Hot stock Hibiscus plunges 15% after halting Oman drilling ops

Hot stock Hibiscus plunges 15% after halting Oman drilling ops
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Jonathan Gan of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 26 December 2013 10:31

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 26): Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad was among the top losers early on Thursday as it plunged 15.05% after the company had announced the suspension of its drilling operations at its Oman well.

At 9:26am today, the stock plunged 28 sen today to RM1.56 per share with 280,800 shares done.

The announcement dated 24 December 2013 stated that the Masirah Oil Limited, a jointly-controlled entity of Lime Petroleum Plc, has suspended its 1st exploration Masirah North North #1 (MNN #1) well for safety reasons.

“Data analysis indicates presence of non-commercial hydrocarbons,” it said in the announcement.

Hibiscus Petroleum acquired a 35% stake in Lime for USD 55 million as its Qualifying Acquisition in April 2012 due to its portfolio of assets and access to Rex Virtual Drilling (RVD) Technology. The block 50 Oman concession is jointly owned by Lime with a 64% stake and Petroci Holdings, a national oil company of Ivory Coast which holds the remainder of the 36%.

Managing Director of Hibiscus Petroleum, Dr. Kenneth Pereira commented that “Whilst we are disappointed with the final result of the MNN#1, we are proud that as a young company, with a small technical team, we have demonstrated our ability to conduct a safe drilling operation, in a remote offshore area of a foreign country without Health, Safety or Environmental issues.”

The announcement adds that the all partners in the Block 50 Oman project are now in the process of finalising the next drilling location.