Oil explorers face funding crunch

European oil and gas explorers Afren and Regal Petroleum are turning to existing shareholders and industry partners to fund oil and gas projects after banks shied away from lending to the sector.

Afren said it is raising about $125 million (83.7 million pounds) via a share placing to back the development of its Ebok field in Nigeria.

Regal said talks with Australia’s Macquarie on a $100 million loan had ended and it was exploring other options including non-traditional lenders and the potential sale of a stake in its core Ukrainian assets.
Reuters