Regal Petroleum raising $100m

12th Jun 2009 07:15

Regal Petroleum is raising about $100m (£60.4m) via a pacing with new and existing institutional shareholders to fund development of its gas and condensate fields in Ukraine.The money is being raised via an accelerated book-building process run by Merrill Lynch, the price of which will be agreed at the end of the process. It thinks the proceeds of the fundraising, together with existing cash resources and proceeds of production from the fields, will be enough to take it to a cashflow positive position.Regal wants to increase production from the existing reservoirs containing proved and probable reserves of 169 MMboe in the Visean sands and appraise and develop additional gas discoveries made in the Tournasian sands.It said last month that an aggressive field development plan was expected to require around $1.6bn invested over the next decade to produce an anticipated sustained plateau production level of over 40,000 boepd.Revenue fell by 19% in 2008 to $11.5m, with higher gas prices in Ukraine offsetting lower output. Losses rose to $48.7m from $19.6m.