Madagascar Development

Madagascar Oil (AIM: MOIL) this morning confirmed it has raised £50.5 million as it shares were listed on AIM. The company placed a total of 53.2 million shares at 95p each, or 27.65 per cent of its equity, as part of the stock market listing, which values the company at £182.7 million. Founded in 2004, Madagascar owns five contiguous heavy oil blocks covering 29,500 square kilometres in western Madagascar. The two main fields are Tsimiroro and Bemolanga, and contain substantial heavy oil and bitumen accumulations. An independent ‘best estimate’ puts the oil in place at Tsimiroro at 965 million barrels Production, if commercial recovery is proven, is estimated to average 87,500 barrels of oil a day for between 30 and 40 years. Bemolanga has gross discovered bitumen in place of 1.179 billion barrels, with over 1 billion barrels potential upside, subject to further delineation drilling. In 2008, the company successfully completed a farm-out of a 60 per cent stake to Total of France, whic...

In 2004 Madagascar Oil acquired the rights to operate five blocks in Madagascar, all of which had been studied in prior years. Two of the blocks; 3102 Bemolanga and 3104 Tsimiroro had been the subject of prior development efforts by several companies dating back to the early 1900’s. The other three blocks; 3105 Manambolo, 3106 Morondava and 3107 Manandaza experienced various partially successful exploration efforts over the prior 40 years, none of which led to development. Madagascar Oil has taken Bemolanga and Tsimiroro from the level of interesting potential to the point of defining significant oil resources in a field development area on each of the blocks. These two blocks have defined oil resources of over 1 billion barrels each and significant upside potential. Work is progressing in 2010 and 2011 to demonstrate the capability for commercial extraction. Work is continuing on Manambolo, Morondava and Manandaza to further define and derisk the prospects and identify potential d...

(Reuters) - Madagascar Oil said it raised 50.5 million pounds through its initial public offering, as the oil and gas explorer debuted on the junior market of the London Stock Exchange on Monday. The shares were issued at 95 pence apiece, giving the company a market cap of about 182.7 million pounds. Madagascar Oil, which expects first production from its key Tsimiroro field in 2011, said it intended to use the proceeds to fund its existing exploration programme, as it plans to carry out further drilling at Tsimiroro. The company said it had found oil at 15 of the 18 wells that have been drilled at Tsimiroro till date. Houston-based Madagascar also has a 40 percent stake in the Bemolanga project, with France's Total, which holds the remaining stake, operating the field. Strand Hanson Ltd. is the nominated adviser, while Mirabaud Securities is the lead manager and joint broker for the admission. GMP Securities Europe is also acting as joint broker. Shares of the company were trading...