Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) Executive Chairman David Bramhill caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the acquisition of interest in the PEDL143 licence
Q1: David, you announced earlier today that you’ve reached an agreement with Europa Oil & Gas to acquire a stake in the PEDL143 licence, what was the reasoning behind the acquisition?
A1: Well really we’d got a lot of licence interest up in the north & we just thought with, I suppose, the success of Horse Hill discovery, the closeology, 143 is basically on the doorstep, same trend & it’s got a very very high prognosis pre-drill oil in the ground so we entered into discussions with Hugh Mackay, Europa, again good operator, same as Egdon that were involved with these two parties now which is terrific.
Q2: Do you think you can talk us through the highlights of today’s news?
A2: Well the highlights is really the closeology, it’s an expansion for us because we were up in the north, we’ve now sort of in the south as well which is good, there’s a good chance of success, it’s good onshore & any back costs being paid out of potential production. So there’s a lot of good things going for this acquisition, we’re pleased.
Q3: Now at the end of April Union Jack Oil reported a cash balance of over £2.6 million so you’re obviously in a good position for more acquisitions, what’s the criteria for consideration?
A3: The criteria really for us is drill-ready prospects, that’s what we like, we like to be involved if there’s a well being drilled & it’s got a good chance, we’d like to be in there so that’s what our strategy is & it worked really really well with Wressle where we took a 8.3% interest in that & found oil with our first well. So that’s our criteria, it has to be drill-ready & quick interest news flow for shareholders, that’s our main strategy.
Q4: Ok, do you have your eyes on anything else at the moment?
A4: We’re always looking, there’s loads & loads of deals around in the UK & it’s our job really to sift through them all & see what takes an interest & what we feel is the best so we’re always looking.
Q5: Finally then, what do you think investors should be looking for in terms of news flow in the coming months for Union Jack Oil PLC?
A5: Well really it’s more than a couple of months, we’re obviously looking for new projects, there’s quite a few we’re looking at as I mentioned earlier. We’ve got Wressle going forward, wells to be drilled, we’ve got an interest in at least five wells to be drilled in the near to medium term so really there’s a lot of news flow but I would’ve thought the main piece of news flow for us is to make sure that Wressle actually comes into production & provides us a really really good cash flow when that happens.
