Bahamas Petroleum raises £9.5m for Perseverance-1 well

Exploration and production firm Bahamas Petroleum raised up £9.5m on Thursday by virtue of an institutional share placing.

Bahamas Petroleum undertook the placing as part of an effort to boost funds for its high-impact well, Perseverance-1, with 475.0m new shares being issued at a price of 2.0p each.

Perseverance-1 has estimated potential resources of 770.0m to 1.4bn barrels of oil.

The AIM-listed firm stated the fundraiser was part of a push to optimise funding in order to achieve a lower cost of capital, less aggregate dilution and greater certainty.

Bahamas also expects that it will not be required to draw on its existing £16.0m convertible bond facility thanks to the placing.

Chief executive Simon Potter said: "The placing proceeds, being certain, immediately available and at a known dilution compared to other existing funding options, give us the opportunity to simplify the capital structure of the business whilst leaving us in a much stronger overall financial position.

"At the same time, with a view to continually seeking to strategically enhance the overall financial and operating capacity of the company, we continue to consider a wide range of other funding options."

As of 1300 BST, Bahamas Petroleum shares had sunk 22.88% to 2.16p.