People: Bramhill rejoins the AIM fray

As foreshadowed in Growth Company Investor in October, combative West Country entrepreneur David Bramhill has raised £1.875 million for Wessex Exploration at 2.5p ahead of moving it from PLUS-quoted to AIM. This move comes soon after his abrupt departure from Nighthawk Energy after what he regards as a campaign of vilification over the internet.

Wessex will use the cash for oil exploration off the coast of Guyane (formerly French Guyana) and onshore in southern England. Bramhill, who went to great lengths to unearth the identities of his online detractors and says his findings were instructive, argues that the company’s 1.5 per cent of participation in the Guyane joint venture with heavyweights Shell, Total and Tullow Oil, is the jewel in its crown.

He is also sniffing the turf again for an AIM float for Osceola, a private company that he says has so far raised £11 million for its producing Centurion property in Kansas, originally acquired from Nighthawk. Broker WH Ireland, which acted for Wessex, is expected to handle an Osceola float too, should that come to fruition.

Bramhill, whose involvements have included gold in Bulgaria and Spain as well as oil in the USA, suggests, with characteristic enthusiasm, that the venture’s two prospects could contain as much as one billion barrels each.
Investors will at least not be bored.