Niger: Savannah raises $40m

London-based Savannah Petroleum has raised $40m through a share placing and subscription on London’s AIM market. A total of 79,835,682 new shares were placed at 38p/share, and directors and senior management subscribed for another 1,444,318 shares. Savannah plans to acquire 3D seismic on the R3 contract area and drill a first well in 2017.Savannah holds the R1/R2 and R3/R4 contract areas in the Agadem Rift Basin, south-east Niger. The blocks cover an area of about 13,655km2, representing about half of the original Agadem permit relinquished by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in July 2013.