Late last year Lion announced it had contracted to sell the Bula Oilfield and the associated heavy equipment to PT Ilham Treda Industri for $US4,350,000. This sale was subsequently approved by the shareholders of the company at a general meeting held on 7 January 2005.
Settlement was to have occurred in late January 2005. But after several extensions of time the purchaser was unable to finalise payment, and Lion advised the purchaser that the agreement to sell Bula to it was cancelled. On 1 March 2005 Lion notified the market the sale would not proceed due to the purchaser’s inability to finalise payment.
After review by Lion’s directors, on 11 May 2005 the company announced it had contracted to sell Bula and associated heavy equipment to Southern Petroleum Pte Ltd for $US4,850,000. Approval by shareholders for this sale is to occur at a general meeting to be held on 28 June 2005.
But Lion now says it received correspondence on Monday 30 May 2005 from PT Ilham Treda Industri notifying Lion that $US5,000,000 had been sent to the Lion bank account as payment for the Bula assets.
“As yet these funds have not been received by Lion,” the company said in a statement.
“The directors will notify the market if the funds are received and they will then advise how the company intends to proceed.”
Bula is a producing but mature oil field on the island of Seram, Indonesia. Lion subsidiary Kalrez Petroleum (Seram) Limited (KPS) acquired a 100% interest in the Bula field in 1999 through the purchase of all the shares in Santos Petroleum (Seram) Limited.
