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(Sharecast News) - Pantheon Resources said on Thursday that it has raised $10m before expenses through a conditional placing to fund near-term appraisal activity at its Ahpun and Kodiak projects on Alaska's North Slope, including the planned resumption of flow testing at the Dubhe-1 well.
The AIM-traded company placed 106.2 million new ordinary shares at 7p per share, with the placing conducted by Oak Securities as sole bookrunner.
It said the proceeds would support the acquisition and analysis of new and existing well data at Dubhe-1, alongside preparatory work aimed at enabling a cost-effective restart of the flow testing programme, as well as providing general working capital.
Pantheon said resuming testing at Dubhe-1 was a key step towards commercialising an estimated 282m barrels of liquid contingent resources in the Shelf Margin Deltaic reservoir and, ultimately, more than 500 million barrels of contingent resources across the wider Greater Ahpun area.
The firm added that successful testing would also underpin its gas offtake precedent agreement with the State of Alaska.
A portion of the funds would also be used to reprocess existing seismic data over the Kodiak project to improve reservoir imaging.
Pantheon said the work was expected to support the potential drilling of an appraisal well as early as the 2026-2027 winter season, subject to further financing.
Kodiak was currently assessed by independent experts at 1.2 billion barrels of contingent recoverable liquids, with upside potential to 2.8 billion barrels, and has already attracted industry interest, with several parties engaged in farm-out discussions.
"Today's financing further enables our forward programme at Dubhe-1," said chief executive Max Easley.
"Prior to the suspension of testing in December the well was exhibiting increased gas production volumes, and we are very keen to recommence operations after pressure build-up and other analysis has been completed."
He added that completion of the testing programme "will determine the next steps for the development of the Ahpun asset and will potentially unlock significant value for the company".
Easley also said that upgrading the seismic data at Kodiak "may significantly strengthen our position in ongoing farm-out discussions", adding that the company expects to update shareholders on both fronts in the coming weeks.
Admission of the new shares to trading on AIM was expected at 0800 GMT on or around 22 January, subject to customary conditions.
At 1239 GMT, shares in Pantheon Resources were down 10.76% at 7.01p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
