussed on the other parties that we have engaged positively with through our process with a view to securing a partner for United to take this project forward, in parallel to securing an extension to the current phase the licence.'
I welcome the interim appointment of Simon as CFO to the company. His appointment provides the company with the expertise and knowledge over the coming months whilst we carry out a rigorous selection process for this critical executive position.'
Source: United Oil & Gas
