EnergyPathways PLC (AIM:EPP) shares jumped as much as 44%, to 8.06p, after it reported securing a new cornerstone investor and starting talks with a "tier 1 FTSE 100 company" about using its Marram gas field facility for long-term gas storage capacity.
The AIM-listed company, which reversed onto the junior market in 2023 with plans to advance the Marram gas project off the northwest coast of England, has rebranded the project as Marram Energy Storage Hub, aka MESH, and said it expects it to be operational by late 2027.
Among recent developments, the company said it plans to apply for a new "straight to development petroleum licence that aligns with the project and supports an accelerated energy transition", with the previous exploration licence having lapsed anyway.
EnergyPathways said it had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with a clean energy fund for a cornerstone equity financing, priced "at multiples" to the current share price.
The discussions with the FTSE 100 company are about using MESH as a long-term gas storage capacity as well as about gas sales off-take and providing project debt financing for the MESH natural gas storage development, it said.
To use MESH as a hydrogen storage facility, a final concept engineering report has been submitted to Ed Miliband's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for a 640-megawatt salt cavern hydrogen storage facility to be integrated with the wider MESH project and linked to offshore regional wind to supply decarbonised energy.
CEO Ben Clube said: "Following consultation with the NSTA, EnergyPathways is very pleased to have the opportunity to restructure the petroleum licensing arrangements for its MESH project that complement the gas storage licence.
"The new petroleum licence puts the MESH project in a far firmer position. It enables EnergyPathways to develop MESH as an integrated energy system and better contribute to accelerating the UK's energy transition."