UK Company quietly moving into Guyana basin
Westmount Energy Limited, a UK Energy Investment firm, has slowly been acquiring shares in companies with stakes in oil blocks offshore Guyana.
The most recent announcement the company made on Friday, is that it is hoping to increase its shareholding in the Canada based Cataleya Energy Corporation (CEC) which, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Cataleya Energy Limited (CEL), has a 25 percent participating interest in the Kaieteur Block. Westmount announced a conditional subscription to raise gross proceeds of up to £5M through the issue of up to 38,461,538 new ordinary shares of no par value to certain investors, to pursue its ongoing investment strategy in the Guyana basin. Following the completion of that subscription and certain approvals, the company expects to acquire up to 313,500 common shares on or around August 30, 2019. If it is successful, Westmount will tout a 5.4 percent stake in Cataleya, up from 2.4 percent in May, when it participated in a non-brokered private placement through the purchase of 253,685 common shares, with a total consideration, including transaction costs, of USD$2,536,850 (approx. £1,949,324 at time of purchase).
Also, on June 1, 2018, Westmount announced that it had made market purchases of 1,200,000 participating share units in Ratio Petroleum Energy Limited Partnership, spending, inclusive of transaction costs, £248,406. Ratio has a 25 percent interest in the Kaieteur Block.
Furthermore, on February 27 last, Westmount announced that it had purchased 1,103,770 common shares in JHI Associates Inc., the day before, by way of payment of approximately CAD$1M, as well as some shares of no par value in Westmount. Westmount, following that purchase, owns 2,213,770 shares, representing 3 percent of JHI’s issued common shares, as of December 21 last year. JHI has a 17.5 percent carried interest in the Canje Block.
It should be noted that an investigation, spearheaded by the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), is still ongoing into the award of the oil blocks offshore Guyana. In addition to the Stabroek and Orinduik, the Kaieteur and Canje Blocks which were issued by the Donald Ramotar administration in 2015, days before the General and Regional Elections are being looked at. The Canje Block was signed away to MidAtlantic Oil and Gas and JHI Associates Inc. on March 4, 2015. The Kaieteur Block was signed away to Ratio Energy Limited and Ratio Guyana on April 28, 2015. On May 13 last, Westmount announced that it had amended its shareholding in Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd., through the open sale of 1,625,000 common shares, resulting in net cash proceeds, including transaction costs, of £1.34M. It had held 3,125,000 shares in Eco Atlantic, which proved to be a wise investment, yielding +400 percent of the capital invested as of May 13, 2019. Due to the sale, it has a still substantial holding of 1,500,000 shares. The sale of the shares, according to a release from Westmount, was done to further its investment in the Guyana basin. Eco Atlantic has a 15 percentstake in the Orinduik Block, which holds the successfully drilled Jethro-1 well. The well holds an estimated 100M recoverable barrels of oil.
Westmount touts the “Guyana-Suriname” basin as the world’s major emerging hydrocarbon province, where ExxonMobil and its Stabroek Block partners have reported an estimated recoverable total of over 6 billion barrels. It states that, through its existing portfolio, it has exposure to between four and seven funded wells over the coming 12-18 months, on a total of three oil Blocks offshore Guyana.
Westmount Energy Limited was incorporated in Jersey, a self-governing dependency of The United Kingdom, on 1 October 1992. The Company operates solely as an energy investment company. Its Chairman is Gerard Walsh, a Swiss investor with over two decades of experience financing oil and gas companies, and owns significant subscription shares in Westmount. Dermot Corcoran and Tom O’Gorman are two Directors on the Board of Westmount, and David King serves as an Independent Director.
(Kaieteur News)