AED Oil says considering offers for some assets

Australian oil firm AED Oil Ltd AED.AX, whose shares were hit earlier this year on claims it had overdue debt, said it was considering offers from a number of unnamed parties over the sale of some of its assets.

Trading in its shares will be halted for two days, during which it said it expects to be able to make an announcement.

AED said in January it had received several approaches from international and Australian oil firms wanting to invest in its fully-owned Puffin and Talbot oilfields off northwestern Australia. It has appointed Macquarie Group MQG.AX to conduct a review of its business.

AED became an investor favourite in June after it said it was likely to have up to 100 million barrels of recoverable oil at Puffin and Talbot, up sharply from an earlier estimate of 40 million barrels.

But its stock has plunged from a record A$11.40 in October as technical problems slashed output from its Puffin North East field to just 6,000-10,000 barrels per day (bpd), well short of its initial forecast of 30,000 bpd.

Shares in AED took a further hit after Norwegian oil services firm AGR Group AGR.OL said AED was overdue in paying an AGR subsidiary about A$41.5 million ($37 million). AED had said it was still cashflow positive and that it was in discussions with AGR over payments.

AED’s shares last traded at A$1.85.

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