Bengal Energy amended its secured credit facility with Australia-based Westpac Institutional Bank. The amendment includes a 14 month deferral of all principal payments on the facility.

The facility also has a new maturity date of February 15, 2020 and will provide the continuance of the borrowing base of $12.5 million, of which the full amount is currently drawn.

Additionally, the company will now be required to make a single principal repayment of $12.5 million on the new maturity date, with no principal payments being required until such date.

There were no changes to the covenants and cash sharing requirements, and Bengal will continue to hedge approximately 50% of its crude oil production as required under the facility.

“This extension demonstrates the strong support from our lenders at Westpac and delivers additional value to our shareholders,” said Chayan Chakrabarty, Bengal’s president and CEO. “The financial flexibility afforded by the extension provides additional liquidity to move forward with our aggressive development drilling program in 2019 targeted at growing our production, cash flow and reserves base, which in turn positions us well for continuing further development of the Cuisinier oil field.”

Bengal Energy is an international junior oil and gas exploration and production company with assets in Australia.