88 Energy Raises £2.62 Million to Expand South Prudhoe Alaska Position

88 Energy Limited is proposing to raise up to A$5.03 million, approximately £2.62 million, through a placing of new ordinary shares at A$0.029 per share, representing a 2.7% discount to the previous day's closing price on AIM. The dual-listed explorer announced the bookbuild on March 25, 2026, directing the capital squarely at its expanding North Slope footprint.

Proceeds, alongside existing cash of A$5.9 million as at 28 February 2026, will be used to advance planning and permitting for the Augusta-1 exploration well, secure rig contracts, and fund lease-related costs across the company's expanded South Prudhoe and Kad River East acreage. Following the placing, the company expects to have sufficient funding to cover working capital and overheads for at least the next 12 months.

Investors in the Australian placing will receive options, while UK placing investors will receive warrants, both subject to shareholder approval expected in May 2026. The bookbuild is being led by Cavendish and H&P Advisory in the United Kingdom, alongside Euroz Hartleys in Australia.

The raise centers on Augusta-1, the company's highest-priority target on the North Slope. Permitting and planning activities have commenced for the high-impact, multi-zone Augusta-1 exploration well, located within the North-West Hub Lease Area of the South Prudhoe Project. 88 Energy continues to progress the high-impact Augusta-1 well targeting about 64 million barrels of prospective resources. Augusta-1 is the group's highest-priority Alaska target, with a rig contract expected in the second quarter of 2026 and a farm-out process targeted for the third quarter ahead of a planned winter drilling window in the first quarter of 2027.

The South Prudhoe lease position spans around 52,269 acres and lies immediately south of the Prudhoe Bay Unit and the Kuparuk River Unit, two of North America's most prolific oil fields. In November 2025, through its wholly owned subsidiary Captivate Energy Alaska, Inc., 88 Energy secured fourteen additional leases as part of the North Slope Areawide 2025W Oil and Gas Lease Sale, expanding its strategic landholding by 34,560 acres across two high-potential areas: Kad River East to the east and South Prudhoe to the west of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. The Kad River East leases introduce longer-term upside in an under-explored region east of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, where historical wells and upcoming 3D seismic work are expected to define multi-reservoir potential.

Project Phoenix, the company's other major North Slope asset, holds contingent resources of 239 million barrels of oil equivalent. Successful flow testing at Hickory-1 confirmed light oil flow from two tested target intervals and provided the technical foundation for progression to a horizontal well and extended production test. Ongoing farm-out discussions remain central to unlocking value across the North Slope portfolio.

Activity is also advancing across the company's Namibia acreage, where geophysical surveys are planned in 2026 to refine drilling targets.

The focus now shifts to securing a farm-out partner and progressing Augusta-1 toward a first-quarter 2027 spud. With rig contracting targeted for the second quarter of this year, the next several months will determine whether 88 Energy can assemble the financing structure needed to drill one of the North Slope's larger undrilled conventional prospects.