There was a decent flow of news releases last week and several in particular caught the eye. Petro Matad (MATD) kicked off with the bad news that the spud of Snow Leopard-1 had been delayed until July, balanced by the good news that the resource potential of the Wild Horse prospect had been upgraded from 290 million barrels of oil to 490 million barrels of oil, plus an attractive new prospect, Fox, with 200 million barrels of oil had been mapped. Falcon Oil & Gas (FOG) announced four additional potential plays in the Beetaloo Basin, Australia, providing it with a diversified portfolio of material, multi-TCF plays.
SDX Energy (SDX) announced that the Ibn Yunus-1X discovery had successfully flowed natural gas at a stabilised rate of 39.3 million cubic feet of gas per day, equivalent to 6,550 barrels of oil per day. Echo Energy (ECHO) also announced a gas discovery at ELM-1004, but testing is awaited.
Reabold Resources (RBD), Upland Resources (UPL), Baron Oil (BOIL) and United Oil & Gas (UOG) all announced that the operator, Corallian, had signed a letter of intent with Ensco UK to provide a jack up rig to drill the Colter and Wick wells in the third or fourth quarter of the year. BOIL and UOG also announced that the Oil and Gas Authority had approved the transfer to them of their interests in Licence P2235 containing part of the Wick prospect.
Anglo African Oil & Gas (AAOG) announced their long awaited and much denied placing to fund the drilling of TLP-103, raising £7.4 million at 8p, a 60% discount to the listing price last year when the funds were raised to . . . drill TLP-103. They now say they will drill next month. Let's see. Sirius Petroleum (SRSP), another African operator, which said it was drilling last month, announced it has now identified the rig. Read the announcements carefully and you'll see that SRSP never was in a position to drill in April, just as AAOG never was in a position to drill in September last year.
Zenith Energy (ZEN) announced it would defer a decision on the proposed Indonesia acquisition until the second half to focus on the near term achievement of its operational objectives in Azerbaijan. Later in the week, ZEN announced record oil production. Touchstone Exploration (TXP) also announced increased oil production: 1,543 barrels per day, up 21% from the first quarter of 2017.
Rockhopper Exploration (RKH) announced that 2018 has the potential to be a transformational year with all efforts focussed on securing the funding required to sanction the Sea Lion project and move into the development phase. Meanwhile, Hurricane Energy (HUR) announced the offshore installation phase of the Lancaster EPS development has commenced.
Finally, IGas Energy (IGAS) welcomed the Government's statement that shale gas development was of national importance. IGAS (market capitalisation now £108 million) is covered by up to a c. $240 million carried work programme for its shale appraisal and development plan. How long before the market catches on?
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The author holds one or more investments in one or more of the companies mentioned so this post cannot be viewed as independent research. This post does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell and may be incorrect or outdated.