Plexus Holdings PLC (LON:POS) shares rose over 14% on Friday as the group received a first order for its patented oilfield wellheads from Akers BP, the company formed through the merger of BP and Det Norske’s Norwegian assets.
The order, worth around £700,000, is for surface exploration wellhead equipment for the Hyrokkin and Nordfjellet standard pressure exploration wells, offshore Norway.
Revenues are expected to commence in July and there is potential for the contract to be extended to include additional wells in the future.
It was one of a number of oily stories this week.
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) Plc (LON:EOG) was celebrating at the end of the week as its Wressle project cleared a major regulatory milestone.
The Environment Agency have issued a variation to the project’s mining waste permit.
It supports the new planning application for the project, which was submitted last month.
Meanwhile, in the US, onshore oiler Magnolia Petroleum (LON:MAGP) continues to make steady progress in Oklahoma and Dakota.
It told investors it was involved in several new wells and workovers against a backdrop of more activity across the Pond.
The group is taking part in seven new wells in two prolific plays in Oklahoma at a cost of US$103,695. Six are waiting for a spud and one is already generating 644bopd (barrels of oil per day).
It is also participating in the workover of eleven existing wells in Oklahoma and Dakota, all of which are low cost and are expected to increase both production and estimated recoverable reserves.
Participating in these 11 wells is put at a net cost of US$38,930 to the firm, and the majority just require an artificial lift , either by installing a pumping unit or plunger lift.
Elsewhere, onshore oil junior UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC (LON:UKOG) has raised £6.5mln with a new share placing, with cash proceeds backing the group’s growth plans.
UKOG is issuing 812.5mln new shares, priced at 0.8p each.
The capital will support the near-term growth strategy to further develop its leading position in the Kimmeridge Limestone oil play and five conventional discoveries in the Weald basin.
It starts with a planned well at the group’s wholly-owned Broadford Bridge project.
Hurricane Energy Plc (LON:HUR) has done well to ‘buy itself time and options’, says WH Ireland analyst Brendan Long.
After hours on Wednesday, the West of Shetland focused explorer reported a previously announced share warrant funding had completing, delivering just shy of £13mln of new capital at a time when it is advancing project financing talks.
Hurricane had told investors that the warrant issue (and subsequent exercise) would give it financial flexibility at a time when it was also committing existing cash resources to long-lead items necessary to maintain the current schedule for the initial Lancaster development – which targets ‘first oil’ in early 2019.
SDX Energy Inc (LON:SDX, CVE:SDX) boss Paul Welch highlighted that the start of 2017 has been a busy period, with “great strides” made across its portfolio.
Welch noted that the start of the year brought good momentum, and added that the company looks forward to capitalising on the opportunities ahead.
In the group’s results statement, for the three months ended March 31, Welch said: “We were pleased to announce a successful drilling result at South Disouq, making a gas discovery in the first target and encountering reservoir horizons and evidence of a working petroleum system at the second target.
“We have also made strong operational progress in Morocco and given the attractive local gas market are on track to drill seven additional wells this year to further grow our high margin production in the region.
"We are also pleased to report that our other high margin producing assets in Egypt, North West Gemsa and Meseda, continue to perform in line with expectations.”
Also this week, Empyrean Energy PLC (LON:EME) has announced new investment plans which will see it take material stakes in significant gas projects in California.
The AIM quoted company, which last year cashed out of a minority stake in Marathon Oil’s Sugarloaf project in Texas, is now moving into ‘multi trillion cubic feet’ gas projects in the Sacramento basin.
The deal sees Empyrean taking 25% of the Dempsey prospect, targeting 1 TCF of conventional gas, where a new drill programme is pencilled in for the third quarter of this year.
Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) has agreed new terms to acquire an additional 10% stake in Helium One which is developing a strategically significant helium project in Tanzania.
The oil and gas investment company added Helium One to its Tanzania portfolio earlier this year, acquiring a 20% interest, and agreeing an option for another 10%.
On the initially agreed terms it was required to pay £4mln for the additional stake, £2mln in cash and £2mln in shares, but, a new agreement will allow Solo to take it for £3mln, all paid in cash.
At Solo’s upcoming annual general meeting it is seeking permission from shareholders to loosen restrictions on the issue of new shares, as precursor to a new funding to support the investment in Helium One.
Finally, iodine producer Iofina plc (LON:IOF) managed to increase revenues and remain profitable last year, despite it being a difficult period for the industry as a whole.
For the 12 months to 31 December 2016, the AIM-quoted group generated revenues of US$22.5mln, a year-on-year rise of 11% (2015: US$20.3mln) as it sold a record 474.2mln tonnes of IOflo iodine.
Gross profits dipped to US$2.7mln (2015: US$4.3mln), although remaining in the black was no mean feat given that iodine prices fell 20% or so in 2016.
On top of the challenges posed by the lower prices, regulatory changes for fracking operations in the US – from which Iofina gets a lot of its feed – also hampered brine water supply.