Block Energy PLC Issue of Options and Shares and PDMR Dealing (0861E)

TIDMBLOE

RNS Number : 0861E

Block Energy PLC

05 July 2021

5 July 2021

Block Energy plc

("Block" or the "Company")

Issue of Options and Shares and PDMR Dealing

Block Energy plc, the development and production company focused on Georgia, announces that, on 4 July 2021, it issued nil-cost options over a total of 1,500,358 ordinary shares of 0.25p each ("Options") to directors/PDMRs and employees. The Options were issued in lieu of payment of cash for 40% of salaries and up to 50% of directors' fees for the month of June 2021, in accordance with the cash conservation measures announced on 7 April 2020 ("Cash Conservation Measures") and subsequent agreements with the non-executive directors for 50% of directors' fees to be paid in nil-cost options in lieu of cash payment. The number of shares was calculated by dividing the amount of monthly salary or fee to be paid in Options by the volume weighted average price of the ordinary shares during the month of June 2021.

Of the total numbers of Options issued, 589,043 Options were issued to directors/PDMRs, as shown in the table below.

 
 PDMR                   Position                  Number of Options   Resulting total 
                                                            granted      options held 
                                                                        over ordinary 
                                                                               shares 
                        Chief Executive 
 Paul Haywood            Officer                            227,922        14,706,264 
                       ------------------------  ------------------  ---------------- 
                        Chief Financial 
 William McAvock         Officer                            162,801         8,976,777 
                       ------------------------  ------------------  ---------------- 
 Philip Dimmock         Non-Executive Chairman               65,120           271,380 
                       ------------------------  ------------------  ---------------- 
 Chris Brown            Non-Executive Director               44,400           262,228 
                       ------------------------  ------------------  ---------------- 
 Charles Valceschini    Non-Executive Director               44,400           286,327 
                       ------------------------  ------------------  ---------------- 
 David Sandroshvili     Non-Executive Director               44,400           278,911 
                       ------------------------  ------------------  ----------------

Additionally, a former employee has exercised nil-cost options ("Exercised Options") to acquire 1,694,756 ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each and has elected to receive 338,951 fewer shares to compensate the Company for settling the income tax payable on behalf of the former employee. The Exercised Options had been acquired as a result of the Cash Conservation Measures . To satisfy the exercise, on 2 July 2021, the Company allotted 1,355,805 ordinary shares of 0.25p each.

Application will be made for the admission to trading on AIM ("Admission") for the 1,355,805 ordinary shares. The ordinary shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of the Company. Admission is expected at 8.00 a.m. on or around 8 July 2021.

Total Voting Rights

Following Admission, the Company's issued share capital will comprise 625,979,318 ordinary shares with one voting right each. As the Company does not hold any shares in Treasury, the total number of voting rights in the Company is also 625,979,318 and this figure of ordinary shares may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

**S**

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE UK VERSION OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION NO 596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF ENGLISH LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMED. ON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

For further information please visit http://www.blockenergy.co.uk/ or contact:

 
 Paul Haywood           Block Energy plc          Tel: +44 (0)20 
  (Chief Executive                                 3468 9891 
  Officer) 
 Neil Baldwin           Spark Advisory Partners   Tel: +44 (0)20 
  (Nominated Adviser)    Limited                   3368 3554 
 Peter Krens            Tennyson Securities       Tel: +44 (0)20 
  (Corporate Broker)                               7186 9030 
 Billy Clegg / Owen     Camarco                   Tel: +44 (0)20 
  Roberts / Violet                                 3757 4980 
  Wilson 
  (Financial PR)

Notes to editors

Block Energy plc is an AIM-listed independent oil and gas company focused on production and development in Georgia, applying innovative technology to realise the full potential of previously discovered fields.

Block has a 100% working interest in Georgian onshore licence blocks IX and XI(B) . Licence block XI(B) is Georgia's most productive block, with 2P oil and gas reserves of 64 MMboe, which is comprised 2P oil reserves of 36 MMbbls and 2P gas reserves of 28 MMboe (Source: CPR Bayphase Limited: 1 July 2015) and historic production of over 180 MMbbls of oil from the Middle Eocene, peaking in the mid-1980s at 67,000 bopd.

The Company has a 100% working interest in the highly prospective West Rustavi onshore oil and gas field with multiple wells that have tested oil and gas from a range of geological horizons. The field has so far produced 50 Mbbls of light sweet crude and has 0.9 MMbbls of gross 2P oil reserves in the Middle Eocene. It also has 38 MMbbls of gross unrisked 2C contingent resources of oil and 608 Bcf of gross unrisked 2C contingent resources of gas in the Middle, Upper and Lower Eocene formations (Source: CPR Gustavson Associates: 1 January 2018).

Block also holds 100% and 90% working interests respectively in the onshore oil producing Norio and Satskhenisi fields.

The Company offers a clear entry point for investors to gain exposure to Georgia's growing economy and the strong regional demand for oil and gas.

Glossary

   1.    bbls: barrels. A barrel is 35 imperial gallons. 
   2.    boe: barrels of oil equivalent. 
   3.    bopd: barrels of oil per day. 
   4.    Mbbls: thousand barrels. 
   5.    MMboe: million barrels of oil equivalent. 
   6.    MMbbls: million barrels. 
   7.    Bcf: billion cubic feet.