COMPANY SNAPSHOT: Xstrata, Glencore, BP, Tullow Oil, Aminex, Solo Oil, Sound Oil, Amur Minerals, Weatherly International

Xstrata (LON:XTA) and Glencore (LON:GLEN) have agreed a merger deal, which will see the two FTSE 100 constituents create a US$90 billion resource group.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Xstrata shareholders will receive 2.8 new shares in Glencore for every share they currently hold in the Anglo-Swiss mining group, providing them with a 45 percent stake in Glencore.

The deal values Xstrata at £39.1 billion, translating into 1,290.1 pence per share, which represents a premium of 15.2 percent to its closing price on February 1, the last day before the companies revealed they were in merger talks.

The combined group would have generated revenues of US$209.4 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of US$16.2 billion in 2011.

“Increased scale and diversity will improve our risk profile, enhance access to capital markets and allow us to participate in industry consolidation,” said chief executive of Xstrata Mick Davis.

Fellow blue chip BP (LON:BP.) also made headlines this morning as it raised its quarterly dividend by 14 percent to eight US cents per share, the first increase since the oil and gas supermajor resumed paying dividend a year ago.

The move came after BP saw an increase in its replacement cost profit from US$4.4 billion in the last quarter of 2010 to US$5 billion in the final three months of 2011.

Peer Tullow Oil (LON:TLW), also a constituent of the FTSE 100 index, and its partners Solo Oil (LON:SOLO) and Aminex (LON:AEX) today released an update from its keenly followed exploration campa9ignh in Tanzania.

Aminex, which operates the project, is currently drilling the Ntorya-1 exploration well in the Ruvuma Petroleum Sharing Agreement (PSA) onshore Tanzania.

The well, which is currently at a depth of 2,500 metres, failed to encounter sandstrone reservoirs as originally expected at depths between 1,800 to 1,900 metres.

However, Ntorya-1 did intersect sandstones at depths from 2300 metres to the current depth, over which minor gas shows were also observed.

Operator Aminex is currently recording wireline logs and check-shot survey to evaluate the section already drilled and determined whether more drilling is worthwhile.

“Additional evaluation of these well results will I am sure be key in helping to unlock the potential for the Tertiary and Cretaceous hydrocarbon plays within the PSA,” said executive director of Solo Oil Neil Ritson.

Another oil firm Leni Gas & Oil (LON:LGO) also updated investors on its operations, while Mediterranean Oil & Gas (LON:MOG) and Sound Oil (LON:SOU) released funding updates.

Starting with Leni, the company announced a delay to the start of drilling operations at the Eugene Island field n the US Gulf of Mexico.

The company explained that the current operator of the Ocean Columbia jack-up rig at Eugene Island-51 has had difficulty in withdrawing the legs from the seafloor. Efforts to free the legs to allow the rig to be towed to the new location are currently ongoing.

LGO noted that the delay will not result in any additional costs for the company and its partners i the project.

Meanwhile, Sound Oil has completed the second tranche of the private placement it announced in December last year. The second tranche amounts to £4 million and consists of 262.6 million shares prices at 1.5233 pence per share and 157.5 million warrants exercisable at 1.8619 pence per share.

The funds will be used to fund the drilling campaign planned for 2012, which will include the Nervesa discovery, which has an independently assessed new present value (NPV) estimate of US$62 million.

Fellow small cap Mediterranean Oil & Gas has drawn down €2 million on its short term secured loan facility of up to €3.5 million with affiliated investment funds of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group.

The proceeds will be used to fund to acquisition and processing 1,000 square kilometres (sq km) of 3D seismic data over its offshore area 4 in Malta.

Another funding update came from mining firm Amur Minerals (LON:AMC), which has raised £5.48 million via a share subscription at a price of eight pence per share. The proceeds will allow the company to conduct metallurgical and engineering studies at its Kun Manie copper-nickel project in Russia this year.

This will include additional resource and reserve studies – which are compliant with the JORC standard – to add to the estimates that are currently being updated.

Updated resource statements will be completed soon after the final exploration results have been received and added to the data base. The JORC resources will be released immediately thereafter.

Sticking with miners, Weatherly International (LON:WTI) provided an update on the feasibility study for its Tschudi project in Namibia. The total copper resource at the project has increased five percent to 50.1 million tonnes (Mt) grading 0.86 percent copper compared to the previous estimate of 47.7 Mt at 0.85 percent.

Tschudi contains a maiden open pit reserve of 22.2 Mt at 0.87 percent copper, which supports an eleven year life of mine producing 15,000 tonnes of copper per annum.

The study is due for completion in mid-2012.

“The fundamentals of the project are very good and we look forward to the prospect of adding an additional mine to our portfolio,” said chief executive of Weatherly Rod Webster.

Sector peer Horizonte Minerals (LON:HZM) has now completed the purchase of 100 percent of the Vila Oito and Floresta nickel laterite projects, which are located adjacent to the company’s Araguaia nickel project.

In return for the projects, Horizonte will issue 8.5 million new shares worth C$2 million and representing a 2.95 percent stake in the company to Lara Exploration (TSE:LRA).

Elsewhere in the sector, Firestone Diamonds (LON:FDI) reported that throughput at Plant No.1 at the Liqhobong Mine in Lesotho has increased from 0.4 million tonnes to 0.6million tonnes per annum, while the definitive feasibility study for the second plant is on track to be complete in June this year.

“The performance of the mineral resource has been outstanding with respect to grade, mine call factor and diamond assortment,” said chief executive of Firestone Diamonds Tim Wilkes.

“The recovery of three plus 100 carat diamonds, albeit broken, confirms Firestone's conviction that the resource has the ability to produce much higher value diamonds than recovered to date.”