Knox Energy Solutions AS (“Knox”) will in exchange for 50% of the equity in the company, receive 12.5% ownership of Inpector and USD 1.2 mill in cash to be used as working capital in a transaction valued at USD 11.5 million, equivalent to NOK 15.24 per share.  

Knox has signed definitive agreements with Inpector Capital B.V. (“Inpector”), who fully owns Scimitar Production Egypt Ltd (“Scimitar”), the operator of a sizeable producing oil field in Egypt’s eastern desert c. 300 km south-east of Cairo.

With the working capital injection, Knox is fully funded and intends to continue to build its investment portfolio through cash and equity transactions as and when attractive opportunities arise while building capacity to start distributing dividends from existing investments. 

Inpector’s subsidiary Scimitar will be sufficiently funded from internal cash generation, existing working capital facilities and the full settlement by the Egyptian state oil company of its payment arrears - largely in USD. 

Scimitar is producing oil from the Issaran onshore heavy oil field in Egypt, currently producing about 4,000 barrels per day. The plan is to ramp production up to around 10,000 barrels per day after which Scimitar intends to start distributing part of its operating cash flow. The Issaran concession held approximately 700 million barrels of oil-in-place, of which less than 4% has been produced to date. 
In parallel with the Knox-Inpector transaction, Inpector has settled a 10% legacy interest held by the previous owner of the company to become the 100% owner of Scimitar. The Production Services Agreement under which Scimitar operates has recently been successfully extended by twenty years to 2051. 

In addition to the 12.5% stake in the Issaran field, Knox will own 44% of Rapid Oil Production Ltd. Rapid Oil Production Ltd. has a 15% fully carried interest in the Fyne development project offshore UK. This low-risk shallow water project will be tied back to the Anasuria FPSO. The Fyne concession, with the Fyne and Crinan discoveries, holds approximately 84 million barrels of oil. Knox’ 2P and 2C reserves and resources are estimated to be approximately 2 mmboe. 

The two assets described above are intended to be the starting point for the constitution of a portfolio of high-potential oil and gas fields globally, focusing on producing or near-producing assets, leveraging the competence and expertise of the combined management teams of Inpector and Knox. 

Inpector is owned by the Norwegian and Dutch investment combination of Kenzoll Capital and oil and gas specialist Kenda Capital. Kenzoll, founded by Corné Melissen, invests in natural resources and other industries with particular focus on Europe, Africa and the Middle East. 

The company will immediately start the process of relisting on Euronext Growth. 

Clarksons Securities AS acted as exclusive financial advisor for the transaction and is also acting as exclusive financial advisor in connection with the company’s relisting on Euronext Growth.


For further comments, please contact:

Geir Aune, Chairman, [email protected]
Tom Kristiansen, COO, [email protected]