Westmount Energy Ltd has purchased 1,350,000 common shares in JHI Associates Inc through the issue of 15,930,000 new ordinary Westmount shares which will represent approximately 12.7% of Westmount’s enlarged issued share capital. The transaction prices the New Ordinary Shares in Westmount at 14.745 pence per share.
JHI is a private, Ontario-registered company established in 2014 focused on oil exploration opportunities in the emerging Guyana-Suriname Basin. The company’s main asset is a 17.5% carried interest in the Canje Block covering over 4,800 square kilometres, offshore Guyana. This block is located adjacent to and in the same geologic basin as the Stabroek Block which has delivered sixteen substantial oil discoveries since 2015, with reported discovered recoverable resources in excess of 8 billion oil-equivalent barrels to date.
ExxonMobil, which is the operator of both blocks, acquired in excess of 6,100 km2 of 3D seismic on the Canje Block in 2016. Subsequent processing and interpretation of this dataset has been used to define a substantial prospect inventory on the Block with three prospects (Bulletwood, Jabillo, and Sapote) high-graded as potential targets for the initial drilling campaign.
As a result of a 2018 farm-out to Total, JHI is carried for the drilling of up to four wells and is funded for the drilling of additional wells. Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas, Inc. holds 12.5% interest in the Canje Block.
Subject to Guyanese government approvals, drillship availability and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is anticipated that the first well on the Canje Block, Bulletwood-1, could be spudded in H2 2020, with the possibility of additional drilling by the end of the year.
Following the purchase, Westmount holds a total of 3,563,770 shares in JHI, representing approximately 4.8% of the issued common shares in JHI as of 13th November 2019. At cost, Westmount’s holding in JHI equates to approximately 38.1 % of the value of Westmount’s gross assets as of 31st December 2019. Westmount reported a profit for the year ended 30th June 2019 of £2.0 million, whereas JHI reported a profit before tax of USO $43.3 million for the year ended 31st December 2018.
This investment is consistent with Westmount’s strategy of seeking exposure to opportunities in the prolific Guyana-Suriname Basin, which the Board considers to be a major emerging hydrocarbon province.
