General Information |
3 Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nov. 30, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
General Information [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GENERAL INFORMATION |
Petroteq Energy Inc. (the “Company” or “Petroteq”) is a holding company organized under the laws of Ontario, Canada, that is engaged in various aspects of the oil and gas industry. Our primary focus is on the development and implementation of our proprietary oil sands mining and processing technology to recover oil from surface mined bitumen deposits. Our wholly-owned subsidiary, Petroteq Energy CA, Inc., a California corporation (“PCA”), conducts our oil sands extraction business through two wholly owned operating companies, Petroteq Oil Recovery, LLC, a Utah limited liability company (“POR”), and TMC Capital, LLC, a Utah limited liability company (“TMC Capital”).
The Company’s registered office is located at Suite 6000, 1 First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5X 1E2, Canada and its principal operating office is located at 15315 W. Magnolia Blvd, Suite 120, Sherman Oaks, California 91403, USA.
Through PCA, our wholly owned subsidiary, and PCA’s two subsidiaries POR and TMC Capital, the Company is in the business of exploring for, extracting and producing oil and hydrocarbon products from oil sands deposits and sediments located in the Asphalt Ridge Are of Uintah County, Utah, utilizing our proprietary extraction technology (the “Petroteq Clean Oil Recovery Technology” or “Extraction Technology”). Our primary oil sands extraction and processing operations are conducted at our Asphalt Ridge processing facility (herein the “Asphalt Ridge Plant” or “Plant”), which is owned by POR.
Petroteq owns the intellectual property rights to the Petroteq Clean Oil Recovery Technology which is used at our Asphalt Ridge Plant to extract and produce crude oil from oil sands utilizing a closed-loop solvent based extraction system.
Mineral Rights
Through its acquisition of TMC Capital in June 2015, Petroteq indirectly acquired certain mineral rights under the TMC Mineral Lease, which encompassed approximately 1,229.82 acres of land in the Temple Mountain area of Asphalt Ridge in Uintah County, Utah. On or about August 10, 2020, the TMC Mineral Lease in its original form was terminated and a new Short-Term Mining Lease, dated the same date, was entered into between Asphalt Ridge, Inc., as lessor, and Valkor, LLC, (“Valkor”) as lessee. Valkor and TMC Capital thereafter entered into a Short-Term Mining and Mineral Sublease dated August 20, 2020, in which all of Valkor’s rights and interests under the Short-Term Mining Lease were subleased to TMC Capital.
In June 2018, Petroteq, acting through POR, acquired the record lease title and all of the operating rights to produce oil from oil sands resources under two mineral leases entitled “Utah State Mineral Lease for Bituminous-Asphaltic Sands”, each dated June 1, 2018, between the State of Utah’s School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (“SITLA”), as lessor, and POR, as lessee, covering lands consisting of approximately 1,351.91 acres that largely adjoin the lands covered by the TMC Mineral Lease. In March 2019, a third SITLA Lease was acquired by Petroteq that added 39.97 acres to the mix in the Temple Mountain area of Asphalt Ridge.
On January 18, 2019, the Company paid $10,800,000 for the acquisition of 50% of the operating rights under U.S. federal oil and gas leases, administered by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”), covering approximately 5,960 gross acres (2,980 net acres) within the State of Utah. The total consideration of $10,800,000 was settled by the payment of $1,800,000 and by the issuance of 15,000,000 shares at an issue price of $0.60 per share.
On July 22, 2019, the Company acquired the remaining 50% of the operating rights under U.S. federal oil and gas leases, administered by the BLM, covering approximately 5,960 gross acres (2,980 net acres) within the State of Utah for a total consideration of $13,000,000 settled by the issuance of 30,000,000 shares at an issue price of $0.40 per share, and cash of $1,000,000, of which $900,000 has been paid to date.
Between March 14, 2019 and November 30, 2021, the Company made cash deposits of $1,907,000 (acting through TMC Capital), included in prepaid expenses and other current assets on the consolidated balance sheets for the acquisition of 100% of the operating rights under U.S. federal oil and gas leases in Garfield and Wayne Counties, Utah, covering approximately 8,480 gross acres in P.R. Springs and the Tar Sands Triangle within the State of Utah. The total consideration of $3,000,000 has been partially settled by a cash payment of $1,907,000, with the balance of $1,093,000 still outstanding.
In a letter agreement dated April 17, 2020 between the transferor of the oil and gas leases and TMC Capital, as transferee, the parties, due to uncertainty as to whether all of the 10 leases for which the Company had initially paid deposits would be considered active by BLM and included in new Combined Hydrocarbon Leases (CHLs) under the Combined Hydrocarbon Act of 1981 - agreed to adjust the purchase price as follows: (a) should all 10 of the leases be available and included in CHL’s, the Company will pay the additional $1,093,000 for the rights under the leases; (b) if only a portion of the leases ranging from 4 to 9 of the leases are available and included in CHL’s, the final purchase price of the leases will be between $1.5 million and $2.5 million; and (c) notwithstanding the above, if after a period of 7 years from April 17, 2020, at least six of the leases are not determined to be active and are not included in CHLs the Company shall be entitled to demand a refund of $1.2 million or instruct the Seller to acquire other leases in the same area for up to $1.2 million.
TMC Capital, POR and Valkor have entered into an Agreement Governing Reciprocal Assignment of mineral Leases dated October 15, 2021 (the “Exchange Agreement”), under which (a) TMC and POR agreed to assign to Valkor all of their respective rights and interests in the TMC Mineral Lease (and the Short-Term Mining Lease dated August 10, 2020 held by Valkor) and in the Temple Mountain SITLA Leases, and (b) Valkor agreed to assign to TMC Capital all of its rights and interests (including the record lease title and operating rights) in the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases consisting of three Utah state mineral leases located in the Asphalt Ridge Northwest area of Uintah County, Utah. Under this agreement, once the exchange of SITLA Leases is approved by SITLA, Petroteq (acting through TMC Capital) will hold three new SITLA Leases encompassing approximately 3,458.22 acres in an area called “Asphalt Ridge Northwest”.
In addition, under other agreements entered into between or among TMC Capital, POR and Valkor in October 2021, (a) Valkor granted to TMC Capital the right to participate, up to a 50% working interest, in all exploratory, mining and production operations conducted by Valkor under its Short-Term Mining Lease encompassing the acreage that is subject to the TMC Mineral Sublease, and (b) TMC Capital granted to Valkor the operating rights in at or below 500 feet below the surface under the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases, with TMC Capital reserving the right to participate, at up to a 50% working interest, in all exploratory and production operations conducted by Valkor in deeper (below 500 feet subsurface or more) oil sands deposits and reservoirs.
Following completion of the exchange of mineral leases contemplated by the Exchange Agreement, TMC Capital, POR and Valkor, Petroteq (through POR) will continue to own the Asphalt Ridge Plant in the Temple Mountain area of Asphalt Ridge. It is anticipated that Petroteq (acting through TMC Capital) and Valkor will, during the ensuing year, determine whether a new 5,000 BPD oil sands processing plant utilizing Petroteq’s Clean Oil Recovery Technology should be constructed and operated on lands covered by the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases.
The assignment of the Temple Mountain SITLA leases by Petroteq’s subsidiaries to Valkor and Valkor’s assignment of the Asphalt Ridge NW Leases to TMC Capital are subject to approval by SITLA before the transactions are considered final.
Management and Operations
Under the terms of a Management and Operations Services Agreement (“Management Agreement”) entered into between the Company and Valkor dated November 22, 2020, effective May 1, 2020, Valkor will provide overall management and operations services at the oil sands recovery plant based in Utah. The agreement is for a period of one year and is renewable automatically for an additional four years unless either party provides the other party with written notice of non-renewal at least 90 days prior to the expiration of the original or renewal term. The company will reimburse Valkor for all costs and expenses incurred, as defined in the agreement, plus a Personnel Management Fee of 12% of the personnel costs and expenses and an operations Management Fee of 5% of the operations costs and expenses.
Valkor will provide the Company with quarterly production reports, including the following; (i) the quantity of oil bearing ore and sediments mined, extracted and produced from each of the leases and delivered to the plant; (ii) the quantity of oil products produced, saved and sold at the plant; (iii) the quantity of consumables purchased and used or consumed in operations and (iv) the gross proceeds derived from the sale of the oil products including applicable taxes and transportation costs incurred by Valkor.
Valkor will also provide quarterly operating reports detailing; (i) revenue received by Valkor from oil products sold; (ii) a detailed accounting of all costs and expenses; (iii) the operations Management fee and the Personnel Management fee earned during the quarter.
Valkor will also prepare quarterly Royalty Reports to be delivered to a third party to calculate royalties payable to the holders of royalty interests under various mineral rights leases.
On November 24, 2020, the Company entered into a Technology License Agreement (“License Agreement”) with Greenfield Energy, LLC (“Greenfield”), whereby the Company grants to Greenfield a non-exclusive, non-transferable license under the patent rights and know-how for use in the design, construction and operation of any and all future oil sands plants in the US. Greenfield agrees to pay a license fee of $2,000,000 for oil sands plants designed, developed and constructed by Greenfield. The parties recognize that $1,500,000 has been invested in the Petroteq Oil Sands plant based in Utah and another $500,000 in further plant development and improvements. Greenfield will pay to the Company a 5% royalty based on net revenue received from production and disposition of licensed products unless the licensed product is not covered by a valid claim (in which case the royalty is reduced to 3%).
The Company has agreed to utilize Valkor as the exclusive provider of engineering, planning and construction for all oil sands plants built by Petroteq or Greenfield under this agreement, provided the fees charged by Valkor are reasonable and competitive.
The agreement between the Company and Valkor will remain in effect from November 14, 2020 until the expiration of the last valid patent claim, unless terminated by default or bankruptcy.
Suspension of trading on the TSX Venture Exchange
On August 6, 2021, the Ontario Securities Commission issued a cease trade order (the “CTO”) against the Company, as a result of its failure to file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q (and related certifications) for the period ended May 31, 2021 (the “2021 Q3 Filings”) on or before July 30, 2021, as required under Canadian National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations.
The Company filed the 2021 Q3 Filings on SEDAR and with the Canadian Securities Administration on SEDAR, and with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on EDGAR on August 19, 2021. As a result, the Ontario securities Commission revoked the CTO effective August 24,2021. In addition, on August 19, 2021, the Company’s amended financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis for the eight quarters from May 31, 2019 to February 28, 2021 were filed on SEDAR and with the SEC, as set forth in the Company’s amended annual reports on Form 10-K/A for the financial years ended August 31, 2019 and August 31, 2020, and in the Company’s amended quarterly reports on Form 10-Q/A for the periods ended May 31, 2019, November 30, 2019, February 29, 2020, May 31, 2020, November 30, 2020 and February 28, 2021. The Company’s amended financial statements and management discussion and analysis for the period ended February 28, 2019 were filed on SEDAR on August 23, 2021, and with the SEC on August 25, 2021, as exhibits to the Company’s current report on Form 8-K.
As a result of the issuance of the CTO on August 6, 2021, the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”) suspended trading of the Company’s Common Shares. As part of the TSXV’s review of the Company’s reinstatement application, the TSXV reviewed the Company’s financial statements for the three and nine months ended May 31, 2021 and raised concerns that certain transactions may not have been submitted to the TSXV for approval, as required under the TSXV’s policies. As a result of an internal investigation the Company identified several transactions (the “Transactions”) which although disclosed in the Company’s public filings on SEDAR and EDGAR, had not been submitted for approval by the TSXV.
Based on the Company’s initial review of the Transactions, it is estimated that a total of 54,370,814 Common Shares were issued as a result of the Transactions. While some of the issued Common Shares, namely, 4,336,972, are estimated to have been issued at prices above what the TSXV would have otherwise approved, 50,033,842 are estimated to have been issued at share prices below what the TSXV generally approves for convertible securities. While the Company is now making the necessary submissions with the TSXV for the Transactions, they may not all be accepted for approval by the TSXV and as a condition of reinstatement to trading on the TSXV the Company may need to take remedial action to bring the Transactions into compliance.
The Transactions, described below, were all disclosed in the Company’s financial statements (all dollar amounts are expressed in U.S. currency unless otherwise indicated):
The net proceeds of the Transactions that resulted in new funds to the Company were used for expansion of the Company’s extraction plant and working capital.
The Company continues to work with the TSXV on a reinstatement of trading and will update the market as things progress. However, the TSXV has indicated that these matters and their review of the Transactions may take some time to resolve and that a reinstatement to trading is not expected in the near term.
Unsolicited takeover bid by Viston United swiss AG
On October 27, 2021, 2869889 Ontario Inc., an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Viston United Swiss AG commenced a conditional, unsolicited takeover bid (the “Offer”) to acquire all of the issued and outstanding Common Shares of the Company. Viston filed a Tender Offer Statement with the SEC relating to the Offer on Schedule TO under section 14(d)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), on October 25, 2021, and an amendment to the Tender Offer Statement on October 27, 2021. As set forth in the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 under section 14(d)(4) of the Exchange Act filed with the SEC on November 9, 2021, shareholders were advised that the Board of Directors was then not yet in a position to make a recommendation to shareholders to accept or reject the Offer, and that the Company had retained Haywood Securities Inc. as financial advisor to the Company and the Board of Directors.
As set forth in the amendment to the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9, as filed with the SEC on January 4, 2022, on December 29, 2021, after thorough consideration of all aspects of the Viston Offer, the advice provided by Haywood and consulting with its other advisors, the Board unanimously determined to recommend that Shareholders accept the Viston Offer and tender their Common Shares, for reasons that include the following:
Results of Strategic Review
Based on the results of the strategic review presented by Haywood, the Board believes that the immediate cash value offered to Shareholders under the Viston Offer is more favorable to Shareholders than the potential value that might otherwise result from other alternatives reasonably available to Petroteq, including remaining as a stand-alone entity and pursuing Petroteq’s existing strategy, in each case taking into consideration the potential rewards, risks, timelines and uncertainties associated with those other alternatives.
Premium Over Market Price
The consideration of C$0.74 in cash per Common Share (the “Cash Consideration”) under the Viston Offer represents a premium of approximately 279% over the closing price of the Common Shares on the TSXV on August 6, 2021, being the last trading day that the Common Shares were traded on the TSXV.
Unlikelihood of Superior Proposal
The Board, with the assistance of Haywood, has taken active steps to assess and solicit strategic alternatives and has attempted to secure a proposal that would be superior to the Viston Offer. However, no superior alternative to the Viston Offer has emerged and Petroteq does not expect a superior alternative to emerge in the near term.
Common Shares Remain Relatively Illiquid
Trading in the Common Shares on the TSXV remains suspended, and there is no certainty as to when the TSXV will resume trading in the Common Shares.
Certainty of Outcome
The Viston Offer provides 100% cash consideration for the Common Shares and offers Shareholders certainty of value and immediate liquidity.
Possible Decline in Market Price
If the Viston Offer is not successful and another alternative offer with superior financial terms does not emerge, the market price of the Common Shares in the public markets may decline significantly.
Reduces Inherent Business Risk
Based on the strategic review conducted with Haywood, the Viston Offer appears to provide Shareholders with the value inherent in Petroteq’s portfolio of projects, assuming they are fully realized, without the long-term risks associated with the development and execution of those projects. Given the relatively early stage of Petroteq’s projects, it will be several years before the projects in Petroteq’s portfolio reach commercial production, if at all.
Significant Growth Funding Required
Petroteq’s projects have significant funding requirements to prove and scale its technology. Petroteq currently has limited cash to fund its necessary capital projects and near-term debt maturities, which will be a further drain on cash. Equity financing sufficient to repay debt and fund the progress of Petroteq’s business plan, if available, may be significantly dilutive to Shareholders.
Ability to Respond to Superior Proposals
Petroteq has not entered into a support or similar agreement with Viston in respect to the Viston Offer. The Board has reserved the ability to seek out or respond to proposals that may deliver greater value to Shareholders than the Viston Offer. There is nothing to prevent a third party from proposing or making a superior proposal or preclude Petroteq from changing its recommendation. |