WTI (Jan) $71.32 +9c, Brent (Feb) $76.03 +19c, Diff -$4.71 +10c
USNG (Jan) $2.43 -15c, UKNG (Jan) 90.13p -2.37p, TTF (Jan) €36.15 -€0.45

Oil price

It is a big week for US figures, in particular the CPI data which will formulate the Fed decision on interest rates which is due tomorrow. It seems that subject to the numbers being within the ballpark rates will not change and indeed the talk of rate cuts will come into range and spring of next year could herald those reductions.

US retail gasoline prices continue to fall, ahead of the Christmas driving season your average gallon of Chevron’s finest costs $3.136 down another 9.5 cents w/w, a fall of 21.3c m/m and 10.3c lower than this time last year.

Kistos

Further to its announcement of 6th December 2023, Kistos, a joint venture partner in the Greater Laggan Area and co-owner of the Shetland Gas Plant, today provides an update on the recent shutdown of the plant.

TotalEnergies, the operator of the plant, continues to investigate the cause of the heating medium system failure at SGP, and in parallel has started work to replace the failed section. Both workstreams need to be completed to ensure the safe restart of the facility, which Kistos expects to occur in the next two weeks.

Kistos remains in regular contact with the operator and will provide further updates as appropriate. In the meantime, the Company confirms that its average production in 2023 is still expected to be within the previously guided range of 8,500 – 10,500 boe/d.

This confirms my comments yesterday in which I stated that I thought that the Shetland Gas plant would be back before long which this statement confirms. It also confirms that Kistos’ guidance for 2023 remains at 8,500-10,500 boe/d. 

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas

Eco has announced that, further to the Company’s announcement on 24 October 2023, it has posted to Shareholders a formal notice of its Annual General Meeting, explanatory circular and form of proxy. The AGM is to be held at 07:00 a.m. (Toronto time) on 29 December 2023 via teleconference. Copies of the formal notice of AGM, form of proxy, the Circular and virtual access details will be made available on the Company’s website at: https://www.ecooilandgas.com/investors/documents-circulars/.

Proposed Appointment of Non-Executive Director
The Company is also pleased to announce the proposed appointment of Mr Oliver Quinn following the AGM to be held in December. Mr Quinn will be appointed, subject to Shareholder approval, as the nominee director of Africa Oil Corp, which holds 14.84% of the Company’s issued share capital. Mr Quinn was appointed as the Chief Commercial Officer of Africa Oil in September 2023 having previously been employed as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Kosmos Energy Ltd. Mr Quinn started his career at Shell and has 19 years of experience in the Oil & Gas industry. He is a graduate of the University of Manchester where he studied for a BSc (Hons), Environmental & Resource Geology and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh where he completed a PhD in Petroleum Science. While Mr Quinn replaces Keith Hill as Africa Oil’s board nominee, the Board is pleased that Mr Hill has agreed to remain as a Non-executive Director of the Company.  

Mr Quinn’s appointment is subject to the completion of customary due diligence required by the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers (the “AIM Rules”) to be undertaken by the Company’s Nominated Adviser, Strand Hanson Limited.  A further announcement, including the requisite Schedule 2(g) disclosures required under the AIM Rules for Companies, will be made in due course.

Shareholder Approval of the Proposed Farm Out of Block 3B/4B to Africa Oil
On 11 July 2023, the Company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Azinam Limited, would farm out a 6.25% Participating Interest in Block 3B/4B, offshore South Africa to Oil SA Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Africa Oil (the “Farm Out”). The Farm Out remains, inter alia, conditional on regulatory approvals from the government of South Africa and the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”). As part of the regulatory approval process, the TSXV has now advised the Company that it must obtain shareholder approval for the Farm Out from those shareholders in the Company who are not deemed to be interested in the Farm Out, primarily comprising Africa Oil. Accordingly a resolution to approve the Farm Out is contained within the Notice of AGM.

Full details of all the Resolutions to be voted on at the meeting, as well as the Circular and form of proxy can be found on the Company’s website at: https://www.ecooilandgas.com/investors/documents-circulars/.

Nothing to add to all this but useful shareholder information. The best news of all is that Keith Hill remains on the board…

Star Energy

Star has announced that a drill rig has been mobilised to a recently constructed well pad on its Ernestinovo Licence in Eastern Croatia, three months after the acquisition of its Croatian Geothermal interests.  The rig will re-enter the Ernestinovo-3 well to test the geothermal potential of the fractured metamorphic pre-Cenozoic formation.

Crosco is conducting the well re-entry programme. They are a highly experienced Croatian based international drilling company and have conducted the successful re-entry of a number of wells in country.

The operation is likely to continue for approximately one month, with results expected by late January 2024, on schedule with the planned work programme.

Commenting, CEO Chris Hopkinson, said:
“We are excited to begin the well re-entry on Ernestinovo-3.  The speed with which we have constructed a well pad and commenced this operation demonstrates both the expertise of our local partners and the efficiency of the Croatian regulators.  The Ernestinovo licence has excellent data from three deep exploration wells drilled in the 1980s and would suggest high temperatures and flow rates are achievable from this well.  Our UK and Croatian teams are working closely to ensure a successful operation.”

The programme starts for an exploration project that will determine whether or not electricity can be profitably generated from geothermal formations in Croatia, time will tell….

The Ernestinovo Development Project
Based on preliminary heat reserves and well productivity estimates, the Company’s internal assessment forecasts the potential for a first phase development of a 10 MW electricity generation plant utilising five to six wells producing and re-injecting geothermal brine.

The proposed plant would connect into the Ernestinovo HOPS substation – a major substation with 400kV transmission lines to the national grid, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia, and local distribution lines at 110 kV and 85kV – and sell electricity on either a market premium arrangement (CfD) or bilaterally. 

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog