Cuban-focused oil company MEO Australia reinvents itself as Melbana Energy

Cuban-focused oil company MEO Australia reinvents itself as Melbana Energy
As of Tuesday, MEO Australia will start doing business as Melbana Energy
Ltd.
By Daniel J. Graeber | Nov. 7, 2016 at 6:03 AM

MELBOURNE, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A company formerly known as MEO Australia
said it would start trading under a name that better reflects its focus
on emerging Cuban oil and gas developments.

"Melbana Energy Ltd, formerly MEO Australia Ltd, advises that it will
commence trading under the new ASX ticker 'MAY' on Tuesday," the company
said in a statement.

Cuba produces about 80,000 barrels of oil per day. In an update on
operations through the end of September, the company, one of the few
Western companies working in Cuba, said it identified oil plays in
so-called Block 9 that combine for an estimated 8.2 billion barrels of
oil in place. The company's best estimate is that it could recover about
395 million of those barrels

The company last week cleared the necessary steps for the name change.
Peter Stickland, the company's chief executive officer, said in response
to emailed questions the name was made up, but put forward as one with a
Spanish flair.

"We felt that our former name was not relevant given our current
portfolio and future ambitions and this was an opportunity to relaunch
the company," he said.

Cuba is the company's highest-priority asset and it's already drilled a
number of wells in Block 9.

Cuba-focused and London-based investor Leni Gas Cuba took a 15.8 percent
stake in MEO Australia in exchange for $1.4 million to support an
exploration program covering 900 square miles of an oil exploration
block near the coast of Cuba in February. In mid-September, the company
said it was selling off parts of its holdings in a potentially lucrative
basin off the coast of Australia to help fund opportunities in Cuba.

U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive directive in October
that could open Cuba to a role in institutions like the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which Washington said could provide an
advantage to the Cuban economy. A thaw in relations between the two
former Cold War foes began in 2014.

Source: Cuban-focused oil company MEO Australia reinvents itself as
Melbana Energy - UPI.com -
http://www.upi.com/Cuban-focused-oil-company-MEO-Australia-reinvents-itself-as-Melbana-Energy/1811478513372/