Pantheon Resources plc ("Pantheon" or "the Company"), the AIM-quoted oil and gas exploration company with working interests in several conventional project areas in Tyler and Polk Counties, onshore East Texas, and onshore North Slope of Alaska, is pleased to announce:
Successful bidding at State of Alaska's North Slope Areawide Lease sale
Pantheon is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of approximately 27,840 acres in the State of Alaska's North Slope Areawide Lease sale, held overnight in Alaska. The new leases are strategically positioned in two areas contiguous or adjacent to our current acreage on our northern and southwestern boundaries. Pantheon had a competitive advantage in bidding for this acreage given it owns the proprietary 3D seismic which covers the leases, and which was not accessible by any 3rd parties. These acreage additions are a direct result of detailed technical work completed by Pantheon and its consultants at eSeis over recent months, which includes comprehensive Hi-Tech Geophysical evaluation of the area. Management believe the new acreage offers significant potential for the Company.
Pantheon's winning bids averaged $30.50 per acre, significantly lower than the $276.95 per acre winning bids recorded on other acreage in the sales. When the leases are officially awarded by the State of Alaska, estimated to be in 6 to 12 months, they will come with a 10-year initial term, an annual rental of $10 per acre for the first seven years, and a royalty rate of either 12% (8 leases) or 16.67% (9 leases). These additions will also allow us to continue to strategically high grade our acreage based on the very recent technical work completed by our team.
Overall on this day, the State of Alaska and federal Bureau of Land Management held three successful lease sales that in the aggregate brought in over $19 million in bonus bids. These lease sales come after the announcements of major discoveries over the past few years on the North Slope in two new play types.
Bob Rosenthal, Technical Director stated:
"Acquiring these leases was a very successful outcome for Pantheon. Our team has spent close to a decade working this acreage, enhanced recently with advanced geophysical evaluation which was only available to Pantheon because of its proprietary 3D seismic over that area which was unavailable to any other players, hence the attractive acquisition price. Very importantly, the acreage is in very close proximity to the established export infrastructure.
"The geological plays identified by Pantheon are all stratigraphic Brookian targets, based on known oil in 3 wells and are close to being matured to drilling status. These Brookian plays are in the same formations that have been so successful in discovering oil on the North Slope and are very large. The forward program on these leases will be to appraise these projects by drilling and moving to exploit these resources."
Jay Cheatham, CEO added:
"Having watched the evolution of these plays as the combination of the 3D seismic and the petrophysical analysis developed, I'm ecstatic to have been the successful bidder on this acreage where we clearly had a major advantage. The geographic location both in terms of the geological plays we are chasing in contiguous acres and in relation to the export infrastructure were important considerations. I look forward to working with the State of Alaska on these leases. This new acreage adds significant and material potential to our prospect inventory and will allow Pantheon to continue to strategically high grade our lease position going forward"