The Company entered into a sale and purchase agreement with an external buyer regarding the assets in Iraq in October 2021. The agreement stipulates payments of in total 180 million USD up until 2026. Crown Energy have received the first instalments and payments are made continuously. There is also an added opportunity to benefit from a further potential USD 270 million if the upside terms of the earnout agreement are met. The assets are thus still owned by Crown Energy but sold in a forward contract that will be finished in October 2026. The buyer is one of the leading energy companies in the world and the contract is currently subject to a non-disclosure agreement.
The assets in South Africa and Madagascar have been written off and exited in 2022 and 2023.
The exploration licence in Iraq covers an area of approximately 24,000 square kilometres located in northern Iraq, south-west of Kurdistan. The licence area contains several major discoveries, as well as vast unexplored areas with high hydrocarbon potential. The existing oil fields, including Ajeel, Hamrin, Tikrit, and Balad, potentially contain several billion barrels of oil. These existing discoveries and fields have historically belonged to Iraq’s central government.