Nido Petroleum Limited announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Nido Production (Galoc) Pty Ltd, has signed a senior secured debt facility with Standard Bank pic for up to a maximum of US$30 million for a term of three years.
The facility will provide a significant portion of Nido’s share of funding for the Galoc oil field Phase II development, located in the offshore North West Palawan Basin, Philippines, where Nido has a 22.879% working interest.
The Standard Bank facility is a reserve-based lending facility with a LIBOR plus premium interest rate, and will be available in two tranches:
• First tranche: up to a maximum of US$15 million available pre Galoc Phase II development Final Investment Decision (FID), subject to conditions precedent and other terms of the facility; and
• Second tranche: increases the facility up to a maximum of US$30 million available post FID, subject to approvals and other terms of the facility.
Nido’s Managing Director Phil Byrne said, “We are very pleased to secure this funding for the Galoc Phase II development at attractive terms with Standard Bank, especially given the current uncertain market conditions for financing.
Now, with a significant portion of our share of the Phase II development funding in place, we look forward to reaching the FID decision point for the Phase II development
This development will extend the existing production life of the field and deliver additional cash flow and value to Nido in the coming years.”
The Galoc Phase II development is on schedule for FID in 2012, with first oil anticipated in the second half of 2013.
Operator Galoc Production Company WLL commenced Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for the Galoc Phase II development in the third quarter of 2011.
The Galoc Joint Venture is considering drilling 2 additional production wells in Phase II. The Operators pre- FEED resource estimates of these wells is between 3-9 million barrels of oil (gross) to be refined at the point of Final Investment Decision and is expected to extend the Galoc oil field life to 2018.
In addition, new 3D seismic data has been acquired over the Galoc oil field for the placement of development wells and also to allow for the full evaluation of the Galoc North exploration prospect.
[mappress] Press Release, July 20, 2012