Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) was a focus on Monday after managing director Dan Maling told investors he is confident that the Tanzania-focused explorer will be fully funded for 2019’s planned activities.
It comes as partner Aminex PLC (LON:AEX) updated on the progress at the Ruvuma and Kiliwani North projects.
Aminex has finalised the anticipated programme for the planned Chikumbi-1 at the Ruvuma project and it has selected the contractors for the work.
It has entered into a rig sharing agreement with Heritage Oil, for each company to reduce mobilization and demobilization costs.
Meanwhile, Aminex is also working to complete its farm-out transaction with the Zubair Group, with transaction due to be voted on at a shareholder meeting on 4 January.
88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E) said on Monday that it is looking forward to the February spud of the Winx-1 exploration as it confirmed that it has secured most permits for the project.
The explorer said the final application for a ‘permit to drill’ is on schedule for submission prior to year-end, and, accordingly, approval is expected in January.
On Thursday 88 Energy also revealed that it now expects to finalise a farm-out agreement for its Icewine project in Alaska in the first quarter of next year after agreeing to a request to extend the deadline for bids.
The explorer said there are “multiple high-quality parties” interested in partnering with it and that it has pushed back the year-end deadline in order to maximise the number of bid-ready parties.
Suspension hits Curzon
Also on Thursday, Curzon Energy PLC (LON:CZN) said it has suspended operations at its Coos Bay coal bed methane project in Oregon while it decides on an optimum plan to take the project forward.
By the company’s own admission, gas flow rates have not been as good as hoped, although it puts much of this down to the location of the existing wells drilled by the previous owners.
Anglo African Oil & Gas PLC (LON:AAOG) told investors on Monday that the TLP-103C well over the weekend encountered hydrocarbons in three targets.
The company said that the R1, R2 and R3 horizons were intersected on Saturday, and, they were as expected and in line with its geological model.
Drilling operations continue towards the next target horizon, called Mengo, and, subsequently, the well will undergo a full suite of Schlumberger wireline logging to fully evaluate the properties of the targets.
Elsewhere, i3 Energy PLC (LON:I3E) reported continued progress to the necessary documentation with the UK's Oil & Gas Authority to achieve Field Development Plan approval in early 2019 for the company's 100%-owned and operated Liberator development in the North Sea.
The group added that it expects to enter the final authorisation phase of the planning and consent process in the first quarter of 2019.
Block Energy boosted
Block Energy PLC (LON:BLOE) shares jumped on Thursday after the oil & gas explorer company focused on the Republic of Georgia, said is confident it has the right assets.
In a statement released ahead of the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) today, CEO Paul Haywood said the company’s assets comprise a set of producing or previously producing licences in business-friendly Georgia, while it has a “first-class team both here in London and on-site”.
Meanwhile, United Oil & Gas PLC (LON:UOG) announced on Wednesday that the jack-up drilling unit contracted to drill its Colter appraisal well has mobilised to the final prospect before Colter.
In an update, the exploration firm said the Ensco 72 drilling unit had been mobilised to the Wick prospect drilling location.
Range Resources Limited (LON:RRL) (ASX:RRS) was a faller on Friday although the firm said that LandOcean Energy Services Co. Ltd had confirmed that an outstanding payment of US$2.8mln remains refundable to Range, and they will use all reasonable endeavours to arrange the payment as soon as possible.
The oil and gas production firm pointed out that, as announced on 28 December 2017, Soca Petroleum Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, advanced the refundable payment to LandOcean’s Petroleum subsidiary as part of the consideration for the acquisition of Range Resources’ Drilling Services business.
However, following a repayment request from Range, LandOcean advised that it was unable to return the refundable payment immediately as stipulated by the agreement due to foreign exchange controls and the need for routine examination and approval of the payment from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange of China SAFE.
Gulf Marine sinks
Gulf Marine Services PLC (LON:GMS) saw its shares shed around two-thirds of their value on Wednesday as it warned it was likely to breach banking covenants at the end of 2018.
In a trading update, the support vessel provider to the oil & gas and renewable energy sectors said delays in signing recently awarded contracts meant their mobilisation would be delayed until next year, putting it in potential breach of the covenants.
And services group Plexus Holdings PLC (LON:POS) said it is to acquire a 49% stake in precision engineering business Kincardine Manufacturing Services (KMS) for £735,000.
KMS has a blue-chip customer base, producing a variety of parts for the oil and gas sectors, and will provide Plexus with future access to machining capability that can support research & development projects to provide potential licensees with alternative applications of Plexus’s POS-GRIP technology.