The black gold featured quite a lot today and FTSE 250 group Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) rose in early deals as a debt refinancing gets nearer and as certain fields outperform.
The oil company said a comprehensive term sheet for refinancing is in the final stages of negotiation; once agreed it will significantly derisk the investment proposition.
“Refinancing of the group's debt has taken longer than anticipated but will, once completed, put Premier in good stead to reinvest in the business while, at the same, time paying down debt,” said chief executive Tony Durrant.
It presently has some US$2.8bn of debt, while there’s US$600mln available in cash and undrawn credit facilities.
Shares in Chagala Group Ltd (LON:CGLO), which provides services to the oil and gas industry, shot up Thursday as it said it had no plans at present to raise funds through a share issue.
The company’s financial situation has been a bit cloudy since it arranged a credit facility with Bank CenterCredit, a Kazakhstan bank, which would require repayment of its existing loan from Al Hilal Bank.
The company believes that amounts available under the Bank CenterCredit will provide the group with sufficient funds to meet its current financing requirements, including the repayment in full of the group's Kazakh tenge-denominated bonds, which are due to mature on 1 December 2016, and the repayment of the Al Hilal loan.
In mining, Shanta Gold Limited (LON:SHG) has increased its coffers, with the receipt of an advanced payment of US$5.25mln as part of a silver streaming agreement announced in May this year.
The East Africa-focused miner is restructuring finances as it expands underground at the New Luika mine in Tanzania.
The streaming agreement, which expires after 10 years, relates only to silver by-product production from New Luika with a minimum silver delivery obligation of 608,970 ounces over 6.75 years.
Elsewhere, Alecto Minerals (LON:ALO) said today it was making progress on securing funding for its Matala project, which will be Zambia's first major standalone gold mine.
It was originally envisaged that Chinese financing could be wrapped up by the end of September but that timeline has slipped, not least due to Presidential elections in Zambia in that month.
In May, Alecto said Xiamen XGMA International Trade Company Ltd had confirmed that huge Chinese State-owned insurer and credit export group Sinosure would provide risk cover but that needed Ministerial support in Zambia and was delayed by the election
Xtract Resources PLC (LON:XTR) had its decision to develop the Manica mine in Mozambique backed up by an independent study.
Consultant Minxcon was appointed to complete optimisation modelling and has concluded that an open pit is the best way forward.
Previously, a high grade pit followed by underground mining had been one option, but this has been rejected due to the heavy bolstering needed for the operation below ground.
Minxcon’s recommendations would mean an open pit mine with a seven-year life with 480,000 tonnes per annum (40 000 tpm) of ore processed each year.
To tech, and radiation technology specialist Kromek Group PLC (LON:KMK) has been awarded two accolades at the 2016 IET Innovation Awards beano in London last night.
The awards were won in the categories of ‘Intelligent Systems’ and ‘Navigation & Surveillance Communications’.
Meanwhile, Tern PLC (LON:TERN), the investment company specialising in the cloud and the Internet of Things, has announced a number of senior management changes.
Founder Angus Forrest is standing down as chairman to become the company’s operations director. The company has kicked off a search for a new chairman, but in the meantime Al Sisto, Tern’s chief executive officer, will also handle chairman duties.
Founding director Bruce Leith has become the company’s business development director, and will focus on identifying, developing and cultivating companies that meet Tern’s investment criteria.