Oil Man Jim Company Oil & Gas Podcast, 4th December 2019

 

An interesting start to the week. Getting the bad news out of the way first, Hurricane Energy announced a disappointing Warwick West result and the share price fell around 25%.

I mentioned HUR 10 days ago as a gamble for those who prefer to ignore what I say about only going for the "certainties," the small number of shares each year which, absent a "black swan" event, look virtually certain to perform. Hurricane also illustrates the law of diminishing returns as a company develops and requires more capital. It's now trading around the same price as the 34p placing three years ago.

UK Oil & Gas disappointed investors with an 85p placing and the share price has fallen back into the 0.90s. They need extra cash since their co-venturers at Horse Hill (principally Alba) are considered unlikely to contribute their 14.365% share of current cash calls. Short-term, the UKOG share price is going to come down to the results of the extended well test and the number of shares sold by the convertible loan note holders, plus of course the new places.

Echo Energy updated regarding its South American assets. Santa Cruz Sur is producing 587 barrels of oil and 11.96 million cubic feet of gas per day net to Echo's interest. Further upside could come from the Campo La Mata x-1 well currently being drilled and the upcoming Campo Limite exploration well. Whether they can ever actually operate profitably and return money to shareholders is another matter entirely.

Stablemate Coro Energy announced the disposal of its Italian assets to Zenith Energy for £400,000 payable in new ZEN shares issued at more than double the market price. Theoretically, there's a further payment if a certain production target is met, but that's far from certain. I think it's a good deal for Coro, who probably correctly viewed the "assets" as liabilities and it gives Zenith something to talk about for no cash. It's quite interesting to read and compare the perspectives in the two RNS announcements. The only issue is will the Italian Ministry of Economic Development approve the transfer?

On a more positive note, Red Emperor Resources is back in business. It's signed an option agreement to acquire a large scale Perth Basin oil play in Western Australia. Unfortunately, it's not particularly exciting since they're only talking about acquiring 3D seismic in order for drillable prospects to be matured. They do, however, say that they are continuing to identify and evaluate additional projects that can potentially provide relatively near term, high impact drilling opportunities. With this one, that's what to look out for.

Going back a few days, I highlighted Cluff Natural Resources at 1.325p over the weekend and some strong buying came on Monday. It turns out partly to have been well-known oil investors, David and Monique Newlands, who've bought 3.1%. Still, well below the last 1.75p placing price, it's one to think about.

Now, on Friday 27 December, I'll be sending out a special edition of the private blog highlighting the companies with potentially transformational events coming up in 2020. You may wish to have a copy of this and if so you can take advantage of a first month trial subscription to the private blog for just £23.75 at https://www.oilnewslondon.com/oilman-jim You'll also receive all the usual weekly content including my actual trading ideas with full reasoning, plus all the other interesting material which can't be published here. The subscribe link is also on my Twitter profile page.

I'll be back at the weekend with the full blog and podcast. The next private blog will be sent out tomorrow.