IGas in £23m fundraising
IGAS Energy is raising £23m in a share issue to partly fund shale gas exploration in the North West.
The funds will also be used to finance IGas’ September acquisition of the PR Singleton oil fields for £41m.
The company has been loking at the shale potential of a number of sites owned by Peel Group across the North West, including Ince Marshes and Doe Green at Warrington.
But following the lifting of restrictions on the hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – process used to release the gas, the company said it is now, “appropriate… to further demonstrate the significant potential of its unconventional resource base.”
In a stock market statement it said: “The proceeds of the placing along with cashflow from the company’s conventional asset portfolio, including PR Singleton, and the company’s existing cash will enable IGas to conduct a work programme to achieve this objective.
“In addition to the main Bowland basin, IGas has identified prospective shale horizons across all of its UK acreage in both the East Midlands (Bowland extension) and the Weald Basin (Kimmeridge/Lias).”
It is placing 24.3 million new shares at 95p each with new and existing institutional investors.
