Placing of New Shares

8 Jun 2007 07:01

Meridian Petroleum PLC08 June 2007 8 June 2007 Meridian Petroleum plc ('Meridian' or 'the Company') Placing of new shares to raise £1.78 million Meridian Petroleum, the oil and gas exploration and production company with keyassets in the USA and Australia, today announces the successful completion of aninstitutional placing of new Ordinary Shares in the Company. Ambrian Partners has placed 16,181,900 new Ordinary Shares at a price of 11p pernew Ordinary Share with institutional investors, raising £1.78 million beforecosts. The funds raised will be used to continue the development and growth of theCompany in three key areas: 1. Ensuring the successful completion of all activities required to bring theOrion 36; Calvin 36#1 and Milford 36 gas wells into production. 2. Sustaining progress with the development plans for the company's majorassets: •A test well to establish the potential of the Calvin Deep gas prospects in Louisiana (contingent reserves 58bcf* net) •Acquisition of additional acreage at the Company's Coal Bed Methane project in Alabama and detailed planning on the pilot project (contingent reserves 240-390 bcf* net) •Investigation of the optimum approach to drilling on the Dolores prospect in Australia (prospective reserves 432bcf* net). Possibilities under consideration include bringing a partner into the project to help with the funding and technical requirements. *RPS Scott Pickford Independent Reserve Report 3. Adding technical resources to the Meridian Petroleum team and providing a solid organisational and governance platform for future growth. Application has been made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to AIM anddealings are expected to commence on 13 June 2007. Following the placing, thenumber of Ordinary Shares in issue will be 96,430,863. The new Ordinary Shareswill be issued under the existing authorities granted to the Directors. Additionally, the Company plans to release its preliminary results for the yearended 31 December 2006 on 26 June 2007. Stephen Gutteridge, Chairman of Meridian Petroleum, said: "The funds raised fromthis placing will help finance the final stages of our development intoproduction, and will enable us to plan our capital spending programme toprogress our larger projects in the coming months." - Ends - For further information contact: Meridian Petroleum PLC Ambrian Partners Parkgreen Communications Stephen Gutteridge Neil Maclachlan Clare Irvine+44 (0) 207 811 0140 +44 (0)20 7776 6400 +44 (0)20 7851 7480 Notes to Editors About Meridian Meridian is an oil and gas exploration and production company with key on-shoreassets in the United States and Australia. Meridian is quoted on the AIM marketof the London Stock Exchange (ticker: MRP), and is headquartered in London, withoffices in Houston, Texas and Adelaide, Australia. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange