Below is a little snippet of a graphic created by the accountants BDO, which strongly suggests that 2016 was the turning point for the UK‘s junior oilers.
It revealed that AIM oil and gas shares advanced 40% last year, outperforming a very strong FTSE 100, which posted a 17% advance.
Investors were ready to back companies with the amount raised in secondary fundraisings more than doubling to £660mln.
That equates to an average £21.1mln per company, versus £9.8mln during a subdued 2015, which marked the nadir for the sector.
The industry was hit hard in 2015 and 2016 as the oil price collapsed from over US$100 a barrel to below US$30.
It led to a clean out among the small-caps, although the rise of crude back the US$50 a barrel mark appears to have encouraged investment.
For BDO's Drilling Down note in full click here.