Shares in 88 Energy (LON:88E) surged after the Alaska-focused oil exploration firm released some encouraging data from its first exploration hole.
The company said Icewine-1 well achieved all of its “primary unconventional objectives”.
Drilled to 11,600 feet its target was the HRZ shale. Early analysis reveals 88’s portion of the HRZ to be in the “thermal maturity sweet spot”.
The company said oil shows were recorded in cuttings brought to the surface during drilling. There was also a “pronounced increase” in heavy gas fractions.
More good news from the energy sector: Sound Energy (LON:SOU) has signed a deal with Schlumberger that will see the oil services giant carry the majority of the costs of drilling three initial wells onshore in Morocco.
The deal relates to the Tendrara licence where Schlumberger has agreed to fund 80% of the investment in the first hole and 75% of the second and third.
After that the partners will bankroll further field development on a 50-50 basis.
Tethys Petroleum (LON:TPL, TSE:TPL) has been granted a two-year extension to the Kul-Bas exploration and production contract in Kazakhstan.
The contract will now run to 11 November, 2017.
Elsewhere in the resources sector, African Potash’s (LON:AFPO) strategy of generating immediate cash flow from its trading operations is beginning to bear fruit.
That, at least, was the verdict of the firm’s chairman, Chris Cleverly, following the acquisition of the trading, logistics and financing operations of a firm called Beryl Holdings.
The transaction follows on from a joint-venture deal struck on December 1.
AIM-listed ZincOx said it had been unsuccessful in its attempt to raise the US$5mln that would have allowed it to reschedule US$57.1mln of debt owing to Korea Zinc.
It means ZincOx will now hand a 90% stake in its recycling plant in the country over to its partner.
Xtract Resources (LON:XTR) has announced with deep sadness two fatalities occurred at its Chepica gold processing plant on Christmas Eve.
The fatal accidents occurred when an individual who was undergoing training entered a restricted area without the necessary safety equipment; a shift supervisor died while trying to rescue the first individual.
ISDX-listed NQ Minerals (ISDX:NQMI) continues to be encouraged by developments at its two exploration projects in North Queensland, Australia - particularly Ukalunda.
At Ukalunda, new prospect areas continue to be discovered while preliminary metallurgy tests on samples from the stockpiles revealed impressive results. Head assay silver (Ag) grades for the samples were as high as 8520 parts per million (ppm) at the Sunbeam area, with copper (Cu) at 4.23%), 464 ppm at Daisy (with Cu at 4.17%) and 44 ppm at White's Hope (with Cu at 4.56%).
The geological team has primarily kept its focus over recent months on the Ukalunda project in preparation for the drilling programme in January 2016, but at the Square Post asset, galena bearing samples from Breccia Knob have been delivered to Geoscience Australia representatives for examination.
The results are likely to assist future exploration targeting.
In the tech sector, MySQUAR (LON:MYSQ), the Myanmar-language social media specialist, reckons it should have 2mln users of its MyCHAT phone app by the end of the year as it enters the monetisation phase of its development.
The growth of the business has been rapid, given it had just over 900,000 users at end of June.
The update came as the firm posted results for the year ended June 30.
As is common with most businesses at this formative stage of its development, MySQUAR was loss-making (to the tune of around US$2.2mln).
Amusement park software operator Galasys (LON:GLS) said its proposed extraordinary general meeting has been adjourned until a later date as a result of a court order.
Finally, Avation (LON:AVAP), the commercial leasing firm, has delivered a third aircraft to UK carrier Flybe.
It is another ATR 72-600, a turbo-prop plane that is the work-horse of most short-haul routes.
The plane is being operated under a “wet lease” deal by Flybe for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).
It is the 26th ATR 72 purchased by Avation since 2011, making the firm the second largest lessor of this line of aircraft globally.