Looking to Right the Ship, Tellurian Plans to Raise $125MM in Financing

Tellurian Inc., which recently issued a “going concern” warning in its 10-Q filing, wants to spend about $125 million in 2024 on drilling and is attempting to raise financing to that end, according to the company’s executive chairman, Charif Souki.

“The purpose of the financing is to use our platform with the current production of around 200 MMcf/d to finance both the production for next year and reduce our corporate liability significantly and eliminate the need for [the] going concern … remarks that we had to put in our last 10-Q,” Souki said in a Nov. 14 video posted on the company’s website.

Souki, who said Tellurian had $60 million cash at the end of the quarter, did not disclose any details about how Tellurian plans to raise capital. And despite the company's own warnings about its financial security, Souki said that misinformation was being spread about the company, some of it fueled by "malicious intent."

The company has also not filed any disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to financing since the start of November. In its third-quarter report, the company said the company maintains an at-the-market equity offering program that allows the company to sell stock from time to time. As of Nov. 2, the company said it had “availability to raise aggregate gross sales proceeds of approximately $425.8 million under this at-the-market equity offering program.”

Souki said Tellurian, which is also developing the Driftwood LNG export project in Louisiana, aims to boost its Haynesville Shale production to 350 MMcf/d, an increase of about 75%, by 2026.

Tellurian has 31,000 acres an well 400 locations, or about 30 years' worth of inventory at its current drilling pace. Souki also said the company’s production team has delineated a new “mini trend” to add to production by “going higher on the risk profile to drill deeper and at higher pressures.”

Tellurian recently restarted its drilling program amid higher prices and began a two well program under a new joint venture with some acreage the company wants to develop and test. Tellurian will also turn its attention to six DUCs it hopes to quickly turn to production while also starting a one-rig program for 2024.

“The hedge that the upstream gives you will become extremely important and extremely attractive. We expect by 2026 prices [will] start increasing pretty dramatically because production in the U.S. will not keep up” with additional gas demand, Souki said.

“It would make a very. very strong asset for us, not represented in the current price of the Tellurian shares,” Souki said, referring to the company’s upstream assets.