History
A China gas explorer turned Nigerian oil producer under CAMAC's control, then African explorer, which was weighed down by debt and filed for Chapter 11 in April 2018.
2007-2009: Gas and oil hopes in China
The company began as Pacific Asia Petroleum, Inc., aiming to build a business in China. In October 2007 it signed a 30-year contract for the Zijinshan coalbed methane block in Shanxi Province, which won Chinese government approval in April 2008. It also agreed to buy interests in the Baode block from BHP Billiton and ChevronTexaco. In April 2008 the Baode base price payable to ChevronTexaco was cut from $13 million to $2 million, and the company hired banks to explore raising about $75 million of preference shares, with no assurance it would happen.
In September 2008 it signed a cooperation agreement to buy up to 39% of two producing oil blocks in Heilongjiang. The record then goes quiet on these deals. Nothing in the beats shows them completing.
2009-2011: CAMAC takes control
The story turned in November 2009, when the company agreed to buy CAMAC Energy Holdings' interest in the Oyo Field off Nigeria for $38.84 million in cash plus new shares equal to 62.74% of its stock. To fund it, the company sold shares in two offerings in early 2010: $20 million at $4.00 a share and $17.5 million at $4.22, both with warrants. The deal was amended in March to drop the $45 million financing condition.
It closed on April 7, 2010. The company paid $32 million and issued 89,467,120 shares, and renamed itself CAMAC Energy Inc. CAMAC gained control, naming four of seven directors, including Kase Lawal. A further $6.84 million was owed later.
The company then bought CAMAC's remaining rights in the wider OML 120/121 licences. It signed an agreement in October 2010, replaced it in December, and closed on February 15, 2011 with $5 million paid up front. Further milestone payments of $5 million, $5 million, $20 million and $25 million were due as it hit drilling and development targets, some payable in shares. Chairman Lawal's interest in the sellers made these related-party deals. In December 2010 the company raised about $20.5 million at $2.20 a share, well below the early 2010 prices, to help fix an Oyo well that was letting in unwanted gas.
2012-2014: Africa exploration and the Allied buyout
An attempt in December 2011 to buy Avana Petroleum for up to $15 million in shares was abandoned in January 2012 after conditions were not met. The company instead signed four Kenyan exploration contracts in May 2012, as operator, and two Gambian blocks, A2 and A5, as operator with 100%. In August 2012 it sold its Hong Kong subsidiary holding the Zijinshan block to Leyshon Resources for $2.5 million cash plus 10 million Leyshon shares, ending its China business. Second-quarter 2012 had no oil lifting and a $4.0 million net loss, with cash of $3.4 million at June 30.
In September 2013 it extended a $25 million note with Allied, an affiliate of its largest shareholder, so the parent could borrow up to $10 million, secured on the exploration licences. In November 2013 it agreed to buy Allied's remaining economic interest in OML 120/121 for $170 million cash, 497,454,857 new shares and a $50 million convertible note. South Africa's Public Investment Corporation (PIC) agreed to invest $270 million in two instalments to help pay. The deal completed on February 21, 2014, alongside PIC's first $135 million investment and a stock dividend. These explain the swings in share count: roughly 880 million shares at the end of 2013, then about 210 million at the end of 2014. The beats do not explain that fall.
In April 2014 the company signed a Ghana agreement for the Tano Block through an indirect 50%-owned subsidiary. In June 2014 it said its first-quarter results needed restating after an inventory miscalculation of about $9.5 million, and it found a material weakness in internal controls. That weakness was later reported fixed before the end of 2014.
2014-2018: Debt, dispute and Chapter 11
In September 2014 the Nigerian subsidiary signed a Zenith Bank loan of up to $100 million for developing OML 120/121. In January 2015 a dispute erupted with Northern Offshore over the drillship Energy Searcher. The company claimed wasted costs over $50 million, and drilling moved to another rig. The dispute was still unresolved in the last information.
The company, by then called Erin Energy, sought relief from Zenith in April 2016, receiving a 90-day deferral of a principal payment. In May 2016 its auditor Grant Thornton stepped down, after its 2015 report included a going-concern doubt, and Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas replaced it.
In February 2017 it signed a $100 million pre-export finance facility with The Mauritius Commercial Bank, guaranteed by Standard Bank of South Africa with PIC's backing, and secured on a contract selling all OML 120/121 oil to Glencore. PIC was to receive a 2.5% fee and warrants. In February 2018 the $50 million convertible note held by Oltasho Nigeria, then the largest stockholder, was converted at a reduced $2.75 a share. The $61.4 million owed became 22,327,327 new shares.
On April 25, 2018, Erin and certain subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Houston, seeking financing to keep operating and planning to file a reorganisation plan. The NYSE American suspended trading on April 26 and filed to remove the shares, with removal set for May 21, 2018. As of May 11, 2018, the stock traded over the counter as ERINQ, and the beats do not say what would happen to shareholders.
Written from the 34 story beats below (2007 to 11 May 2018), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.