Vancouver, British Columbia: February 3rd 2020 East West Petroleum Corp. (TSX-V: EW) (“East West” or the “Company”) provides this update on the sale of its interest in Petroleum Exploration Permit 54877 and Petroleum Mining Permit 60291 (the “Cheal Permits”), which are subject to joint venture between a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and Cheal Petroleum Limited (the “Joint Venture”), to an arm’s length private New Zealand company (the “Purchaser”), on the terms previously announced in a news release of the Company dated June 24, 2019 (the “Transaction”).
At this time there are no contractual issues that are an impediment to closing the Transaction, and the Company and the Purchaser had previously anticipated closing at or about this time.
In a news release dated November 27th 2019, the Company announced that because of the change in ownership of Cheal Petroleum Limited as the operator of the Joint Venture and owner of 70% interest in the Cheal Permits, certain government authorities in New Zealand had issued a notice regarding the financial capacity of the operator that impacted tenure to the Cheal Permits. If the concerns are not satisfied, then tenure to the Cheal Permits could be revoked. A revocation would impact both the Company’s 30% interest and Cheal Petroleum Limited’s 70% interest. The government has communicated no specific issues with the Company or the proposed Purchaser of the Company’s 30% interest in the Joint Venture. Cheal Petroleum Limited has prepared and submitted a response and fully expects that all issues will be satisfactorily resolved.
Until local regulatory issues are addressed closing of the Transaction cannot occur. At this time, it is not known when such concerns will be resolved, or whether they will be resolved, and further it is not known whether the delay could impact the Company’s agreement with the Purchaser in respect of the Transaction. As additional information is available, the Company will provide further updates.
About East West Petroleum Corp.
East West Petroleum Corp. (www.eastwestpetroleum.ca) is a TSX Venture Exchange listed company established in 2010 to invest in international oil & gas opportunities. The Company has its primary focus on two key areas: New Zealand, where it has established production and cash flow and Romania where it is carried to production on an exploration program. In Romania the Company has exploration rights in four exploration concessions covering 1,000,000 acres in the prolific Pannonian Basin of western Romania with Naftna Industrija Srbije ("NIS"). The Company does not own the acres but has exploration rights.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" which reflect the Company's current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that it believes might affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. In some cases, these forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "might", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend", "plan", "indicate", "seek", "believe", "estimates", "predicts" or "likely", or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. Whether actual results, performance or achievements will conform to the Company's expectations and predictions is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, including without limitation, those risks and uncertainties discussed elsewhere in the Company's filings on SEDAR. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein is made as of the date hereof and is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.