There was some good news for oil minnows today. Kicking off with Nigeria focussed Mart Resources (CVE:MMT), which said production from the Umusadege field averaged 8,900 barrels per day in April – though there were 10 days’ worth of ‘downtime’ so the equivalent rate for operational days only was actual 13,500 bopd.
Third party pipelines were shutdown at various points during the month for maintenance and repair following vandalism, and the new Umugini pipeline was closed for most of the month following an explosion, and subsequent spill, on the Trans Forcados pipeline system (which Umugini connects to).
In March, Mart announced it would be taken over by its Nigerian partner Midwestern Oil and Gas Company.
Meanwhile, oil company Range Resources (LON:RRL) said work programmes and budgets have been finalised for the St Mary’s block, onshore Trinidad.
The asset is described by Range as highly prospective and it spans 181 square kilometres contiguous with the company’s Morne Diablo and Guayaguayare licenses.
In other oil news, Mexico focussed AIM minnow MX Oil (LON:MXO) announced it is considering investments in other geographies, but denied it has any current plans to enter the Indonesian energy sector.
To mining and Kazakhstan-focused Central Asia Metals (LON:CAML) completed its latest expansion phase on time and within budget.
The US$13.4mln programme to extend its solvent extraction electro-winning facility will see output jump to 15,000 tonnes of copper a year from over 11,000 tonnes last year.
Meanwhile, Stratex International‘s (LON:STI) associate Goldstone (LON:GRL) identified two potentially new gold zones at Homase/Akrokerri in Ghana.
Auger samples from gold targets along-strike and close to the existing 602,000 deposit at Homase/Akrokerri identified the mineralisation.
Elsewhere, a definitive feasibility study at the Nayega manganese project in northern Togo defined a maiden reserve, owner Ferrex (LON:FRX) said.
From underground mines to over ground flight and the Ebola crisis in West Africa cast a shadow over Westminster Group's (LON:WSG) 2014 results, but 2015 saw the security firm regain momentum.
Westminster said passenger volumes in West Africa are beginning to recover as airlines resume flights.
In tech news, mobile marketing and digital entertainment firm InternetQ (LON:INTQ) saw strong growth in revenue and earnings in the first quarter.
Adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) rose 28% to €6.2mln in the first three months of 2015 from €4.8mln in the corresponding period of 2014.
Meanwhile, Rightster Group (LON:RSTR), the Cloud-based global video distribution and monetisation network, teamed up with music streaming giant Spotify to provide it with short-form video content to further engage its millions of users on mobile devices.
IP and technology specialist Tekcapital (LON:TEK) said it made 'solid progress' on goals laid out when it joined AIM in 2014, with its large market opportunity continuing to grow.
Posting results for the period to end November, the group said it had expanded the group's technical and sales team and opened offices in Florida and Singapore.
In pharma news, e-Therapeutics (LON:ETX) said it passed an “important milestone” as it recruited its first patient to its phase Ib clinical programme investigating the potential of its lead cancer drug candidate ETS2101.
Finally, Andes Energia (LON:AEN) expects further growth in 2015 as it continues to develop its shale assets in Argentina, said chief executive Alejandro Jotayan.
The Andes Energia boss, in today’s results statement, said that during 2015 the company will seek to consolidate its position as the leading independent public company Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale play.