Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) said today that it had secured a £10million loan to put towards the development of its key North Sea assets.
IOG also revealed that chief executive Mark Routh has stepped aside to be replaced by his deputy, Andrew Hockey.
Mr Routh has taken up the mantle of non-executive chairman.
The company agreed the loan facility with one of its existing lenders, London Oil and Gas.
IOG now has enough money to get to the stage where it can make a final investment decision (FID) on its wholly-owned southern North Sea (SNS) gas field development project.
The company wants to bring the five fields which make up the Blythe and Vulcan satellite gas hubs online by the end of next year.
They are thought to contain 54million barrels of oil.
FID is expected in August 2018.
Before then, IOG will put the cash injection towards the on-going site survey programme for pipeline routes and future platform locations, checks on the Thames pipeline, which it agreed to buy last year, and front-end engineering and design work.
IOG has already submitted the environmental assessment for Blythe and will shortly do the same for Vulcan.
IOG said it would complete the acquisition of the Thames pipeline, the “cornerstone of its SNS gas hub strategy”, by the end of this month.
Mr Routh said: “IOG is pleased to deepen its strategic relationship with LOG to advance its highly attractive SNS development project to FID and beyond.
“This is an exciting year for IOG, with funding in place and a busy work schedule ahead.
“The new financing enables us to complete the remaining engineering studies, technical and planning work ahead of FID on what will be a highly cash generative gas portfolio.
“Development funding plans are progressing well with a view to finalising the optimal mix of conventional debt, offtake-linked finance and contractor finance to take the project to first gas.”
On the boardroom changes at IOG, Mr Routh said: “I wholeheartedly congratulate Andrew on his new role as CEO. Andrew has been with IOG since March 2017 as deputy CEO, working closely with me and has a deep technical and commercial understanding of the business and an excellent SNS development track record.
“As chairman I look forward to providing dedicated support and guidance to the board and management as the company proceeds to its next stage of growth.”
Mr Hockey said: “I am thrilled that the Board has appointed me to succeed Mark as CEO. I look forward to continuing to work with Mark and the wider team to deliver significant shareholder value by bringing our proven assets into production while further expanding our portfolio.”
Recommended for you
