TIDMUPL

RNS Number : 9967N

Upland Resources Limited

27 May 2020

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA OR JAPAN

This announcement is not an offer for sale, or a solicitation of an offer to acquire, securities in any jurisdiction, including in or into the United States, Canada, Australia, or Japan. Neither this announcement nor any part of it shall form the basis of or be relied on in connection with or act as an inducement to enter into any contract or commitment whatsoever.

27 May 2020

UPLAND RESOURCES LIMITED

("Upland" or the "Company")

Sarawak State Government announcement

Upland Resources Limited (LSE: UPL), the oil and gas company, actively building a portfolio of attractive upstream assets in proven Asian and African basins, responds to the recent announcement by the Sarawak Government that it has reached an understanding with Petronas (Petroliam Nasional Berhad - Malaysia's National Oil Corporation) over the management of its oil and gas assets in Sarawak.

Upland, since 13 April 2018, has had a joint venture with Brooke Dockyard and Engineering Works Corporation ("Brooke") (100% owned by the Sarawak Government) to jointly assess, explore and develop hydrocarbon assets within the State of Sarawak, Malaysia.

In 2017, the Sarawak Government established a wholly owned company Petroleum Sarawak Berhad ("Petros") which was gazetted under state laws to regulate, facilitate, manage and develop the oil and gas assets within the territory of Sarawak (onshore and offshore). By virtue of the 1958 State Oil Mining Ordinance, all oil and gas permits in Sarawak are to be issued by the Sarawak Government.

The recent joint press statement made by the Sarawak Government and Petronas spelt out the best way forward for both parties - to adopt a commercial solution to ongoing issues between Petronas and t he Sarawak Government in order to create a stable environment for investment and business in Malaysia and in Sarawak in particular.

This joint statement was welcomed by both the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Chief Minister of Sarawak and is in line with the Federal Government of Malaysia's ' Shared Prosperity Vision ' . Both Upland and other industry players welcome these latest developments as a noteworthy shift forward towards meaningful participation by Sarawak in the development of its significant oil and gas resources.

Upland, through its Chairman Bolhassan Di and the establishment of a private limited subsidiary (Upland Resources (Sarawak) Snd Bhd) and office in Sarawak, is well positioned within Sarawak and maintains a strong relationship with Petros, the Sarawak Government's wholly owned oil and gas company.

Upland and Brooke have carried out data room studies and evaluations to identify prospective hydrocarbon plays of scale in Sarawak and believing that they hold commercial resource potential have conveyed their selection to Petros as well as proposing details for a work programme. In line with Petros' policy to employ local expertise as much as possible and where practicable, Upland have collaborated with local Sarawakian consulting expertise to design the proposed work programme.

Using local knowledge to secure large, high-impact petroleum plays within the region and developing these together with strategic partners is a key part of Upland ' s broader strategy to identify a number of potential opportunities both in Malaysia and further afield which offer unique potential for the Company.

Separately to this announcement, Upland continues to work on the results of an extensive Tunisian regional study in and around the Saoauf permit area and looks forward to updating investors with regards to this in the near-term.

Bolhassan Di, Chairman of Upland Resources Limited, said:

"We welcome this announcement by the Sarawak Government and Petronas which is absolutely in support of our strategy in Malaysia and we believe that it is an encouraging signal for industry players that they may soon be able to work in the area with Petros to maximise the substantial potential of Sarawak.

This validates the work we have been undertaking with Brooke, our in-country partner. In addition, we note that it is a positive sign that Petros will now have more autonomy in the management of the oil and gas assets in Sarawak.

Despite the inevitable disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have continued our desktop studies within onshore Tunisia to further our geological understanding of both our permit area and to define new target plays in presently unlicenced areas and look forward to updating investors in the near term".

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse

For further information, please contact:

 
 Upland Resources Limited                            www.uplandres.com 
  Christopher Pitman,                          Tel: +44 (0)7891 677441 
  CEO 
                                            chris.pitman@uplandres.com 
 Optiva Securities -                          www.optivasecurities.com 
  Broker 
 Jeremy King                                 Tel: _+44 (0)20 3137 1904 
  (Corporate Finance)                 jeremy.king@optivasecurities.com 
 Christian Dennis                             Tel: +44 (0)20 3411 1903 
  (Corporate Broker)             christian.dennis@optivasecurities.com 
 
   FTI Consulting - Financial 
   PR 
 Ben Brewerton                                Tel: +44 (0)203 727 1065 
                                       ben.brewerton@fticonsulting.com 
 Christopher Laing                            Tel: +44 (0)20 3727 1355 
                                 ch ristopher.laing @fticonsulting.com 
 
   Flowcomms - IR Contact 
 Sasha Sethi                                   Tel: +44 (0)7891 677441 
                                                   sasha@flowcomms.com

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

END

MSCPPUAGAUPUGRQ

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 27, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

Upland Resources (LSE:UPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024 Click Here for more Upland Resources Charts.
Upland Resources (LSE:UPL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024 Click Here for more Upland Resources Charts.