Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) investors had reason to cheer as the week began when chairman Neil Ritson revealed he was excited about the upcoming drilling in Tanzania where the company is partnered by Aminex.
Aminex told investors that drilling will get underway soon for the Ntorya-2 appraisal well.
Solo Oil’s partner is the operator and 75% stakeholder in Ntorya, and it said that an independent inspection of the contracted drill rig has now been completed and the project is scheduled to start in mid-December.
Ntorya-2 is to be located some 1.5 kilometres from the original Ntorya discovery well, which was at the fringes of the reservoir. The well is designed to test the reservoir up-dip where the feature is believed to be thicker.
The new programme’s second well, Ntorya-3, is currently planned to be a further step-out - it will be 5km from the original Ntorya well – at what has been modelled and seen in seismic to be the thickest part of the reservoir.
Shares in Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company plc (LON:NTOG) rocketed this week as it picked up an extra US$600,000 in cash from the sale of its interest in the Chisholm Trail Prospect.
Initially, Nostra aged to sell its 20% stake in the Oklahoma based prospect for US$2.1mln, but this now risen to US$2.7mln due to inclusion of a further well and associated mineral rights.
Matt Lofgran, Nostra Terra’s chief executive, said: "Having just acquired our 80% working interest in the Pine Mills oil field, this is most welcome news for Nostra Terra.
"We're pleased to receive the additional non-dilutive funds. The additional capital further strengthens our balance sheet, at a pivotal point in Nostra Terra's turnaround.
"Workovers are already taking place this month, both at Pine Mills and our other recent acquisition in the Permian Basin," he added.
Meanwhile, Green Dragon Gas Ltd (LONGDG) has welcomed Chinese government plans to ramp up the use of coalbed methane (CBM) to heat homes and power industry as the world’s second-largest economy moves into the next growth phase.
The National Energy Administration's latest plans were outlined last week and the blueprint sees the clean fuel source as providing 13% of the country’s energy needs by 2020.
That would mean increasing proven reserves to 420bn cubic metres and ramping up annual production to 24bn cubic metres from 18bn currently.
Trinidad-based oil group Trinity Exploration & Production PLC (LON:TRIN) abandoned attempts at a sale this week and said it will raise £11.9mln (US$15mln) as a part of a complete financial overhaul.
The funding will comprise a placing of new shares worth £9.3mln (US$11.25mln) at 4.68p, a 165% premium to the price when Trinity suspended its shares in July.
Existing shareholders and others have already agreed to put up US$10mln of this.
A convertible loan note will raise a further £2.6mln (US$3.28mln).
As part of the financial restructuring, the government and other state creditors have been offered a staggered repayment schedule for money they are owed.
Lender Citibank, meanwhile, has agreed to a major haircut of loans it has made to the group.
The bank will receive US$3.5mln as settlement of outstanding senior debt of US$9.95mln.
All parts of the restructuring, including the creditors proposal and funding, have to be approved and executed for it to go through.
Europa OiI and Gas PLC (LON:EOG) gave a bullish update on prospects to shareholders at its annual meeting.
Activity is picking up onshore UK, said Hugh Mackay, the oil and gas group’s chief executive.
Once Wressle, in Lincolnshire, comes online, Europa’s UK production will increase by 100 boepd (barrels per day) to 220 boepd, which will mean a positive cashflow at oil prices above US$30 per barrel, he said.
Europa is fully funded for Wressle’s development following the sale of a combined 13.34% interest in the associated licences, PEDLs 180 and 182.
Mackay said the company values its 20% interest at £3.7mln or half of its market value including the proceeds of the stake sale.
Oil and gas engineering services business Plexus Holdings PLC (LON:POS) is confident it has the balance sheet strength to outlast the sector’s cyclical downturn.
At Thursday’s annual general meeting (AGM), chairman Jerome Thrall told shareholders that although today's subdued levels of exploration activity and lack of revenue visibility will likely persist, a consensus seems to be forming that 2017/18 will begin to see a reversal of historically low drilling activity levels and extremely tight capital expenditure constraints by operators.
LEKOIL Limited (LON:LEK) has started to move oil from its Otakikpo marginal field in Nigeria to onshore storage tanks to awaiting transport onto ships.
That final part will depend on completion of a pipeline, which LEKOIL said was 80% done with all onshore facilities now signed off and commissioned.
Operator Green Energy will start transporting to the export terminal and subsequently, be able to gradually ramp up production to 10,000 barrels per day (bopd) once the pipeline is complete.
Trinidad based Range Resources Plc (LON:RRL) told investors that the QUN-160 development well has been drilled successfully.
It was drilled down to 2,140 feet (2,600 feet was the original plan) and it encountered the primary target, the Upper Cruse formation. Drilling deeper would have cost more for little additional benefit, the company explained.
Range added that production testing is now expected to take place in two stages, with the first scheduled for ‘the beginning of December’. First a zone in the Lower Forrest formation, encountered at 1,012 to 1,271 feet, will be tested before a subsequent test on the Upper Cruse.
New drilled has now begun on the GY-681 well (formerly tagged GY-218-SE) on the Beach Marchelle field. Here, drilling is scheduled to go down to 4,500 feet over a four-week programme.
Closely followed Gulf Keystone Petroleum confirmed it has received a US$15mln payment from the Kurdistan authorities for crude export deliveries from the Shaikan field in September.
It added that it continues to ‘work towards agreeing’ the final invoices for the months between May and September.
The company added that it had some US$104.5mln of cash following the receipt of the latest payment.
Having secured the group’s financial future through a bruising debt restructuring, which handed the vast majority of equity to debt holders, the issue of oil payments is now once again in focus as a key challenge for Gulf Keystone.