Filed by Canadian Superior Energy Inc.
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933
Subject Company: Canada Southern Petroleum Ltd.
Commission File No.: 001-03793
|
|
|
For Immediate Release
|
|
June 16, 2006 |
CANADIAN SUPERIOR ANNOUNCES MAILING OF
TAKEOVER CIRCULAR FOR CANADA SOUTHERN PETROLEUM LTD.
CALGARY, ALBERTA (CCNMatthews) Canadian Superior Energy Inc. (Canadian Superior) (TSX:SNG)
(AMEX:SNG) announced today that its takeover bid for any and all of the issued and outstanding
shares of Canada Southern Petroleum Ltd. (Canada Southern) (NASDAQ:CSPLF / TSX:CSW) will be
mailed by Canadian Superior to all the shareholders of Canada Southern on Monday, June 19, 2006.
Canada Southern is a Calgary based oil and gas company with production in Northeastern British
Columbia and the Yukon, and land holdings in the Artic Islands of Canada.
Canadian Superior is a Calgary, Alberta, Canada based oil and gas exploration and production
company with operations in Western Canada and offshore Trinidad and offshore Nova Scotia.
Canadian Superior holds a large strategic land position in Trinidad and Tobago where some of the
most prolific natural gas wells in the world are located in proximity to Canadian Superiors
acreage. Canadian Superior will be commencing the drilling of two back-to-back wells on its
Intrepid Block 5(c) in the fourth quarter of this year. Canadian Superior has contracted the Kan
Tan IV Semi-Submersible Drilling Rig, managed by A. P. Moller Maersk A/S (Maersk), one of the
worlds largest offshore drilling and shipping companies. Wells offsetting Canadian Superiors
Intrepid Block 5(c) are currently producing over 400 mmcf/day and British Petroleum (BP) has
recently started producing 800 mmcf/day of natural gas in the area from four of its wells. 15 of
BPs top 25 producing wells in the world are producing in the area of Canadian Superior acreage.
Petro-Canada and several other multi-national oil and gas companies, including Total, British Gas,
Husky and Apache have expressed interest in participating in the drilling with Canadian Superior on
its offshore Trinidad holdings; however, Canadian Superior and its financial partner Challenger
Energy Corp. (TSXV:CHA) have elected to drill this prospect solely on their own.
Furthermore, Canadian Superior has 1,293,946 net acres of land holdings offshore Nova Scotia,
Canada where it is the largest public company holder of exploration land with six 100% owned
exploration licenses.
In addition to its conventional oil and gas operations in Canada, Canadian Superior holds acreage
in the heart of Albertas Coal Bed Methane (CBM) play in the Drumheller, Alberta area where
EnCana Corporation has been paying up to $2 million per section of CBM natural gas rights in the
area.
Canadian Superiors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Greg Noval said today, I believe the
Canadian Superior offer provides Canada Southern shareholders with a superior offer with immediate
upside given Canadian Superiors production base and acreage position in Western Canada and our
holdings offshore Nova Scotia and offshore Trinidad. Both Canadian Superiors and Canada
Southerns shareholders will also be provided with excellent long term value and growth through
Canada Southerns acreage position in the Canadian Arctic.
Page 2
This announcement is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell
securities. The tender offer for the outstanding Canada Southern Petroleum Ltd. common shares
described in this announcement has not commenced. At the time the offer is commenced, Canadian
Superiors wholly owned subsidiary will file a tender offer statement with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC). The tender offer statement (including an offer to purchase and
circular, a related letter of transmittal and other offer documents) will contain important
information that should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the tender
offer. Those materials will be made available to Canada Southern Petroleum Ltd. security holders at
no expense to them. In addition, all of those materials (and all other documents filed with the
SEC) will be available at no charge on the SECs web site (www.sec.gov.)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION RELATED TO CANADIAN SUPERIOR ENERGY INC. AND/OR THIS NEWS RELEASE, PLEASE
CONTACT:
Canadian Superior Energy Inc.
Suite 3300, 400 3rd Avenue S.W.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2P 4H2
Richard Watkins, Director
Phone: (403) 294-1411
Fax: (403) 216-2374
www.cansup.com