It has been a rollercoaster ride for investors in Victoria Oil and Gas recently. Less than two months ago VOG announced the discovery of half a trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas resource from the first well at West Medvezhye in Russia. This was vastly more gas than was expected by the market and in reaction the share price launched from 40p up to 120p in a few days with talk in the press and investment community of 300p/share being just around the corner.
But this is an oil and gas company, so as per usual, the share price turned out to become quite volatile over the coming weeks. The main catalyst for this volatility was a story leaked to the press that VOG were about to get the collection box out to fund their exploration budgets. Uncharacteristically for a PLC, VOG confirmed they were in the process of raising funds
What is truly remarkable is what happened after the fundraising intentions were announced.
VOG rapidly retraced to the 80p mark and then hovered while the market awaited news of the fundraising. Soon enough VOG had completed their fundraising, (which was 2.5 times oversubscribed) at 78p/share, raising just over £13 million before expenses. As a show of confidence in the companies projects, VOG directors subscribed to 430,000 shares and some of the directors also acquired more stock in the market at 105p. This was a great sign of confidence in the projects and company and accordingly the rollercoaster ride took off for new heights. Over the next few short weeks VOG was back to 120p and heading higher.
Just yesterday more good news came from VOG on it's West Medvezhye project. VOG has signed a Gas Distribution Protocol with Gazprom, the world's largest gas company and direct owner of Russia's only gas pipeline network. This may be only the first in a series of steps required to get VOG access to gas distribution, but it is nonetheless a very important one and gives VOG the foundation for starting negotiations for more legally binding agreements.
Proactiveinvestors.com would LOVE to know who leaked the story to the press regarding an impending fundraising. No doubt the institutions investing must have considered the leaked news an extra Christmas bonus as the share price was seriously weakened and the company was forced to raise at a level much lower than would have otherwise been possible, especially considering the strong interest. Those same investors who got in at 78p are now looking at a near 100% profit in just a few weeks.
Further in on Kazakhstan
https://www.kazakinfo.com/ website featuring the culture and life of the Kazak community
https://www.kazakhstan.com/ Kazak news and current events
https://www.polisci.com/world/nation/KZ.htm info on the Government of The Republic of Kazakhstan and Ministries