PetroTal (PTAL) started the week off, announcing the closure of the Bretana oil field due to "social disruption.” Sadly, this was not the variety of protest that UK oil companies are used to, rather a firefight that left a dozen people injured and three dead. A criminal investigation is underway and the “crime scene” is locked down. Whatever next?
Reabold Resources (RBD) issued a statement regarding Deltic Energy (DELT). It has withdrawn its takeover offer, which was simply not being taken seriously by Deltic’s major shareholders. Better things perhaps are to come for DELT, who announced a material increase in the estimated volume of gas compared to previous estimates as well as a significant increase in the chance of success in relation to the Selene prospect. All here comes down to Shell’s willingness to take the prospects forward to the drill stage.
I3 Energy (I3E) announced a £30 million placing and a return to trading. It’s now a Canadian oil and gas producer. Whether management will be any more successful with this than with prior ventures in which they were involved remains to be seen. Their North Sea development project, in respect of which investors purchased many tens of millions of pounds worth of I3E shares at vastly higher prices, now appears to have been completely forgotten. And if investors were misled regarding the North Sea project, why should anyone believe what they say about Canada? I suspect it could become one of the numerous small cap oil shares where investors focus on supposed “fundamentals” blind to the deeper problems and end up losing large amounts of money. As regular readers know, I have warned in the past about many such companies.
Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) completed its merger with Columbus Energy Resources (CERP). The speculative focus here though and indeed its market capitalisation depend on the upcoming Bahamas drill, which in turn depends upon financing. Sadly, last week’s operational and corporate update did not address that critical point.
Tower Resources (TRP) previously announced that the Company had an agreement with OilLR to farm in to the PSC to provide up to $7.5 million for the NJOM-3 well. Unfortunately, they had to announce on Friday that OilLR has not yet made the payment into escrow contemplated by that agreement. Tower are now talking about discussions for a loan, but whether that might be possible is highly uncertain.
Finally, Touchstone Exploration (TXP) announced second quarter 2020 results and an operational update. The most interesting point was that they spudded the Chinook-1 exploration well on Thursday, which marks the next phase of their Ortoire block exploration program.
A fairly short blog this week, since there rarely is that much meaningful news mid-August and what good news there is tends to be held back to September after the holidays are over. The market carries on regardless this year though, now fuelled by the cash and credit of newcomers buying whatever is being ramped on social media.
Personally, I look for what I would call certainties. Those shares where I think a profit is as good as guaranteed. My trade ideas are in the private blog each week and the link for that is https://www.oilnewslondon.com/oilman-jim
If you’re not yet familiar with me, I’ve been involved in the markets for quite a long time. I bought my first shares in the 1970s and I’ve worked in the financial sector since the early 1980s. My particular knowledge is of the stock markets and I’ve been actively involved in these, both in the UK and the US for over 40 years from both sides of the fence. I’ve also had significant involvement in the oil and gas industry along the way, from drilling wells to negotiating farm-outs to majors, which enables me to see very quickly whether or not these companies are telling the truth.
Contact me on Twitter @Oilman_Jim
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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.