Dart to unveil £12m rights issue for gas drilling

DART Energy will today announce it is raising £12 million to help fund its plans for unconventional gas extraction in the Central Belt and in England.

The Scotsman has learned that an immediate placing of new shares in Australia-listed Dart has raised A$11.9m (£6.9m) for the company, while a further 1-for-9 share offer is expected to raise an additional A$8.8m (£5.1m).

The second stage of the funding round will take about three weeks to complete, but is already 40 per cent subscribed.

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Dart has licences for coal bed methane (CBM) extraction across four sites in Scotland, the largest being the controversial Airth project in Stirlingshire.

Test drilling at Airth has been successfully completed, but the project has been held up by a wave of local opposition. Following the failure of local authorities to grant planning permission, independent officials appointed by the Scottish Government are set to begin hearing evidence later next month.

The fundraising announcement comes after Singapore-based Dart requested that its shares be suspended from trading at the end of last week “pending the release of an announcement regarding a proposed capital raising”.

The company, which has its European headquarters in Stirling, has been re-organising its operations to focus on CBM projects in Scotland and shale gas production in England.

Its plans for Airth do not involve fracking – the most controversial of unconventional gas extraction methods – but have been criticised by environmental groups concerned about water contamination and sustainability.

In a statement, Dart said the restructuring to focus on its UK assets “has now largely been completed”.