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Petro River Oil Corp.

US:PTRC
No current share price held for this company.

Past year: ▲ 0%(0.00c – 0.00c USD)

Market cap
—
Shares on issue
—
Story beats
25 since 2013
Last event
28 Jan 2020

History

Petro River grew from a Kansas shell merger into an Oklahoma-focused explorer, funded by heavy dilution and Cohen-linked financing, and deregistered from the SEC in January 2020.

2013-2014: A Kansas merger and a new Oklahoma asset

Petro River Oil Corp. took its current shape on April 23, 2013, when it acquired Petro River Oil, LLC in a share exchange. The target was an emerging producer in the Southeast Kansas Mississippi Lime, with about 115,000 gross (85,000 net) acres and five producing wells. The company issued 606,574,193 new shares, about 98% of the 620,653,142 outstanding afterwards, so the 14,078,949 existing shares were heavily diluted. Scot Cohen became Executive Chairman. In May, older convertible securities, including series B preferred stock and several debentures and notes, were converted into shares, taking the count to 737,317,748.

In December 2013 the company agreed to sell 81,250,000 shares at $0.08 ($6.5 million) to Petrol Lakes Holding Limited, with a warrant for up to 40,625,000 more at $0.1356. Net proceeds were $5,850,000 after a finder's fee. By the end of 2013 there were 818,567,746 shares on issue.

On May 30, 2014 the company bought 50% of Bandolier Energy LLC, which owned Spyglass Energy Group and its Pearsonia West concession of about 106,000 acres in Osage County, Oklahoma. It paid a $5,000,000 capital contribution; Bandolier paid $8,712,892.71 for Spyglass. The company's subsidiary PO1 had 180 days to pay the Series A members' $10,000,000 of initial contributions or lose its 51% Spyglass assignment. Members of PWIG, in which Cohen was a manager and investor, could exchange their Bandolier interests for up to 55,000,000 company shares at $0.08.

2015-2016: Technology, a restructuring and the Horizon link

In February 2015 the technology subsidiary Petro Spring bought gas-to-liquids patents from Havelide GTL for 13,333,333 shares and a warrant for 26,666,667 shares at $0.25, and bought Coalthane Tech's methane-reduction technology for 20.0 million shares. Havelide's founder Stephen Boyd became Chief Technology Officer.

In October 2015 the company moved its 50% Bandolier interest into its subsidiary Megawest Energy Kansas, valued with Megawest's other assets at $40.0 million. Fortis Property Group contributed real estate valued at about $28.3 million, leaving the company with 58.51%. The company had to fund any shortfall if the contribution was later revalued lower, or risk foreclosure on its Megawest equity.

In 2016 the company turned to Horizon Energy. In January its UK subsidiary agreed to take 9% of two Larne Basin licences in Northern Ireland, funded by a $750,000 non-recourse note. A 1-for-200 reverse split was disclosed in February, and Stephen Brunner joined as president. Shares on issue stood at 4,259,505 at the end of 2015 and 15,827,997 at the end of 2016. In March the company bought a 13.75% working interest in Kern County, California leases for $83,333 net. On May 3 it closed the purchase of Horizon I Investments, receiving about $5.0 million in cash and receivables and a 20% stake in Horizon Energy Partners, and issued 11,564,250 shares. Drilling on Woodburn Forest-1 in Larne began in May; the result is not reported in the record.

2017-2018: Osage discoveries and related-party loans

In May 2017 the company announced a chat-zone discovery at Pearsonia West and then found oil-bearing rock in the Red Fork 1-3 well, a second field within the 106,500-acre concession, though flow tests were still to come. To fund working capital it borrowed $2.0 million in June from Petro Exploration Funding, LLC, and agreed in September to borrow up to $2.5 million from Funding II, which closed in November. Both loans carried 10% interest, were secured on all assets, and came with warrants and 2% Osage royalties. Cohen controlled 31.25% of the first lender and 41.20% of the second. In November the company also issued 1,466,667 shares to Pearsonia West Investments for its 46.81% of Bandolier.

The Megawest structure unwound in January 2018. Facing a redetermination of the Bandolier value, the company swapped its Megawest shares for Megawest's Bandolier interests, leaving it with no stake in Megawest, though it still owed Megawest $259,312.50 plus interest. In February it agreed to trade its Kern County Mountain View interest for a Kay County, Oklahoma interest, giving it 55% there, with closing not reported. In October 2018 it issued 300,000 shares to buy 66.67% of LBE Partners, a Cohen-managed company with wells in the Hardin field in Texas.

2019-2020: Preferred stock and the North Sea

On January 31, 2019 the company sold 178,101 units of new Series A preferred stock with five-year $0.50 warrants for $3,562,014.95. Cohen and Fortis Oil & Gas converted debts of $300,000 and $321,836 into units. The Funding notes, about $2.3 million and $2.8 million with interest, were swapped for Series A shares and cancelled, and their warrants were repriced to $0.50. The Series A ranks ahead of common stock and converts at $0.40 per common share. The money was to fund ten more Osage wells, with investors taking 75% of those wells' profits, and a North Sea venture.

On February 25, 2019 the company paid $400,000 for a 14.5455% stake in Horizon Energy Acquisition, LLC, adding a further 5.63% interest in three North Sea licences of about 455,000 net acres, on top of the 5.63% it held through Horizon Energy Partners. A 3D seismic survey was planned for the second quarter of 2019, and no discovery was reported. Auditors' reports for 2017 and 2018 carried going-concern warnings. The company deregistered its securities on January 28, 2020, ending its SEC reporting.

Written from the 25 story beats below (2013 to 28 Jan 2020), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.

Beat by beat

The events that changed the company's story, in plain English, each written against everything known about the company at the time. The dot shows whether it was good, bad or neutral for shareholders.

shares on issue market cap (log scale)

202018.2m shares · US$2.5m market cap

  1. 28 Jan

    Petro River Oil Corp. deregistered its securities, ending its obligation to file reports with the SEC.

    listing compliance notice

    18.2m shUS$2.5m

201917.9m shares · US$9.4m market cap

  1. 27 Feb

    On February 25, 2019 the company paid $400,000 for 145.454 units in Horizon Energy Acquisition, LLC, a new company, giving it a 14.5455% stake (per the press release) and one seat on a three-person board, filled by Scot Cohen, who separately bought 36.363 units. This adds a further 5.63% interest in a North Sea exploration project (three licences, about 455,000 net acres) on top of the 5.63% it already holds indirectly through Horizon Energy Partners. It continues the North Sea plan flagged in the January financing; the 3D seismic survey is planned for Q2 2019, and the filing states no discovery or reserves. The deal is another related-party link to Cohen.

    material agreement

    17.9m shUS$9.4m
  2. 6 Feb

    On January 31, 2019 the company sold 178,101 units of new Series A preferred stock plus five-year warrants (strike $0.50) for $3,562,014.95 to new investors and to debt holders (Scot Cohen, converting $300,000, and Fortis Oil & Gas, converting $321,836). It also swapped about $2.3 million and $2.8 million of the senior secured notes (including interest) held by Petro Exploration Funding and Funding II for 116,374 and 140,130 Series A shares, cancelling those notes in full, and cut the strike on their 2017 warrants to $0.50 and extended them to five years. Net cash is stated as about "$3.0" (units missing in the filing), to fund ten more Osage County wells and a North Sea venture with Horizon Energy Partners. Investors get a 75% share of profits from those ten wells. The Series A ranks ahead of common stock and converts at $0.40 per common share (Series A holders' conversion gives about 8.9 million common shares for the units sold), so existing common holders face dilution (inference). This resolves the $2.0m and $2.5m related-party note thread and the MegaWest-era Fortis relationship now includes Fortis as a debt holder converting.

    capital raising announcement

    17.9m shUS$9.4m

201817.6m shares · US$20.2m market cap

  1. 3 Oct

    Effective September 24, 2018 (signed October 2, 2018) the company bought a 66.67% membership interest in LBE Partners, which owns working interests in wells in the Hardin oil field in Liberty, Texas, by issuing 300,000 shares to ICO Liquidating Trust. Both ICO and LBE are managed by Scot Cohen, the Executive Chairman, so this is a related-party deal. It adds a Texas asset to a portfolio previously centred on Oklahoma and California, and the filing gives no figures on the wells' production or value.

    capital raising announcement

    17.6m shUS$20.2m
  2. 16 Feb

    On February 14, 2018 the company agreed to give Red Fork Resources' affiliate its entire 13.7% working interest in the Mountain View Project area in Kern County, California, in exchange for 64.7% of Red Fork's 85% working interest in an area in Kay County, Oklahoma, to close on or before March 1, 2018. Each side keeps a 2% overriding royalty on what it gave up, and the effective date is January 1, 2018. The press release says this gives the company a 55% working interest in Kay County, next to its Osage concession, and that four more West Blackland wells (2-3, 5-3, 6-3, 9-3) have been drilled and completed with results in line with expectations. This shifts focus toward Oklahoma. The filing does not say whether the company's other Kern County interests (Sunset Boulevard) are affected.

    material agreement

    17.3m shUS$30.3m
  3. 5 Feb

    On January 31, 2018, after receiving notice of the redetermination, the company swapped its shares in MegaWest for MegaWest's membership interests in Bandolier Energy, instead of having an appraiser set a shortfall payment or letting MegaWest enforce its remedies. The company now has no interest in MegaWest or its assets, and MegaWest none in the Bandolier assets. The company still owes MegaWest $259,312.50 plus interest, due one year after the agreement. This resolves the Megawest/Fortis redetermination thread and unwinds the 2015 Megawest structure; the filing does not state a shortfall amount.

    material agreement

    17.3m shUS$30.3m
  4. 5 Jan

    On December 29, 2017 the company's subsidiary MegaWest extended the maturity of notes owed by Fortis entities to January 31, 2018, waived interest until then and agreed not to charge late fees. The filing says the Bandolier Interest value is to be redetermined by about January 31, 2018. If it comes in below the $40.0 million value set in the 2015 Contribution Agreement, the company must pay MegaWest the shortfall in cash, and failing that MegaWest could foreclose on the company's equity in MegaWest, with the Bandolier Interest reverting to the company. This continues the open Megawest Redetermination thread.

    material agreement

    17.3m shUS$25.1m

201715.8m shares · US$29.3m market cap

  1. 8 Nov

    On November 6, 2017 the $2.5 million note to Petro Exploration Funding II closed on the terms announced in September, with a 1.25 million-share warrant at $2.00 and a 2% Osage County royalty. The company paid Scot Cohen $250,000 for that royalty, which he had bought from third parties on August 14, 2017. Cohen controls 41.20% of Funding Corp. II. The same day the company issued 1,466,667 shares to Pearsonia West Investments in exchange for its 46.81% membership interest in Bandolier Energy, which holds the 106,500-acre Osage concession. This resolves the open question over the Pearsonia West option and increases the company's stake in Osage; it also dilutes existing shareholders by the new shares.

    capital raising announcement

    15.8m shUS$29.3m
  2. 27 Sept

    On September 20, 2017 the company signed an agreement to borrow up to $2.5 million from Petro Exploration Funding II, LLC for working capital: 10% interest, maturing June 30, 2020, secured on all company assets but ranking behind the June 2017 Funding Corp. I note. The lender would also get a warrant for 1.25 million shares at $2.00 (three years) and a 2% overriding royalty on Osage County production. Scot Cohen, a director and large shareholder, owns 31.25% of Funding Corp. I and is expected to hold a material interest in Funding Corp. II, so this is another related-party loan. The attached press release says the Cattani-Rennie 47X-15 well in Kern County was announced as a discovery on July 18, 2017 with results expected in October 2017, and sets out Osage drilling plans (eight more West Blackland wells by end of 2017, four South Blackland wells in early 2018). The filing says the financing was expected to close on or before October 30, 2017.

    material agreement

    15.8m shUS$33.0m
  3. 16 June

    On June 13, 2017 the company issued a $2.0 million senior secured note to Petro Exploration Funding, LLC for working capital, at 10% interest, maturing June 30, 2020, and secured on all company assets. Funding Corp. also received a warrant for 840,336 shares at $2.38 (three years) and a 2% overriding royalty on Osage County production held through Spyglass. Scot Cohen controls 31.25% of the lender, so this is a related-party financing.

    capital raising announcement

    15.8m shUS$26.0m
  4. 30 May

    The Red Fork 1-3 found up to 30 feet of oil-bearing rock plus a separate chat zone possibly larger than the one found weeks earlier - a second field inside the 106,500-acre Osage County concession within a month. Flow and frac tests still had to come before any production rate could be claimed.

    drilling result

    15.8m shUS$13.6m
  5. 16 May

    Petro River spudded the Red Fork Channel 1-3 to about 2,800 feet at Pearsonia West, chasing a second find a week after announcing the Chat discovery. Both targets came off the same 3-D seismic survey, which the company said had identified more than a dozen prospects.

    drilling progress report

    15.8m shUS$13.6m

20164.3m shares · US$14.1m market cap

  1. 23 May

    Drilling began on the Woodburn Forest-1 well in the Larne Basin, Northern Ireland, with initial results expected in July 2016. The company holds 9% and Horizon Energy 16% of the licences; the 25 million barrel figure is a partner estimate of prospective resources, not a discovery.

    drilling progress report

    4.3m shUS$14.1m
  2. 9 May

    The Horizon I Investments purchase, pending since Dec 2015, closed on May 3, 2016, earlier than the April 2016 date the earlier filings had expected to close. The company got about $5.0 million in cash and receivables and a 20% stake in Horizon Energy Partners, and issued 11,564,250 shares to Horizon Investments, after an amendment added about $850,000 of advances and extra shares; about $683,000 was released from escrow to the company. The company says it plans six Osage County wells, two Kern County wells and one Larne well in 2016, all funded.

    material agreement

    4.3m shUS$14.1m
  3. 10 Mar

    On March 4, 2016 the company bought a 13.75% working interest in oil and gas leases in southern Kern County, California, alongside Horizon Energy (27.5%), paying $83,333 net in cash at closing. It also owes further costs and payments on existing and new leases, and the sellers get an overriding royalty on certain leases; amounts are in the agreement, not this filing.

    material agreement

    4.3m shUS$11.1m
  4. 9 Feb

    Petro River agreed conditionally to buy Horizon I Investments, which would bring in about $5 million of cash plus a 20% interest in Horizon Energy, earmarked for developing its Pearsonia West acreage in Osage County. The same update disclosed a 1-for-200 reverse split, an application to move up to the NYSE MKT, and Stephen Brunner joining as president.

    material agreement

    4.3m shUS$12.1m
  5. 20 Jan

    On Jan 19, 2016 the company's UK subsidiary agreed to acquire a 9% interest in two petroleum licences in the Larne Basin, Northern Ireland, alongside Horizon Energy's subsidiary (16%) and Brigantes (10% retained). Petro UK put about $735,000 into escrow toward the roughly $6.16 million first-well cost, funded by a $750,000 non-recourse note to Horizon I Investments (0.5% interest), the investor the company agreed in Dec 2015 to buy; Petro UK also bears its pro-rata share of later wells. The first well, Woodburn Forest #1, is described as scheduled for Q1 2016.

    debt financing

    4.3m shUS$13.8m

20154.3m shares · US$42k market cap

  1. 5 Nov

    On Oct 30, 2015 the company moved its 50% Bandolier interest (the Pearsonia asset) into its subsidiary Megawest Energy Kansas, valued together with Megawest's existing net assets at $40.0 million. Fortis Property Group contributed real estate interests valued at about $28.3 million, so the company ends with 58.51% of Megawest and Fortis 41.49%. After six months the Megawest board will revalue the company's contribution, and the company must fund any shortfall or risk foreclosure on its Megawest equity. Its Bandolier stake is now held indirectly through a company it no longer owns outright.

    asset acquisition disposition

    4.3m shUS$42k
  2. 5 Mar

    The Havelide purchase closed on Feb 27, 2015 with 13,333,333 shares and the $0.25 warrant for 26,666,667 shares issued, resolving the pending condition from the earlier filing. A second Petro Spring deal also closed the same day, buying Coalthane Tech's methane-reduction technology for 20.0 million shares. Together this adds 33,333,333 new shares plus the warrant, so existing holders are diluted in exchange for early-stage technology assets.

    capital raising announcement

    819m shUS$31.9m
  3. 23 Feb

    Petro Spring, the company's technology subsidiary, agreed on Feb 18, 2015 to buy the gas-to-liquids patents and intellectual property of Havelide GTL for 13,333,333 shares plus a warrant for 26,666,667 shares at $0.25. Havelide's founder Stephen Boyd joins as Chief Technology Officer. Closing depends on conditions including due diligence. This starts a technology line of business separate from the Oklahoma oil and gas acreage and would add to the share count if completed.

    asset acquisition disposition

    819m shUS$24.5m

2014819m shares · US$49.1m market cap

  1. 24 Sept

    The company withdrew its confidential treatment request and now discloses the Bandolier terms: it paid a $5,000,000 capital contribution for 50% of Bandolier, which paid $8,712,892.71 for Spyglass. PO1 must pay the Series A members' $10,000,000 of initial contributions within 180 days or its 51% Spyglass assignment is cancelled. The PWIG option to exchange into up to 55,000,000 shares at $0.08 is confirmed, and pro forma figures are now included (pro forma oil and gas assets of $17.2m versus $8.9m before the deal). This resolves the confidential treatment thread from the June 2014 deal.

    asset acquisition disposition

    819m shUS$49.1m
  2. 5 June

    On May 30, 2014 the company bought a 50% interest in Bandolier Energy LLC (with the right to appoint a majority of its board), which acquired Spyglass Energy Group, owner of the Pearsonia West concession of about 106,000 acres in Osage County, Oklahoma; the purchase price is under a confidential treatment request. A 51% interest in Spyglass was assigned to the company's subsidiary PO1, which has 180 days to pay Bandolier the Series A members' initial capital contributions or the assignment is cancelled. Executive Chairman Scot Cohen is a manager of and investor in PWIG, whose members can exchange their Bandolier interests for up to 55,000,000 company shares at $0.08 until May 30, 2017 (board pre-approved); this begins the Osage County arc that later work in the concession continues.

    asset acquisition disposition

    819m shUS$36.8m

2013819m shares · US$43.4m market cap

  1. 16 Dec

    On December 12, 2013 the company agreed to sell 81,250,000 shares at $0.08 ($6.5 million) to Petrol Lakes Holding Limited, a non-U.S. buyer, plus a warrant for up to 40,625,000 more shares at $0.1356 (another $6.5 million if fully used) expiring December 12, 2015. After a $650,000 finder's fee, net proceeds are $5,850,000. Petrol Lakes may appoint one director. The press release says proceeds will fund development and that a potential joint venture in the 85,000 net Kansas acres is being discussed (no assurance); new shares dilute existing holders.

    capital raising announcement

    819m shUS$43.4m
  2. 10 May

    Effective May 6-7, 2013 the company issued new shares: 200,000 to a former employee in a lawsuit settlement, and shares on conversion of series B preferred stock (19,165,061 shares) and convertible debentures and notes (26,241,392, 25,577,986 and 45,480,165 shares). Shares outstanding rose to 737,317,748, continuing the dilution that followed the April share exchange and clearing out the older convertible securities.

    capital raising announcement

    737m shUS$295m
  3. 29 Apr

    On April 23, 2013 Petro River Oil Corp. completed a share exchange to acquire Petro River Oil, LLC (and its subsidiary Petro River Operating), an emerging producer in the Southeast Kansas Mississippi Lime with ~115,000 gross (85,000 net) acres and five producing wells (50% working interest, 40% net revenue interest). It issued 606,574,193 new shares, about 98% of the 620,653,142 shares outstanding afterwards, so existing holders (14,078,949 shares beforehand) were heavily diluted. Jeffrey Freedman resigned as interim CEO/CFO, Scot Cohen became Executive Chairman, John Wallace and Ryan Estis joined the board, and the earlier Western Missouri operations are to be reviewed. Holders of convertible securities waived their protection rights under waiver agreements, with a 90-day lock-up followed by a 90-day leak-out on sales.

    business combination

    14.1m shUS$4.4m