Prospectus re Admission to the Official List - Heritage Oil

The Kiame oilfield, offshore Angola operated by Ranger, commenced production in June 1998. Productionfrom the field terminated in April 2002. Heritage held a 5 per cent. net profit interest. Angola is reportedlythe second largest oil producing country in Africa, producing an average of over 1.4 million bbl/d of oil.Association with private military contractorsIn 1993, ROWAL was forced to abandon certain oil field and drilling equipment at Soyo in north-westernAngola, after it was overrun by UNITA rebels who killed a number of locals and expatriates. As a directresult of this loss, Mr. Buckingham together with Eeben Barlow, Lafras Luitingh and Simon Mann becamebusiness partners in Executive Outcomes, a private military company, formed by Mr. Barlow in 1989.Executive Outcomes’ senior personnel were composed primarily of former members of the South AfricanDefence Force and special forces, and the company successfully recovered the equipment ROWAL hadbeen forced to abandon.Following the success of the operation at Soyo, the internationally recognised government of Angolaengaged Executive Outcomes in a contract to re-train certain elements of the Angolan army and support itin defeating the UNITA rebels. The contract with the Government of Angola terminated in 1996.In 1995, the government of Sierra Leone engaged Executive Outcomes to train the Sierra Leone army andsupport it in defeating the RUF rebels, who were intent on overthrowing the government. The jointco-operation achieved a level of success sufficient to witness the signing of a peace accord and democraticelections held in 1996. The contract was terminated with effect from January 1997 prior to regionalstability forces entering the country. The operations in Angola and Sierra Leone were ExecutiveOutcomes’ largest and most significant contracts. The company was dissolved on 1 January 1999.Sandline International was formed in late 1996 with Mr. Buckingham as one of the principals andLieutenant Colonel (Retired) Tim Spicer OBE appointed as Chief Executive. Sandline International wasengaged by the internationally recognised government of PNG, led by Prime Minister Julius Chan, in 1997,to support its continued efforts against the BRA who were seeking independence from PNG. Following anuprising led by the PNG army by Brigadier Jerry Singirok, operations were terminated and Mr. Spicer wastemporarily detained by an element of the army who were not in agreement with the government’s plan ofhow to conclude the BRA’s insurgency. The government of PNG settled in full with Sandline Internationalfollowing an international arbitration which unanimously found in Sandline International’s favour andconfirmed that a valid contract had been in existence.In 1998, Sandline International was engaged to support the ECOMOG, a West African multilateral armedforce established by the ECOWAS, in its operations in Sierra Leone. ECOMOG, led by Nigerian forces,was employed to oust rebels who had taken control of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown and other largeareas of the country, leaving the democratically elected government to flee into exile. SandlineInternational provided support and assistance to ECOMOG, undertook humanitarian rescues andsupplied certain equipment to them. As reported in the Sir Thomas Legg’s Report published in July 1998,operations were carried out with the tacit approval of Her Majesty’s Government as well as support from aRoyal Navy frigate. The operations in Sierra Leone ceased in the spring of 1998, Sandline Internationalbecame dormant and the company was dissolved in 2004.Termination of Association with private military contractorsFollowing the cessation of operations and subsequent dissolution of each of Executive Outcomes andSandline International, there has been no association with any private military contractors.It is reported that Simon Mann is now incarcerated in Black Beach jail in Equatorial Guinea, for the failedplot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea. Mr. Buckingham has had nosubstantive business contact with Simon Mann since 1998 and no contact of any nature with him since2000. He had no involvement with or knowledge of Mr. Mann’s activity in Equatorial Guinea.Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Tim Spicer OBE subsequently founded and became the Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Aegis in 2002. Aegis reportedly is a privately owned British security and risk managementcompany with overseas offices in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kenya, Nepal and the United States ofAmerica and provides services to various governments including the United States of America, is securityadvisor to the Lloyds Joint War Risk Committee and is an active United Nations contractor.52