Another interesting week. Providence Resources (PVR) and Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LOGP) announced the names of the Barryroe development consortium members. In addition to SpotOn Energy, there’s Schlumberger, Aker Solutions, AGR, Maersk Drilling, Keppel FELS and Aibel AS. It’s not a done deal yet though. "When agreed, the work programme will form the basis upon which commercial and funding arrangements are finalised."
One offshore gas development which definitely appears to be proceeding though is that of Independent Oil & Gas (IOG), who issued a detailed update. They and their “contractors and suppliers continue to work hard across the board to safely and efficiently execute the four key project elements and bring Phase 1 into production in Q3 2021.” It’s not a company many appear to know about.
Hurricane Energy (HUR), President Energy (PPC) and PetroTal (PTAL) I covered in the private blog on Friday, so I’ll leave my comments about last week’s news from those three there. HUR of late and PTAL in particular tend to arouse controversy and fact based comments often draw considerable abuse, which is another good reason for leaving them out of this blog.
The merger of Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) and Columbus Energy Resources (CERP) appears to be proceeding. Both companies’ shareholders now have given their approval. The only thing they appear to have in common is a liking for convertible loan note finance, so unless that changes and we see normal financing plus the retirement of the existing notes, there’s only one way really for this new entity’s share price and unfortunately that’s down.
Union Jack Oil (UJO) announced OGA approval for their PEDL253 Biscathorpe acquisition. They’re ”pleased to complete this transaction, following which the company will hold a meaningful 30% interest in what [they] consider to be a key, potentially high-impact project.” Main interest here though is the upcoming works at West Newton and fundamentally that will be the driver of the share price.
Savannah Energy (SAVE), the old Savannah Petroleum (SAVP), was once a promising exploration company about to drill in Niger, with a share price in the 40s. Unfortunately, the naive, young CEO though he could use the hope value in his shares to finance the acquisition of production assets from a bankrupt company in Nigeria. I warned strongly about it at the time and the share price is now down in the 7s. SAVE announced a loss after tax of $96.8 million last week.
Another African disaster, Tlou Energy (TLOU), announced an operational report outlining its continuing disappointing progress. “Increased sustained gas flow rates are anticipated to take some considerable time.” It’s really just turning into a lifestyle company now.
Aminex (AEX) announced yet another Ruvuma farm-out update. "The parties to the Ruvuma Farm-Out Agreement have agreed to extend the long stop date for satisfaction of the conditions to the Farm-Out from 31 July 2020 to 31 August 2020.” I do think this farm-out is more likely than not to happen though. It impacts Solo Oil (SOLO) too.
Finally, a cautionary tale from Enwell Energy (ENW), the old Regal Petroleum (RPT), which announced a “Legal Dispute Update.” Amongst other things, the company's offices have been visited by officers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and they diplomatically say that the documentation sought is “generally related” to the company's acquisition of Arkona in March 2020. ENW looked very cheap to some and I've warned about it a few times recently.
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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.