Coastal Africa Group, a newly incorporated company focused on acquiring and investing in the oil and gas sector, energy infrastructure, energy services and energy assets across West Africa, is pleased to announce its intention to seek admission to trading on the AIM Market, a market operated by London Stock Exchange plc ("AIM"), of ordinary shares in the capital of the Company.

Highlights:

• Coastal will be an ‘investing company’ upon Admission and intends to make an initial acquisition within 18 months, which will result in the Company becoming an operating company.
• The Company also intends to acquire a portfolio of minority, non-controlling interests in assets in the West African oil and gas sector.

The Company’s integrated strategy aims to enhance project execution eUiciency, improve asset returns, and reduce execution risk, by:

• Mitigating third-party reliance, risks, and conflicts typically encountered by pure-play upstream or infrastructure operators.
• Turning process storage and evacuation costs into a revenue stream, it could reduce break-even cost, exposure to oil price volatility and remove third-party risk of delivery, unlocking transactions that may otherwise not be plausible.

Structural, regulatory and market trends in the Company’s core markets of Nigeria and Angola support a timely and highly attractive environment for energy investment:

• Nigeria and Angola are experiencing economic and demographic fundamentals supportive of sustained growth in domestic demand for oil and gas resources, including GDP growth and electricity supply deficits, while holding significant resources:
• Nigeria holds the largest proven reserves of natural gas in Africa and the second most proved reserves of oil and benefits from attractive geology and crude quality.
• Angola has the second highest crude oil exports of African nations, with oil and gas accounting for approximately 99% of all Angolan exports.
• Recent fiscal & regulatory change in Nigeria and Angola provide an attractive impetus for new oil and gas investment.
• Nigeria aims to double oil production to approximately 3 mmboe and increase gas production to approximately 12bcf’d by 2030.
• Nigeria has improved the investment environment, by passing legislation, including the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
• Angola has implemented regulatory, fiscal, and institutional reforms, resulting in greater regulatory independence and the introduction of fiscal incentives.
• Opportunity to access material, shallow water assets, making this a pivotal time to invest in West African oil and gas, via international oil companies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (“NNPCL”) divesting assets, historical and upcoming bid rounds and the opportunity to support local operators and licence holders who lack the funding and expertise to bring assets into production.

The Coastal team have a proven track record of delivering material value to shareholders:

• Coastal’s strategic foundations date back to 2008, when Conrad Clauson became an early investor in Coastal Energy, a shallow-water focused O&G operator in Thailand. In parallel, he founded Viking Storage Solutions (Mauritius) Ltd to provide evacuation solutions critical to bringing Coastal Energy’s oUshore assets into production.
• In January 2014, Compañía Española de Petróleos, S.A.U. acquired Coastal Energy for an enterprise value of approximately C$2.3 billion, delivering an approximate 6x return on invested equity.
• Coastal will be supported by a highly experienced senior management team, combining global execution capability with strong local expertise. This includes key personnel involved in the growth of Addax Petroleum.
• The team further benefits from direct transaction and operational experience in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, with Coastal’s CFO having worked on multiple realised upstream investments for Helios Investment Partners and led its full lifecycle investment in Axxela Group.
• Coastal’s senior management team brings extensive global experience across the upstream and midstream oil and gas value chain, with a strong track record of delivering complex oUshore developments, infrastructure-led projects, and asset monetisation strategies across multiple jurisdictions.
• Members of the team have operated across key energy markets including Nigeria, Angola, Brazil, the North Sea, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, with experience spanning Floating Production, Storage and OUloading units (FPSOs), Mobile OUshore Production Units (MOPUs), subsea infrastructure, and integrated gas-to-power solutions.
• In Nigeria, members of the team have significant in-country execution experience, having worked across a broad portfolio of assets. This experience covers field development planning, production optimisation, evacuation solutions, and infrastructure integration.

Coastal is supported by a highly experienced Board, comprising two non-executives and three executive Directors.

Commenting, Peter Kimpel, Non-Executive Chairman of Coastal, said:
“The current environment oUers a unique and timely opportunity for a Company, such as Coastal, led by a team with the relevant experience and ability, to deliver material returns to investors, while supporting local companies, communities, and regional and national governments, as they seek to attract investment to maximise returns from oil and gas assets in support of wider economic, social, and community development”.

Conrad Clauson, Chief Executive OJicer of Coastal, added:
“We are seeking to replicate the strategy deployed in Southeast Asia by Coastal Energy Company, which has already proven successful, delivering ~6x return on equity capital raised. That strategy is based on an integrated approach, which better aligns operational interests, enhances project execution eUiciency, reduces execution risk, and supports better asset returns. That approach also unlocks transactions that may not otherwise be plausible, creating a wider opportunity set, and reducing exposure to oil price volatility.

We see a compelling investment opportunity to replicate the upstream, marine, and evacuation interplay in the development of proven shallow-water reserves across West Africa, underpinned by what the Directors view as favourable structural, regulatory, and market dynamics”.

KeyFacts Energy news: New Kid on the Block