Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (LSE:COPL, CSE:XOP, OTC:VELXD) described 2021 as “a year of major positive change”, with the acquisition of Atomic Oil & Gas being the main turning point as it delivered material production and cash flow.
At the time of acquisition, the assets in Wyoming (in which COPL owns interest between 56% and 67%) brought some 1,100 barrels of oil production per day before being boosted by COPL funded programmes, lifting volumes to around 1,900 bopd even with volumes being capped by facilities constraints.
The production performance “far exceeded” expectations, COPL highlighted.
On top of that, in January 2022, new drilling in Wyoming confirmed a major discovery which has been estimated to have a total reservoir volume between 1.5bn and 1.9bn barrels of oil in place.
The company told investors that this discovery highlights the potential for the project to “generate long-term production on a scale many times greater than COPL's original expectations”.
COPL chief executive Arthur Millholland, in today’s 2021 results statement, said: "We delivered on our 2021 objectives and with the recent discovery COPL is very well placed to fully capitalize on the opportunity it has.
“This has been a transformative year and we look to the future with renewed confidence."
The company reported petroleum sales of US$15mln, net of royalties, and that was offset by US$2.3mln of realised losses on hedging contracts as the price of crude soared. Net crude oil sales averaged 972 barrels per day over the year, with volumes remaining constrained by facilities.
COPL saw an operating netback of US$33.10 per barrel.