Some interesting pieces of news in the first couple of days of the week. 88 Energy (88E) confirmed rig mobilisation for the upcoming Charlie-1 appraisal well. Spud now is imminent and drilling & logging are estimated to take around 30 days. I highlighted this as a favourite several times around 0.7p and it's now trading between 1.1p and 1.2p, having been nearly as high as 1.5p. It's a big drill targeting 1.6 billion barrels of oil and 480 million barrels net to 88E. There are seven stacked targets and multiple oil and gas show announcements are highly likely. It's also a credible drill with Premier Oil (PMO) having farmed in.
Sound Energy (SOU) announced the immediate appointment of Graham Lyon as Executive Chairman. Mr. Lyon is a former Chairman of Infrastrata (INFA). It will be interesting to see if he presides over a final collapse of the share price to the sub-penny fractional level. I suspect he will. In which case, fellow director, Brian Mitchener, who sold 2 million shares this week at just over 1.5p will be able to look back with satisfaction at the excellent price he achieved. I saw SOU featured in someone's bucket list this week, down over 80%. It's also in my list, down over 95%. Thing is I said it was rubbish; the other guy said it was one of the best. That's the problem with supposedly independent commentators getting too close to the companies and failing to remain detached.
On the brighter side, Aiminex (AEX) pushes forward in Tanzania, so that when approvals are given, they can quickly move into the operational phase. This also is positive for Solo Oil (SOLO), whose shares currently are suspended although the company hopes to be able to shortly provide an update on its proposed reverse takeover transaction.
Things don't look so good for Tlou Energy (TLOU) who reported that dewatering is taking longer than originally anticipated. I thought it might. Sustained higher gas rates will take more time and/or require more wells. They're now talking about including solar, but are the management here really the best people to undertake all this?
Predator Oil & Gas (PRD) announced a drilling team update; they also announced the exercise of the rig option last week. What they didn't announce was publication of their CPR last week. I don't think that any company grounded in reality can seriously expect potential investors to be checking their website daily, so the question is why. There's still a lot of placing stock out there to be flipped and shifty looking behaviour by the company is never a good sign. It's now fallen below the placing price since I posted the link to the CPR this morning.
Moving on, there was quite a ding dong with the PetroTal (PTAL) pumpers at the weekend. Since then, over £30 million has been wiped off its market cap as people have sold. It's suffered a much greater percentage fall than the rest of its peer group and one has to wonder why that is.
I'll also briefly mention three pieces of news this morning, which I'll cover in more detail at the weekend. Reabold Resources (RBD) announced an update on California operations. The number that's missing from their RNS is current oil production. There's a heavy decline rate on these California wells, that they prefer to avoid to mention. Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (ECO) announced unaudited results and a corporate update. It appears there will be no drilling on the Guyana block this year, indeed perhaps never. In contrast, Zenith Energy (ZEN) says it intends to drill in the Congo in April. But that is dependent on many things, though, and in reality it's not going to happen
I'll be back on Sunday with a full blog and podcast covering all the week's news, and if you'd like to know my actual trading ideas, plus more about these and other companies that I can't write here, visit https://www.oilnewslondon.com/oilman-jim I've 40 years experience in the markets on both sides of the fence, which is why I know what's going on at these companies and why I'm rarely wrong about these matters.
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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.