Empyrean Energy PLC on Tuesday saw its shares fall, after the firm completed a share placement at a discount to its closing price on Friday.

Empyrean Energy is an oil and gas development company with interests in China, Indonesia and the US. Its shares plummeted 28% to 0.83 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

The company celebrated raising £1.5 million via a share subscription to fund its various projects. The issue price of 0.8p, however, represented a 22% discount to the share price of 1.03p at the close on Friday.

Of the total raised under the share subscription, Chief Executive Officer Tom Kelly subscribed for 6.3 million shares for a total consideration of £50,000. Technical Director Gaz Bisht subscribed for 1.9 million shares for a total £14,800, while Company Secretary Jonathan Whyte subscribed for 500,000, worth £4,000.

These executives have agreed to take one third of their salaries in new shares in lieu of cash remuneration, in order to preserve capital and ensure more funds are directed towards project activities.

Empyrean said the funds would be used to complete joint regional oil migration studies at the Topaz prospect in China, as well as a 3D seismic inversion study aimed to discriminate between oil and water in the reservoir.

The capital will also go towards ongoing prospect, licensing fees and permit costs.

Empyrean also told investors on Tuesday that a sales agreement for Mako Gas is in the advanced stages of negotiation.

Conrad Asia Energy, the operator and 76.5% partner in Mako, has started a sell-down process with a global investment bank in order to fund the development of the licence. Mako is the largest undeveloped and fully appraised gas field in the West Natuna Basin on the northern tip of Indonesia.

The project has already received government approval for a plan of development, while gas sales agreement is now in the advanced stages of negotiation, with a binding terms sheet expected imminently.

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