Petro Matad Limited ("Petro Matad" or "the Company"), the AIM quoted Mongolian oil company, announces its audited final results for the year ended 31 December 2023. All monetary values are expressed in United States dollars unless otherwise stated.
2023 Operational Highlights
· The Company continued to push the Mongolian government and authorities to register Block XX Exploitation Area as State Special Purpose land and secured Cabinet approval for the certification in July. Continued bureaucratic delays in the government's regulatory processes to complete the certification led the Company to seek local level approvals in parallel.
· The Company raised $6.6 million to finance exploration drilling in Block V and its renewable energy joint venture focused on projects in Mongolia.
· The Velociraptor-1 wildcat well was drilled in Block V in mid-2023. Although the well was plugged and abandoned as a dry hole, it penetrated good quality reservoirs and source rocks and provides an excellent data point to high-grade other exploration areas in Mongolia. The operation also demonstrated that very low-cost exploration drilling can be done in-country with truck mounted equipment and a very small environmental footprint.
· Close cooperation and community support in Block V demonstrated that the Company's community outreach is fit for purpose.
· Petro Matad was chosen as the preferred contractor for the two new Production Sharing Contracts for which it had applied in the Mongolian Exploration Licensing round.
· The company formed the Sunsteppe joint venture with an experienced developer to pursue opportunities in the Mongolian renewable energy sector.
Mid-2024 update
· Local land access approvals are now in hand allowing operations to go ahead on Block XX in 2024 whilst the State Special Purpose Certification process is completed in parallel.
· Preparations are being finalised for completion of the Heron 1 well and the contractor has indicated that it should be ready to mobilise in July.
· Progress is being made on the exclusive green energy development projects that the Sunsteppe joint venture has high-graded at Choir (50MW Battery Storage) and at the major Oyu Tolgoi mine (24MW renewable energy supply for green hydrogen production).
2023 Financial Highlights
· As of 31 December 2023, the Group's cash position was $4.5 million (inclusive of Financial Assets) (31 December 2022: $5.1 million).
· The Group's net loss after tax for the twelve months ended 31 December 2023 was $5.93 million (31 December 2022: loss $2.95 million).
· As announced on 2 February 2023, the Company raised gross proceeds of US$6.6 million from a Capital Raise comprising of the issue of 215,121,952 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 2.5p per share.
Mike Buck, CEO of Petro Matad, said:
"2023 proved to be a frustrating year on Block XX, where the significant step of Cabinet approval of State Special Purpose Certification for the area did not translate into a rapid renewal of Petro Matad's licence to operate. Whilst that certification is still to be finalised and is having to wait until after the imminent Mongolian parliamentary elections, the fact that we were recently able to secure locally approved land use agreements for the areas in which our next operations are planned, ends a very long wait. We share our shareholders' relief and excitement that the completion operations on Heron 1 will go ahead with contractors planned to mobilise in July to prepare the well for production. Negotiations with PetroChina for oil transport, processing, export and sale are ongoing with the support of the industry regulator.
Our shareholders' patience and support are much appreciated as is the dedication and motivation of our staff. The Company will be focussing maximum effort on moving the Heron development forward through the second half of 2024 and I look forward to updating you further."