SacOil Holdings Appeal Upheld (7339E)
June 06 2012 - 2:01AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMSAC
RNS Number : 7339E
SacOil Holdings Limited
06 June 2012
SACOIL HOLDINGS LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1993/000460/06)
JSE share code: SCL AIM share code: SAC
ISIN: ZAE000127460
("SacOil" or "the Company" or "the Group")
6 June 2012
Johannesburg
SacOil's Appeal against US$2m Identiguard Claim Upheld
Summary
-- South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal dismisses
Identiguard's claim to US$2m from SacOil's subsidiary and awards
SacOil costs
Background
SacOil previously reported on the application instituted by
Identiguard International (Proprietary) Limited ("Identiguard")
against South Africa Congo Oil (Pty) Limited ("SacOil Pty"), a
subsidiary in which the Company owns 50% of the issued share
capital. Identiguard obtained a judgment against the DRC Government
and in partial execution of that judgment, Identiguard sought to
attach the payment of the supplementary signature bonus (US$2
million) under the Block III Production Sharing Agreement that was
concluded between SacOil Pty and the DRC Government.
The South Gauteng High Court delivered judgment in favour of
Identiguard during May 2011 and authorised the notice of
attachment. SacOil Pty applied for leave to appeal against the
South Gauteng High Court judgment and was granted leave to appeal
to the South African Supreme Court of Appeal ("SCA"). The appeal
was heard by the SCA on 15 May 2012 and the SCA reserved
judgment.
SacOil is pleased to inform shareholders that the appeal by its
subsidiary, SacOil Pty, against the judgment delivered in May 2011
by the South Gauteng High Court in favour of Identiguard was
successful. The appeal was heard by the SCA on 15 May 2012 and
judgment was delivered on 31 May 2012. The SCA overturned the High
Court order and replaced it with an order dismissing Identiguard's
application with costs.
Identiguard had also prior to the allocation of a date for the
hearing of the SCA appeal, launched an application in terms of Rule
49(11), requesting the South Gauteng High Court not to allow the
judgment granted in its favour to remain suspended pending the
outcome of the appeal, but instead to order SacOil Pty to pay the
amount of US$2 million into Identiguard attorney's trust account.
This Rule 49(11) application was heard by the South Gauteng High
Court on 20 March 2012 and judgment was reserved. Bearing in mind
that the SCA appeal has since been heard and was successful, Norton
Rose Inc., the attorneys acting on SacOil Pty's behalf have sent a
copy of the SCA appeal judgment to the South Gauteng High Court and
have submitted that in the circumstances, the application in terms
of Rule 49(11) should also be dismissed with costs.
SacOil's title to Block III is uncontested and the Company will
continue its focus on bringing the asset to account with its
partners Total and DIG Oil (Pty) Limited. Block III is a highly
attractive exploration concession, adjacent to the approximate 1.2
billion contingent resource oil discoveries that were made in the
Ugandan territory of Lake Albert.
ENDS
About SacOil
SacOil is an African independent upstream oil and gas company,
focused on African assets, with a dual listing on the JSE and AIM.
SacOil's vision is to build a balanced hydrocarbon exploration and
production portfolio using the Company's African heritage to bring
about a competitive advantage at the point of entry. SacOil's
primary strategic objective is the development, exploration and
production of discovered assets, with existing or near-term
production, cash and revenue potential.
SacOil is focussed on oil and, where there is a defined access
to market, gas in proven hydrocarbon bearing basins. The company
seeks to build a portfolio of assets across the E&P spectrum
from potentially high-impact exploration through to undeveloped
discoveries with near-term cash flow potential and to production
with defined upside.
The Company is willing and able to operate through the
exploration phase but will continue to focus on the establishment
of strategic industry partnerships in order to maximise its
opportunity set, manage portfolio risk, and ensure that the optimum
technical and operating skills are applied to each opportunity.
Consistent with this strategy, SacOil has built up an E&P
portfolio including oil discoveries in Nigeria and potentially
high-impact exploration in the DRC detailed as follows:
0 in Block III DRC, through its partnership with Total and DIG
Oil, it is envisaged that the work program committed to will
demonstrate prospectivity which could lead to the discovery of
hydrocarbons;
0 in to OPL 281 Nigeria, SacOil is in the process of evaluating
and appraising existing oil discoveries through the reprocessing of
seismic data with a view to drilling an appraisal well; remaining
conditions precedent to the farm-in agreement include perfection of
title and all the necessary Nigerian government and Nigerian
National Petroleum Company consents in relation to the licence;
and
0 in OPL 233 Nigeria, the Joint Venture Committee consisting of
SacOil, NIGDEL and EER is committed to acquiring 3D OBC seismic
data during 2012, which should assist in evaluating and appraising
the size of the existing oil discovery, as well as delineating
additional prospectivity in the concession.
JSE Sponsor
Nedbank Capital
For further information please contact:
finnCap Limited (Nominated Adviser and
Broker) +44 (0)20 7220 0500
Matthew Robinson / Christopher Raggett
FirstEnergy Capital (Joint Broker UK)
Majid Shafiq / Travis Inlow +44 (0) 20 7448 0200
GMP Securities Europe LLP (Joint Broker
UK)
Nick Morgan / Chris Beltgens +44 (0)20 7647 2800
The Riverbed Agency (SA)
Raphala Mogase +27 (0) 11 783 7903
Pelham Bell Pottinger (UK)
Philip Dennis +44 (0)20 7861 3919
Nick Lambert +44 (0)20 7861 3936
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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