T5 Oil & Gas set for early 2018 flotation

Gavin McLoughlin Business correspondent IRISH oil and gas explorer T5 Oil & Gas has taken a stake in an asset in Gabon, in a deal that paves the way for a stock market flotation in early 2018, the Sunday Independent understands.

Sources in London said an IPO is likely to take place in the first quarter.

The company told shareholders earlier this year it was aiming to float on the Irish and London stock exchanges in April, but the plan faced delays.

Concluding the Gabon deal gives the company a platform on which to raise money on the stock market as it seeks to achieve its ambition of “building a publicly listed billion-dollar Africa and Middle East E&P (exploration and production) company”.

It has also been active in Senegal. T5 was set up by a group of Tullow Oil veterans. It is run by executive chairman Pat Plunkett, who is also the chairman of Providence Resources. Plunkett was the chairman of Tullow Oil from 2000 to 2011.

Other ex-Tullow figures involved in the company include exploration director Gerry Sheehan, previously an international exploration manager at Tullow.

Matthew O’Donoghue, a former director of international operations at Tullow, is on T5’s board, as is former Tullow managing director for Africa Andrew Windham.