Meren Energy Inc.

Hello everyone, my name is Nadia and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Africa Oil Corp third quarter 2024 results management presentation. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star 11 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please know that at any time, participants on the webcast can submit the questions using the Q&A box on the webcast interface. Please note that this event is being recorded. The recording will be available for playback on the company's website. I would now like to pass the meeting to Mr. Shahin Amini, Africa Oil's Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead, Mr. Amini.

Thank you, Operator. On behalf of management, I thank you for joining us today for our third quarter 2024 results presentation. We appreciate your interest and support. On the call today, we have President and Chief Executive Officer, Roger Tucker, our Chief Financial Officer, Pascal Nicodem, and our Chief Commercial Officer, Oliver Cui. There will be a presentation for around 20 minutes before we go into the Q&A session. First, I would like to remind everyone that remarks made during this session are subject to forward-looking statements which involve significant risk factors and assumptions, and these have been fully described in the company's continuous disclosure reports. The information discussed is made as of today's date and time, and Africa Oil assumes no obligation to update or revise this information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law. The company's complete financial statements and related MDMAs are available on the company's website and on CDAR. I will now hand you over to Roger.

Thank you very much, Shaheen. So before we delve into the third quarter results, I want to discuss the positive developments toward the closing of the amalgamation deal to consolidate all of Prime in Africa Oil and to recall the merits of this transaction for the Africa Oil shareholders. We are making quick progress to completion, and I am very happy with the pace of the regulatory engagement with the Nigerian authorities. As we announced at the end of October, we have received the regulatory clearance to proceed with the transaction from NUPRC. This was initially considered to be the critical part item in the process, and thanks to a diligent and timely turnaround by NUPRC, we are now looking at a much shorter process. Also, earlier this week, we received the competition clearance from the Federal Commission and Consumer Commission of Nigeria. So together with the Africa oil shareholder approval and the completion of the farm down of our Namibian assets, we have satisfied the main CPs for the completion of the prime deal. We have two remaining CPs, the approval from NASDAQ Stockholm and the reorganization of BTG Holding to affect the amalgamation and in turn complete the deal. These are both procedural and we now have a much greater control from the timing of the completion process. So I'm very confident to now guide you to a completion date by the end of Q1 2025. and possibly as early as the end of January to mid-February. Let's recall what Africa Oil shareholders received through this deal. And as the chart above shows, AOC shareholders will see substantial immediate upside in reserves, in production, and in free cash flows. Following the consolidation, they will gain a material increase in shareholder capital returns, We will double our reserves and production base in assets that we know very well. We are set to report substantially higher operating and free cash flow metrics. These will materially enhance our position relative to our peer group of companies. The enlarged AOC, following completion of this arrangement, will introduce a new shareholder returns program that will reward investors with a threefold increase in dividend distributions. Further, there is commitment in the returns policy to distribute 50% of excess free cash flow through additional dividends and or share buybacks. Now turning to the strategic benefits of the transaction. We know these midlife producing assets well and have great confidence in their remaining reserves. These are complemented with low risk, high return opportunities such as the Preahway development project that we have spoken to previously. As already noted, the deal is highly accretive on reserves, production, and cash flows for AOC shareholders. I must also highlight the vital advantage of gaining direct control of Prime's cash flows and balance sheets. There is scope to optimize and streamline operations, and in turn create value through synergies that can be gained through the consolidation. For instance, the merged financial resources and capital structures provide for us to optimize debt financing for the enlarged AOC. Our board understands that investors in this sector see capital returns. We will introduce a $100 million base dividend commitment plus a further promise of 50% of free cash flow net of base dividends. The compelling technical and financial merits of the deal are ultimately enablers for us to deliver on our shareholder returns commitment. In BTG, we gain a long-term, sophisticated and well-funded shareholder. We have a long-standing working relationship with BTG since we acquired our prime interest in January 2020. In effect, we are creating a highly differentiated and secure platform for disciplined growth. Now let's turn to the operational highlights in our report. Our first half 2024 production was impacted by the planned maintenance shutdown on the ACPO FBSO. With ACPO now back on stream and with the benefit of the ongoing infill drilling program, we achieved higher average daily production rates for Q3 2024. Working interest production averaged 17,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which was 13% higher than the average for Q2 2024. Post-period, we've seen even stronger performance with an average daily working interest production of approximately 18,100 barrels of oil per day and net entitlement production of approximately 20,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day. For the remainder of 2024, there are no planned maintenance shutdowns. We expect to achieve full-year average daily production rates within the original management guidance range. In fact, for entitlement production, which drives revenues, we expect it to come in close to midpoint at the guidance range of 18,000 to 21,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which is unchanged. For working interest, we have narrowed the guidance range by lowering the upper end of the range by 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 18,500, but keeping the lower end of 16,500 the same. So for working interest, we also expect to come inside the original guidance range. I will now hand over to Pascal for the financial results highlights.