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88 Energy (88E) announced approval of the Merlin-2 drilling permit and an A$30 million placing at A$0.035 (1.8p). The share price had reached a high of 2.8p prior to the placing, up from a low of 1.3p in December, following the previous 1.49p placing in September. 88E is repeatedly good for 100%+ runs and it’s a company I cover almost continuously in the private blog and have done so since it was in the 0.40s. The Merlin-2 spud date has now moved back to March, leaving little time for testing, so regardless of actual results, the Alaska story will continue to run. Interestingly, 88E is now talking about new opportunities, in particular, a MoU relating to the potential acquisition of a conventional producing oil and gas asset in the Permian Basin, Texas.
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Pantheon Resources (PANR), another Alaska explorer, announced a Talitha #A testing update. The company has a faithful following and news of a sustained rate of flow of approximately 40 barrels of oil per day was sufficient to drive up the market capitalisation by over £300 million. Pantheon does caution that, although this is positive, it does not guarantee success and the company must wait to complete the drilling and obtain flow test results from the Theta West #1 well.
i3 Energy (I3E) announced a 2022 Canadian capital programme update. The $47 million budget includes development of the company's Glauconitic fairway, expansion of its Clearwater position and demonstration of its Simonette Montney resource. Underway are seven gross (five net) wells collectively expected to add approximately 2,420 barrels of oil equivalent per day, plus a recompletion and reactivation campaign estimated to add initial production of 600 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (ECO) announced that it has signed a definitive share purchase agreement to acquire 100% of Azinam Group in return for a 16.5% equity stake in the company. An exploration well is planned to be drilled on the offshore South Africa acreage in the second half of this year and the company says that discussions are already underway with key existing stakeholders in relation to underwriting the funds required to participate. Expect a placing fairly soon.
Prospex Energy (PXEN) announced a conditional placing and subscription to raise £2.395 million. Funds will be used to acquire 20% of the Selva field in Italy, increasing the company's current holding from 17% to 37% and adding an estimated 2.7 billion cubic feet of gas to the company’s 2P reserves. Italy has proved to be a graveyard over the years for many small British, Canadian and Australian oil and gas companies. Let’s see if it’s different this time for Prospex.
Jadestone Energy (JSE) announced 2022 operating and financial guidance. Unhedged exposure to rising oil prices is expected to comfortably underpin activity levels and the company forecasts production to increase 36% at the midpoint of the 15,500-18,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day guidance range. Jadestone anticipates generating material incremental cash in 2022 and an increase in shareholder returns, through increased dividends and/or share buy-backs, may be considered later this year.
Genel Energy (GENL) announced an update on the Tawke PSC, in which it holds a 25% working interest. 2021 gross production at the licence averaged 108,700 barrels of oil per day. Following the Somaliland farm-out last year to CPC, there is now a big drilling event coming up in 2023, targeting multiple stacked prospects with over 5 billion barrels of prospective resources. The technical case for drilling is said to be compelling. One prospect alone could target over half a billion barrels.
PetroTal (PTAL) announced a a ten day production level for Well 10H of 10,050 barrels of oil per day. The well's final cost was $11.5 million and it has already paid out over 45% of its total well cost. With the central processing facility fully commissioned, PetroTal will soon be able to operate to its maximum capacity of approximately 24,000 to 26,000 barrels of oil per day. I mentioned PTAL positively around 14 months ago when it was 7.6p. It’s now over five times that price at 39.4p.