AIM commodities players update investors
There was plenty of commodities action on AIM during Wednesday, including updates from Europa Oil and Gas (EOG), North River Resources (NRRP), Chariot Oil and Gas (CHAR) and Continental Coal (COOL).
Europa Oil and Gas
Revenues at Europa Oil and Gas jumped 61% to £2.4 million in the six months to the end of January, compared with £1.5 million in the same period in the previous year.
The company put the improvement down to a 21% rise in volumes to 187 barrels of oil per day (bopd) compared with 151 bopd during the equivalent period last year.
A 39% rise in oil prices also helped, taking the value of a barrel to $108.9 compared with $82.70 last time.
"I am highly encouraged by the performance of our producing UK assets during the first half of the year," commented Hugh Mackay, Europa's chief executive.
He said daily production had been consistently higher than that of the previous year despite the recent workover programme for West Firsby 7.
"Our UK production continues to generate more than enough cash flow to cover our operating costs and provides a solid foundation from which we can develop our other highly exciting assets," Mackay added.
Europa shares enjoyed a 16% boost on Wednesday.
North River Resources
South Africa-focused uranium miner North River Resources has completed its $80,000 (c£50,000) cash acquisition of a 50% stake in Brandberg Energy.
Brandberg Energy was established by Extract Resources to explore for uranium and holds exclusive licences 3327 and 3328 in north-west Namibia.
The area was identified as having potential to host uranium mineralisation, based on historical occurrences of primary and secondary uranium in the area and a broadly-defined uranium bearing palaeochannel in literature from the early 1980s known as the Brandberg uranium occurrence.
David Steinepreis and Luke Bryan have agreed to join the board of Brandberg Energy and will be joining the two Extract-appointed directors.
Chariot Oil and Gas
Africa-focused Chariot Oil and Gas updated investors on the completion the 3,500 kilometre 3D seismic acquisition programme across its Central Blocks (2312 A & B and northern halves of 2412 A & B) offshore Namibia.
The survey is the largest undertaken by the company to date and was carried out in conjunction with Petroleum Geo-Services using the latest GeoStreamer technology.
The survey targeted an area in the north east section of the licence that contains 11 leads with a combined prospective resource potential of 3.972 billion barrels of oil. Processing and interpretation of the data collected has commenced and Chariot expects to report the results in the second half of this year.
"The Central Blocks are the least mature of our portfolio and we look forward to receiving the processed information, which will enable us to identify further targets to include in our long-term drilling campaign," said Chariot chief executive Paul Welch.
Continental Coal
Continental Coal's South African subsidiary CCL has agreed a binding loan with ABSA Capital for the previously-announced $65 million of aggregate debt funding.
The company said it plans to draw down $35 million from the seven-year loan facility to fund the Penumbra Coal Mine development.
Commenting on the execution of the financing agreements and implementation of the coal hedging to support the funding, Continental Coal's chief executive Don Turvey said: “The finalisation of the loan financing agreements with ABSA Capital is a key milestone in the growth of our company and a further sign of support for our coal mining strategy in South Africa."
Will investment in oil and gas continue to rise? George Godber of Matterley Asset Management shares his views on this and highlights regions that should show strength during the year in: Oil and gas investment outlook.
