Predator Extends Deadline to Acquire CEG Operations in Trinidad

Predator Oil & Gas Holdings Plc said it has agreed to extend the date for closing its acquisition of the Challenger Energy Group’s (CEG) entire operations in Trinidad and Tobago.

The two companies have agreed to a deadline of seven days after the granting of regulatory approval for the transaction, with a revised long-stop date of August 30, Predator said in a statement.

Predator entered into a transaction with CEG in February for the acquisition of its St Lucia domiciled subsidiary company, Columbus Energy Limited, which in turn holds various subsidiary entities collectively representing all of CEG’s business, producing assets and operations in Trinidad and Tobago.

The three producing fields that are being acquired are Goudron, Inniss Trinity, and Icacos, which are averaging 272 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production and are held under an Enhanced Production Sharing Contract with Heritage Petroleum and in the case of Icacos, under a Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries private mining license.

The merger agreement signed in February originally provided for regulatory approval to be finalized by April 30. With administrative closing uncertainty due to the snap election of Trinidad and Tobago in March and the resulting change of government in May, the date was then extended to June 30, according to the release.

The two companies have since “made substantial progress in terms of satisfying requirements for the grant of the necessary regulatory approval,” Predator said. Anticipating the transaction closing in the near term, they have started working collaboratively on the ground in Trinidad to ensure a smooth and efficient transfer of ownership and operations once final regulatory approval is obtained, Predator stated.

The acquisition will allow Predator to potentially accelerate the drilling of the Snowcap-3 development and appraisal well, which will target 2C oil resources of 1.4 million barrels in the reservoir being restored to production by the Snowcap-1 well workover and 2P oil resources of 12.9 million barrels from deeper reservoirs equivalent to those in the adjacent Moruga West field formerly operated by BP, according to an earlier statement.

“Over the last two months we have been carrying out an internal technical and commercial re-assessment of the company’s diverse portfolio of assets in Morocco and Trinidad. This has taken into account prevailing uncertainty in terms of equity market volatility, crude oil price fluctuations and unstable foreign exchange markets. All of these factors combine to undervalue early-stage oil and gas exploration, appraisal and development,” Predator CEO Paul Griffiths said.

“Acquisition of the CEG operations in Trinidad will facilitate production growth and revenue generation through integration with our existing production operations to deliver economies of scale,” Griffiths continued.

“Preparations and planning are ongoing to drill the Snowcap-3 well in Q1 2026. A rig has been identified and subject to certification a rig contract will be entered into. The Snowcap-3 appraisal well is targeting the best producing sand in BP’s former Moruga West field 1.5 kilometers southeast of the Snowcap-3 proposed well location. In Moruga West individual wells have flowed initially at up to 303 [barrels of oil per day] from this single interval with maximum well recovery for a single well of 455,000 barrels of oil over field life has been achieved. Snowcap-3 is therefore a key well for boosting our producing portfolio and can potentially be tied in quickly and at low cost to enable early monetization. There are several options to organically-finance the well later this year through an asset sale and/or partnering with a local company,” he said.

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