Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas makes premium London debut

Shares in Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:ECO, CVE:EOG) got off to a premium debut in the first few minutes of trading in London. Placed at 16p the stock was changing hands for 18.5p by 8.30am. The company, which is already listed in Toronto and is partnered with both Tullow Oil plc (LON:TLW) and Azimuth Group, raised just under £5.1mln from investors this side of the Pond. The cash will be used to increase the size of its seismic exploration programme on the 1,800-km Orinduik Block in Guyana. The offshore acreage is next door to ExxonMobil's world-class Liza and Payara discoveries. The proceeds will also fund work programmes across its three offshore licences in Namibia estimated to contain over 2.3bn barrels net to Eco of unrisked prospective resources. “This is an important and transformational step for the company, and is vindication of our business and market strategy, our highly prospective oil licences in Guyana and Namibia and our strategic partnerships with Tullow and the Azimuth,” said Eco’s chief executive Gil Holzman. “We believe our AIM listing will expedite progress at these licences towards discoveries, production and value creation to our stakeholders.”