A short week, but no shortage of news:
Providence Resources (PVR) announced receipt of the outstanding £200,000 from SpotOn Energy and progress with the farm-out of Barryroe is back on. It’s not clear why PVR needs SpotOn as an intermediary, but the important point is can a deal with a well financed, larger oil company be done. If so, it will be good news for 20% partners, Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LOGP) too.
In other Dublin oil and gas small cap news, Petrel Resources (PET) announced that it is raising £250,000 at 3.25p per share, with the main purpose of advancing its interests in Iraq, where it maintains strong relationships with government officials. I highlighted PET as a favourite several times last year around 1p and it’s now over 4.5p, having been as high as 26.5p.
Sister company, Clontarf Energy (CLON), announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2019. Clontarf’s reports are usually worth reading, if only for Dr. John Teeling’s comments and opinions. Their main interest is a a 60% stake in the Tano 2A concession offshore Ghana, in which Petrel owns a 30% interest too.
Quite a lot of Irish news last week. Predator Oil & Gas (PRD) announced its intention to proceed to apply for a liquefied natural gas import licence for Ireland following the execution of confidentiality agreements with a global supplier of LNG and an owner of LNG re-gasification vessels. It’s an interesting idea, since Ireland risks running short of gas in the not too distant future.
Back in the UK, Reabold Resources (RBD) announced the conditional acquisition of a further 16.665 per cent. interest in West Newton, plus a £5 million “Discretionary Cash Facility” with “death spiral” potential. It’s good news for Union Jack Oil (UJO), less so for RBD shareholders.
UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) gave notice of its Annual General Meeting. Due to Covid-19 health and safety advice, it will be held via an electronic platform. It could be lively with online attendance. Let’s see how many questions they allow, and from whom. There’s a considerable amount of dissatisfaction, since the outstanding loan notes are being converted at ever lower prices. Last tranche announced on Thursday was at 0.1796p and there’s still a further £1.85 million outstanding. With 8.686 billion shares now in issue, all investors are seeing is endless dilution.
The old Regal Petroleum (RPT) is giving itself a makeover. It now has a new, more contemporary name, Enwell Energy plc (ENW) and has launched a new website. It’s probably a good move and indicates that they’re looking to increase investor appeal.
Coro Energy (CORO) and Empyrean Energy (EME) announced their much expected Mako resource upgrade. No surprises there and no positive impact on their share prices either. Question now is can they develop and commercialise it, because that’s the hard part.
Coro connected company, Ascent Resources (AST), announced a “Slovenian Strategy Update.” It was a neat way of disguising a 200,000 Euro default. It’s just a lifestyle operation for the Board, so none of the “news” really matters anyway.
Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) announced signature of the drill rig contract. The window for commencement of drilling is between 15 December 2020 and 1 February 2021. It’s a big drill with significant speculative potential, but it all now comes down to whether and how they can finance it.
88 Energy (88E) announced the despatch of its bidder's statement, which contains its offers to acquire all of the ordinary shares and listed options in XCD Energy Limited. I mentioned 88E as a favourite several times last year and it rose over 100% in the run up to the drill. It’s a regular money maker if you know how to get the timing right and the next drill is awaited with interest.
PetroTal (PTAL) announced that publication of its two outstanding sets of accounts are further delayed. Meanwhile it "continues to assess a variety of financial arrangements to ensure it has the necessary funding.” I said a number of times before that it would require funding, regardless of all the self-financing hubris and, as regular readers and listeners will know. I’ve been negative about this one all the way down from the 30s.
As an aside, I write critically about many companies. Most comments receive little challenge and, if there is one, it’s usually a polite communication explaining what the writer thinks I’ve got wrong. I always know the ones whose share prices will completely collapse though. It’s indicated by the receipt of a barrage of abuse and sometimes threats. AAOG, BLOE, RBD and PTAL are some recent examples.
Back to the news, Echo Energy (ECHO) announced that while it was being ramped the previous week, Lombard Odier sold more than half its stake. Always remember that when you see paid commentators promoting a stock, it’s to enable someone to sell it. ECHO is another one I’ve been warning about, all the way down from 17p.
Hurricane Energy (HUR) issued disappointing news the previous week and fell into the 6p range, but Hannam & Partners have issued a new report with a target of 45p. It's a very rare event indeed that a share price reaches a broker's target, but it does indicate some potential. The link to their full report is in my Tuesday Twitter post on the subject. The Oil and Gas Authority has been understanding of the situation and it was announced last week that they have extended the deadline for the commitment well on Lincoln to 30 June 2022 and extended the deadline for plugging and abandoning Lincoln Crestal to 30 June 2021.
For those interested, my personal investing and trading focus is on the elimination of losses and only going for those trades which I view as certainties. That’s the secret to large profits. I set out my trading ideas in the private blog each week and I’ve also written a 10 part trading course for those who want to understand these small cap markets in detail and make money out of them. Details of the course are at https://www.oilnewslondon.com/course and details of the private blog are at https://www.oilnewslondon.com/subscribe Subscription to the private blog also gains you full access to the subscribers section of the Oil News London site, including key information such as the full schedule of upcoming drills. There are trial offers for both.
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The author may hold 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.