Hibiscus' jointly-controlled unit gets extra RM185.48m financing for 2015 drilling plans

by **Cals** Mon 23 Mar 2015, 23:12

Hibiscus' jointly-controlled unit gets extra RM185.48m financing for 2015 drilling plans

By Meena Lakshana / theedgemarkets.com | March 23, 2015 : 7:37 PM MYT

PETALING JAYA (Mar 23): [size=14]Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard)’s jointly-controlled entity Lime Petroleum Norway AS (Lime Norway) has secured an additional 400 million Norwegian Krone (NOK) (RM185.48 million) to fund its drilling programme in 2015.

In a filing with Bursa, Hibiscus (fundamental:1.65; valuation: 0.6) said the additional financing was obtained from the Skandinaviska Ensklida Banken AB (SEB).

The SEB facility was first secured in December 2013 with NOK300 million.

Lime Norway currently has four drilling licenses in Norway: PL338C1 (operator: Lundin Norway AS), PL591 (operator: Tullow Oil Norge AS), PL616 (Edison International Norway Branch) and PL708 (Lundin Norway). PL338C1 began drilling in February this year.

PL591 and PL616 are to begin drilling in June, while PL708 is to start in November.

Lime Norway’s holding company Lime Petroleum Plc (Lime) had, to-date, injected approximately US$35 million (RM129.29 million) into Lime Norway. Hibiscus owns 35% in Lime.

Lime Petroleum Norway was accorded pre-qualification status as a licensee in Norway in February 2013, which endorses Lime Petroleum Norway as a qualified oil and gas player in Norway.

The license allows the company to directly assume participating interests in partner-operated licenses in Norway, in addition to facilitating its receipt of a cash tax refund of 78% of its exploration costs annually, said Hibiscus.

Hibiscus shares closed 5 sen or 6.49% higher at 82 sen, with a market capitalisation of RM743.47 million.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)
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