VANCOUVER, Feb. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Ivanhoe Energy
Inc. (TSX: IE; NASDAQ: IVAN) (TSX: IE.DB) announced yesterday that
the company has entered into an agreement with founder Robert Friedland to provide the company with a
further US$2.37 million
(approximately C$3.0 million) secured
bridge loan.
The company advised that all of the loan will be used to satisfy
current obligations, including significant statutory severance
payments in Ecuador and to reduce
the company's trade payables.
The company expects that its severance obligations in
Ecuador will total approximately
US$883,000. These severance
obligations are recorded with the Ministry of Labor and their
payment is mandatory. Other obligations in Ecuador amounting to US$277,000 include government fees for
terminating the Specific Services Contract as well as costs
associated with completing studies for government environmental
audits required for the company to fulfill its obligations under
the termination agreement for the Specific Services Contract. In
addition, the company will make total payments of approximately
US$1.2 million to companies
controlled by Mr. Friedland for unsecured trade payables that are
in arrears dating back to April 2014.
These affiliated companies provided aircraft and capital markets
advisory services to the company during 2014.
The company will make additional disclosure respecting the
status of its strategic and financial review process once the board
of directors decides to pursue a specific transaction or series of
transactions or otherwise determines that disclosure is necessary
or appropriate. There can be no assurance that the current process
will result in a transaction or, if a transaction is undertaken,
that it will be successfully concluded in a timely manner or at
all.
Ivanhoe Energy is an independent international heavy oil
exploration and development company focused on pursuing long-term
growth using advanced technologies, including its proprietary heavy
oil upgrading process (HTL®). Ivanhoe Energy trades on
the Toronto Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol IE and on the
NASDAQ Capital Market with the ticker symbol IVAN. For more
information about Ivanhoe Energy Inc. please visit
www.ivanhoeenergy.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This document
includes forward-looking statements, including forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to the potential for commercialization and future
application of the heavy oil upgrading technology and other
technologies, statements relating to the continued advancement of
Ivanhoe Energy's projects, statements relating to the timing and
amount of proceeds of agreed upon and contemplated disposition
transactions, statements relating to anticipated capital
expenditures, statements relating to the timing and success of
regulatory review applications, and other statements which are not
historical facts. When used in this document, the words such as
"could," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may,"
"potential," "should," and similar expressions relating to matters
that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements.
Although Ivanhoe Energy believes that its expectations reflected in
these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements
involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that
actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to
differ from these forward-looking statements include the potential
that the Company's projects will experience technological and
mechanical problems, new product development will not proceed as
planned, the HTL® technology to upgrade bitumen and
heavy oil may not be commercially viable, geological conditions in
reservoirs may not result in commercial levels of oil and gas
production, the availability of drilling rigs and other support
services, uncertainties about the estimates of reserves, the risk
associated with doing business in foreign countries, environmental
risks, changes in product prices, our ability to raise capital as
and when required, our ability to complete agreed upon and planned
asset dispositions, competition and other risks disclosed in
Ivanhoe Energy's 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR and the Canadian
Securities Commissions on SEDAR.
SOURCE Ivanhoe Energy Inc.