Next Bridge Hydrocarbons Reveals Account Closure of Hudspeth Subsidiary

MIDLAND, Texas, Feb. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Next Bridge Hydrocarbons, Inc. ("Next Bridge," "our," "we," or the "Company"), an oil and natural gas exploration and production company with interests in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma announced today the following:

The Company is troubled to report to shareholders that in late 2024 our wholly owned subsidiary, Hudspeth Operating, LLC. ("Hudspeth") received written notice from JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("Chase") notifying us of closure to its commercial banking account. Although details of the reasoning behind this decision were remarkably vague, the correspondence cited "…connection to a publicly reported financial investigation".

We believe this act, known as "de-banking," is a fundamental misuse of otherwise necessary fiduciary oversight. While in-house enforcement of banking rules is a useful tool in multiple areas such as cybercrime and money-laundering detection, in recent years it has oftentimes become a misused instrument of abuse and censorship. When wielded maliciously to silence political opponents and dissenting voices or facilitate the cover-up of financial misconduct and fraud in securities markets and elsewhere, the intended effect is to deprive the targeted business of necessary banking conduits required for commercial viability.

This misuse has become so frequent it has attracted the attention of both Pres. Donald Trump and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, two highly unlikely allies from across the aisle in Washington. Yet even they have found common ground on the inherent dangers to a free Democratic society when this tactic is deployed with malice.

We are greatly disappointed by this unfounded and ill-timed action. Since, to our knowledge, there are no current or ongoing investigations regarding Hudspeth, it remains a mystery as to what exactly Chase is referring. While we do not know their specific motivations, due to recent events surrounding our Company this appears to be the continuation of a disturbing pattern emerging of corporate-level attacks against us directly and our ability to engage in our business affairs.

Requests for further clarification from Chase have gone unanswered. Therefore, and out of an abundance of caution, the Board has decided to move all remaining corporate accounts to another institution to preserve seamless access to our banking needs.

Next Bridge Chairman and CEO Greg McCabe stated, "We can only assume this action is related to the ongoing corporate harassment we are experiencing and if so, this amounts to nothing short of economic warfare. We have no intention of taking it sitting down. While we are more than happy to move all of our banking out of Chase, as stated previously, we are considering a variety of options open to us, including gathering tortious interference data for congressional inquiry. In the 26 months since FINRA's dubious U-3 halt we have seen an exponential series of hurdles placed in our path. This is just the latest in a disheartening litany of ill-conduct, yet we have faith our struggles are not in vain and eventually common sense, reason and justice will prevail to the benefit of both our company and our loyal shareholders."

About Next Bridge Hydrocarbons, Inc.

The Company is an independent public reporting energy company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation and/or development of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. We have minor well interests in the eastern edge of the Midland Basin in Texas, two minor well interests in Oklahoma and exploration prospect leaseholds in the onshore southern Louisiana Gulf Coast area. Please visit www.nextbridgehydrocarbons.com for more information.

Next Bridge is a private company insofar as its common stock is not traded on a public stock exchange of any kind. The Company is expected to update shareholders about certain operational and financial matters related to Company business. To receive emails regarding this, visit https://www.nextbridgehydrocarbons.com/investors and complete the Email Alert / Investor Form. You may also choose to follow our social media channels at @nbhydrocarbons on X (formerly Twitter) and "Next Bridge Hydrocarbons" on LinkedIn.

This statement may contain "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described herein. Although the Company believes the expectations in such statements to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Information concerning the assumptions, uncertainties and risks that may affect the actual results can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") available on the Company's website or the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Investor Relations Contact:
Dennard Lascar Investor Relations
[email protected]

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SOURCE Next Bridge Hydrocarbons, Inc.