Oilman Jim

It was fairly quiet on the oil company news front last week.   Cluff Natural Resources (CLNR) which I mentioned last Sunday moved up sharply though and on Friday Mr Michael Spencer notified that he had bought more and now held 9.17%. "Cornerstone Investor", Continental Investment Partners, notified they were disposing of 69% of their shareholding in Coro Energy (CORO) and 72% of their shareholding in Sound Energy (SOU) .  Sound CEO, James Parsons, joined in and entered into a "trading plan" to sell around half of his current shareholding.  These announcements followed the news earlier in the day of what was perceived as a disappointing CPR for SOU's forthcoming Morocco well and the shares fell sharply. SDX Energy (SDX)  continued to re-rate and positive news flow kept on last week with announcements of an o il discovery at the Rabul 4 Well in Egypt encountering approximately 43 feet of net heavy oil pay and the s pud of the LMS-1 explor...

There was plenty of oil company news last week, much of it quite interesting.   President Energy (PPC) announced a s ix-eight well workover programme at Puesto Flores in Argentina to commence during May 2018 to be followed by an a ccelerated three well drilling programme also at Puesto Flores which is now being planned to commence in Q3 2018 with the applications for surface permits underway. Amerisur Resources (AMER) , another South America producer and explorer, announced significant revenue growth of 96% to $92.5 million with an adjusted EBITDA of $19.8 million, up from $0.4 million. Amerisur has u p to 14 fully funded exploration and development wells planned for 2018. Columbus Energy Resources (CERP) announced the potential acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in the Icacos field in Trinidad from Touchstone Exploration (TXP) . This will give Columbus 100% operational control over a large area (approximately 8,700 acres) in the South West Peninsula, which include...

Some took issue with my comment last week that United Oil & Gas (UOG) looked expensive compared to Europa Oil & Gas (EOG) .  They seem to be forgetting that the 15p Optiva Securities valuation for UOG is assuming drilling and development success across all their participations.  Optiva are not saying that is what UOG is worth now!  UOG have been successful with their participation in a development well (no geological risk) on the Podere Gallina exploration permit in Italy, however, that still faces the tortuous multi-year process of conversion into a production permit and, as yet, there are no actual spud dates for drilling on any of the other licences in which UOG is a participant.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with UOG (although its shares are down 14% over the last week), just that there are much better value companies out there in my opinion. Back to the subject of Italy, Sound Energy (SOU) last week announced completion of the divestment ...

Landsdowne Oil & Gas (LOGP)  announced on Friday a placing to raise £900,000, conversion of the £326,911 Brandon Hill capital loan into shares and partial conversion (£680,000) of the LC Capital Master Fund loan into shares, all at the placing price of 1.3p.  This will result in a total of 656,849,846 shares outstanding which, at Friday's closing price of 1.45p, gives a market capitalisation for LOGP of £9.52 million. Providence Resources (PVR)  closed on Friday with a market capitalisation of £62.9 million, so when it comes to Barryroe, LOGP at first appears the better option with its 10% compared to PVR's 40% if the Chinese farm out completes.  However, PVR reminded the market on Tuesday that it has many other licences in addition to Barryroe when it issued an announcement regarding Newgrange stating among other things that it is in dialogue with a number of third parties regarding a potential farm out of equity.  However, as I commented last week, I ...

Main news last week was the Barryroe farmout involving Providence Resources (PVR) , Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LOGP) and a Chinese consortium.  However, to quote  Malcy  "this deal is by no means a clean farm-out by traditional standards and lack of comment from TOR [Tony O'Reily] is worrying."  Closing of the deal is not expected until Q3 2018 and " is conditional on completion of all ancillary legal documentation required to implement the terms of the FOA, and is subject to the approval of the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and the approval of the Chinese government."   I do not think there is any rush to buy here. Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR) announced the result of its open offer.  The outcome was disappointing (only £1.8 million of the £4.4 million worth of shares on offer at 13p were taken up), but not surprising since the placing had already taken the shares down to the offer ...

Reabold Resources (RBD) started reporting the institutional holdings TR-1 notifications last week following its successful premium placing.  With four drills already confirmed for this year and announcements of acquisitions (undoubtedly leading to further drills) imminent, RBD remains my current 2018 favourite. Other companies with drills pending are Savannah Petroleum (SAVP) and SDX Energy (SDX) , both of which announced full year results last week.  The problem with these is as they are now existing producers, drilling success is likely to have limited impact on their market value.  By contrast, drilling success at companies such as Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR) and  Petro Matad (MATD)  could see an explosive impact on their share prices.  We should find out with all of them soon. Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL) also announced full year results last week.  As always, it's all about whether can they obtain financing for t...

More excellent news from  SDX Energy (SDX)  today and the share price did nothing.  Indeed, none of their recent RNS announcements (all highly positive) have had any meaningful impact on the share price, which has more or less flat lined.  Why?  Very simply, the small cap market gets excited about exploration plays (the unknown) and boredom sets in once the development / production stage (the known) is reached.  At this point, companies can only be valued on the basis of comparison with other quoted companies and in the initial development stage the sustainable production level is difficult to define.  The company at this point also enters a no mans land where the existing speculative investors are selling out to reinvest in new exploration plays, but it is not yet at the stage where new fundamentals focussed, income orientated investors are fully ready to commit. Furthermore, how much are the reserves and production really worth in countries where...