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Blue-chips BP and Shell were the highlights but Falcon and Hurricane Energy under the spotlight

Last updated: 04:31 06 May 2017 EDT, First published: 09:50 05 May 2017 EDT

offshore oil operations

Speculators are focussing on AIM quoted firms like Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:FOG) and Hurricane Energy Plc (LON:HUR), though at the top end of the market it was results week for BP Plc (LON:BP) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LON:RDSB).

BP saw its first-quarter profits jump by more than expected thanks to a rebound in crude prices and higher production.

The FTSE 100-listed firm reported underlying replacement cost profit for the first quarter of US$1.510bn, a big increase from the US$532mln posted a year earlier, and better than forecasts for around US$1.26bn.

Shell marked the improvement in the oil market and its ongoing corporate reshaping by putting up strong numbers for the first quarter. Income attributable to shareholders rebounded some 631% compared to the same period of 2016, at US$3.53bn compared to US$484mln in the first quarter of last year.

Cash flow from operations was another telling metric, up to US$9.5bn from a 2016 comparative of US$661mln. Earnings (CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding identified items) rose by US$2.2bn to US$3.75bn from US$1.55bn.

Falcon boosted by Origin deal

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:FOG) shares jumped more than 10% on Friday boosted by news that Aussie major Origin Energy has doubled its stake in the exciting Beetaloo shale project in the Northern Territory.

Origin has agreed to buy-out partner Sasol and as a result its stake doubles to 70%, while Falcon retains a 30% stake plus the same commitments pledged by both Origin and Sasol back in a 2014 farm-out deal.

Details of the deal value were not announced and the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including government approval.

Sound Energy’s Badile well nearing key moment

Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) is entering the final decisive stages of work on a potentially significant gas well in Italy.

It has reached the fourth casing point at Badile, near Milan, at 3,379 metres in the Eocene Scaglia formation. This puts it just over 1,000 metres from its total target depth, set at 4,450 metres.

The rig first started turning in early March and in all it was expected to take 100 days to drill and log Badile.

88 Energy’s Alaska well keeps advancing

88 Energy Limited (LON:88E, ASX:88E) said its eagerly-awaited Icewine-2 well, on Alaska’s North Slope, is on track for production testing late next month or early July as it gave a progress report.

Spudded April 24, the drill bit reached 2,978 feet by 8.33pm on April 27, marking the completion of the surface hole. The casing has now been cemented and tests on the blow-out preventer completed.

Work is now underway on the intermediate section, which extends down to 10,710 feet. Icewine-2 is targeting 88 Energy’s shale oil discovery, estimated to comprise multi-billion barrels, and it is designed to test the project’s production potential and commercial credentials.

Europa & Egdon put in new application for Wressle

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Plc (LON:EOG) and its partners have told investors that a new planning application has been submitted for the Wressle project in Lincolnshire. Early this year, the oil field development project was denied planning permission by the North Lincolnshire County Council.

The new application addresses specific concerns raised by the council. It will now be validated by the council ahead of a consultation process, and, according to Europa, that typically takes two weeks.

An appeal was previously submitted against the councils earlier refusal, as part of a ‘dual track’ approach which is seen by the partners as “the best opportunity for a successful planning outcome” that would allow Wressle to begin production with minimum delay.

Another UK onshore well gets green-light

UK oil juniors were boosted on Tuesday as the latest green-light came for a well targeting the Kimmeridge play - which was high profile success at the Horse Hill project, near Gatwick airport.

Angus Energy Plc (LON:ANGS) and Doriemus PLC (LON:DOR) have received Environmental Agency approval for the Lidsey-X2 well at the Lidsey oil field, located near Bognor Regis in the southern England.

The partners now seek approval for the project from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Oil & Gas Authority (OGA).

Lidsey-X2 is planned to target the upper crest of the producing Great Oolite reservoir, as well as pass through the Kimmeridge. It is planned that the Kimmeridge layers will be electronically logged, and drill cuttings will be sampled and compared to the findings of Angus’s successful Brockham-X4Z well.

DGOC seals transformational acquisition

Investors in Diversified Gas & Oil plc (LON:DGOC) celebrated the completion of the group’s ‘transformational’ acquisition of assets in North America’s Appalachian Basin.

DGOC has paid US$84.2mln to pick up the assets in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York state and Tennessee which will take the group’s gross production to around 18,300 barrels oil equivalent per day.

In total, it adds some 7,300 producing oil and gas wells. And the enlarged group will now have some 60.5mln barrels of Proved Developed Producing reserves, up from 36.7mln barrels. The acquisition is supported by a debt facility and a proposed US$20mln equity raise.

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