Empire rattles tin for $15m
Empire Oil & Gas is set to shrug off the oil price malaise by launching an equity raising of more than $15 million that has the financial backing of its chairman and its biggest shareholder.
Empire is expected to emerge from a trading halt today to reveal details of a placement that raised more than $5 million as well as plans for a fully underwritten $10 million rights issue.
Empire hopes the money raised will fund a key exploration well - Red Gully North - near its flagship Red Gully gas-condensate plant near Gingin and geophysical survey work over big parts of its Perth Basin acreage.
The survey is designed to identify potential gas targets for drilling and help Empire attract farm-in partners next year.
Red Gully North has already been identified as a key target, and should drilling confirm its potential recoverable reserves of more than 10 petajoules the well will be plugged into the Red Gully plant, 4km away.
The raising is being done at 0.5¢, compared with Empire's last trade of 0.7¢.
The rights issue is underwritten by Morgans Corporate, with sub-underwriting support from Empire chairman Tony Iannello and 19.9 per cent shareholder ERM Power.
