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IFC to lend up to $80M to support oil & gas producer Niko Resources’ capex in South Asia

By Bhawna Gupta

  • 19 Nov 2013
IFC to lend up to $80M to support oil & gas producer Niko Resources’ capex in South Asia

International Finance Corporation (IFC) will lend up to $80 million to Canadian natural resources firm Niko Resources Ltd to help part finance its capital expenditure in India and Bangladesh besides refinancing some outstanding debt, as per a disclosure.

VCCircle had first reported in May that the firm is scouting for such a debt funding. 

Niko Resources is an exploration and production company based in Calgary, Canada and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange with a focus on producing natural gas in the South Asia region. It has operations in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Madagascar, Pakistan and Trinidad. 

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Its subsidiary has substantial oil & gas interest in India and has 10 per cent participating interest with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in offshore Krishna-Godavari oil and gas block in India's east coast. RIL and Niko Resources were awarded the KG-D6 block in 2000. 

The firm is spending around $340 million for investing in wells in the D1-D3, MA and the development of the R-cluster and satellite fields in the Krishna-Godavari Basin off the eastern coast of India, and, the development work for Block 9 in central Bangladesh, between Dhaka and Comilla. These investments are spread over the next three years.

The company reported its 10th straight quarterly loss and said it had a working capital deficiency of $110 million as of September 30, 2013 and had a net loss of $149 million in the last quarter compared with a loss of $28.6 million, a year earlier. 

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The company plans to sell some non-core assets in India and Trinidad to bring down its debt. 

The chairman of board and CEO Ed Sampson owns 5.9 per cent shares in Niko Resources and the remaining shares are owned by the public and some institutional investors.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)

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