WTI (Aug) $81.54 -20c, Brent (Sep)* $85.00 -12c, Diff -$3.46 -$1.19
USNG (Aug) $2.61 -8c, UKNG (Aug) 81.89 +0.87p, TTF (Aug) €34.9 +€0.62

Oil price

Oil was virtually unchanged last week, WTI rose 81c and Brent fell 24c after the August contract expired. With level books as the new half starts and with the US on holiday on Thursday and most on Friday too it may be a quiet week, subject to the inventory numbers, the Fed minutes anmd the jobs data on Friday.

Pharos Energy

Pharos has announced the appointment of Katherine Roe as the Company’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with immediate effect.

Katherine has over 20 years of senior corporate, industry and capital markets experience and most recently served as the CEO of Wentworth Resources plc (Wentworth), having been appointed to that role in 2019 after initially serving as Wentworth’s Chief Financial Officer. During her time at Wentworth, Katherine successfully worked with the company’s partners and government stakeholders to optimise the asset, materially increase production and secure future re-investment. As a key strategic partner for host government, Wentworth balanced positive social, economic and environmental impact alongside tangible shareholder returns by way of both dividend and capital. These tangible returns were ultimately realised when, as CEO, Katherine negotiated and oversaw the successful sale of Wentworth by way of recommended cash offer to Maurel et Prom, which completed in December 2023. Prior to joining Wentworth, Katherine spent 11 years at Panmure Gordon & Co, where she headed up the Natural Resources team, with a principal focus on the oil and gas sector. Katherine has experience across a number of international jurisdictions with exposure to emerging and development markets.

On appointment, Katherine will serve as a member of the board of directors (the Board) and the ESG Committee of the Board.  

Jann Brown, who retired from the Board on 30 April 2024 but has remained as CEO pending appointment of a permanent successor, has agreed to continue at Pharos for a brief transition period to support Katherine’s initial service with the Company.

For the purposes of LR 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules, the Company confirms that Katherine Roe was a director of Wentworth Resources plc (incorporated in Jersey with registered number 127571), ITM Power plc (incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 05059407) and Longboat Energy plc (incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 12020297) during the previous five years. She is no longer a director of any of those companies. The Company further confirms that there are no additional matters requiring disclosure under LR 9.6.13.

The Company further confirms that, in connection with her appointment as CEO, Katherine Roe will today be awarded under the Company’s Long Term Incentive Plan nil-cost options over 2,934,899 ordinary shares of the Company. These awards will generally vest over three years from the date of grant, subject to the satisfaction of certain performance conditions and will be subject to a subsequent two-year holding period.

Appointment of Chief Operating Officer

Pharos is also delighted to announce the appointment today of Mohamed Sayed, latterly Group Head of Technical and General Manager, Middle East, as the Company’s new Chief Operating Officer (COO). This represents a significant expansion of Mohamed’s role in Pharos, and reflects his contribution and value to the Company as its senior technical officer since joining in 2019. Since that time Mohamed has collaborated extensively with the team in Vietnam to restart investment in TGT and CNV following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with six new wells drilled in 2021 and 2022. In Egypt, Mohamed led the team responsible for delivery of the Third Amendment to the El Fayum Concession announced in January 2022, increasing contractor take by from c.42% to c.50% on that asset, and was the key contributor to the successful farm out of El Fayum to IPR completed in March 2022. More recently, Mohamed oversaw the Pharos input to the successful recent exploration operations on the North Beni Suef Concession, resulting in the grant of a new 20-year development lease and progression from drilling to first oil production in only nine months.

Mohamed will continue to be designated a person discharging managerial responsibilities (PDMR) in the new role.

John Martin, Chair, commented:
“I am delighted to welcome Katherine to the Board as CEO. Her experience managing Wentworth Resources and its business in Tanzania, engaging with key stakeholders in-country and eventually selling the company to Maurel et Prom, added significant value to Wentworth shareholders and will be of great value to us. I very much look forward to working with her and the rest of the team to take Pharos into its next strategic stage. I would like to thank Jann for her years of service to Pharos as Managing Director/ CFO and CEO.

“Congratulations to Moh on his appointment to COO. Moh has been instrumental as Head of Technical and General Manager, making a significant impact on both our Vietnam and Egypt operations and in building in-country relationships. The refreshed team will work to continue to drive delivery on all fronts.”

I don’t always write about appointments but this is the exception that proves the rule. As soon as I heard about the opportunity I thought that Katherine Roe, formerly of Wentworth Resources, would be ideal for the role so I am delighted to see her joining Pharos. 

Along with Moh Sayed as COO this very strong board will keep that depth and experience across the board and I look forward to seeing them team up with the rest of the team at Pharos. 

San Leon Energy

San Leon, announces that pursuant to Rule 41 of the AIM Rules for Companies, and with the Ordinary Shares of the Company having been suspended for more than six months, the admission to trading on AIM of the Company’s Ordinary Shares will be cancelled with effect from 7.00 a.m., today, 1 July 2024.

As previously announced, the Company’s Ordinary Shares were suspended from trading on AIM, pending San Leon publishing, inter alia: i) its audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022; ii) its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023; and iii) an AIM admission document in relation to the further investment in Energy Link Infrastructure (Malta) Limited (“ELI”), details of which were announced by San Leon on 10 October 2023. 

It had been the Company’s intention to pursue all of these requirements following the conclusion of its proposed refinancing activities.  These refinancing activities include in particular:

1. Becoming a beneficiary of a €500 million German government bond which San Leon will be able to utilise for a period of three years by applying it as security to obtain finance from a third party (although the legal ownership of the bond will remain with the owners); and
2. Being in advanced discussions with Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Limited (“Midwestern”) which include, inter alia, a reorganisation of the two companies’ holdings in Midwestern Leon Petroleum Limited and Midwestern paying San Leon a cash deposit of $15 million, alongside a further $5 million bridging loan if required.

Both of these proposed arrangements were set out in more detail in the Company’s announcement on 5 June 2024 and discussions have advanced considerably since that date, with the Company believing that funding will be received this month in respect of both.  The documentation in respect of the proposed transactions with Midwestern, in particular, is now at an advanced stage.

If, as expected, San Leon’s refinancing plans are completed then the Company will settle, in full, the amounts owed to its outstanding creditors. Shareholders will be aware from the Company’s previous announcements that the Company’s efforts to obtain funding have been subject to a number of delays and there can be no certainty that San Leon’s current refinancing plans will be concluded, or as to the timescale for completion or as to final terms.

Notwithstanding the Cancellation, the Company will continue to provide updates for shareholders on its progress.  Furthermore, it is San Leon’s firm intention to undertake a listing, either in the UK or on an international stock exchange, in the second half of this year to restore liquidity for its shareholders. At that point, the Company expects to be fully funded as well as being the majority shareholder in ELI, the owner of the alternative crude oil evacuation system, comprising a new undersea pipeline and the FSO ELI Akaso Terminal (the “ACOES”).  As previously announced, the ACOES will provide a dedicated oil export route from the OML 18 oil and gas block, via a new 47-kilometre secure undersea pipeline from OML 18 to the ELI Akaso FSO terminal. The ACOES pipeline component is expected to have a throughput capability of 100,000 barrels per day (b/d) of oil, while the FSO ELI Akaso has a storage capacity of 2 million barrels of oil. Once commissioned, the ACOES is expected to reduce the downtime and allocated pipeline losses currently associated with the Nembe Creek Trunk Line to below 10 per cent.

Oisin Fanning, Chief Executive Officer, said:
“I appreciate shareholders may be disappointed with today’s Cancellation, but in fact it makes no difference to the activities we are undertaking to complete our refinancing – and, in many respects, may simplify some of the processes.  As we have announced previously, part of our proposed refinancing is to support our further investments in ELI which, as an AIM listed company, would require an admission document.  The fact that this type of document is now intended to be produced as part of a new listing, rather than a reverse takeover, means little change to that workstream but it provides greater clarity to the funding process and reduces the inter-conditionality of our activities.

“I want to reassure shareholders that, firstly, I believe that we are close to achieving our objectives through our refinancing plans; secondly, despite no longer trading on AIM, we will continue to provide regular updates on our progress; and, thirdly, we are fully committed to returning San Leon to a listing later this year in either the UK or on an international stock exchange.  As I have said before, the commissioning of the FSO Akaso Terminal is a game changer, not only for OML 18 but for the industry in that region. We are confident that once operational, the FSO and the ACOES pipeline will be a significantly profitable and cash-generative project from which San Leon expects substantial upside through majority ownership following completion of our proposed further investments in ELI.“

Whilst the news that the shares are now suspended being necessarily disappointing it looks to me as if the company are doing their best to compensate either by relisting later in the year and will make that up. Suspension is not in their gift if the raise is taking longer than would be wished.

If one takes the optimistic tone as read then it may be that by the autumn the funding may be in place and the grand plan can be realised.

Challenger Energy Group

Challenger has announced that Iain McKendrick, chairman of the Company, has, on 28 June 2024, purchased 35,459,902 ordinary shares in the Company at 0.1403p each. As a result of this transaction Iain McKendrick’s holds a total of 85,459,902 ordinary shares representing approximately 0.8% the Company’s issued share capital.

I don’t always mention directors dealings but this deserves a mention, the Chairman is convinced as is the rest of the board, that the share price is ‘bizarrely’ low and in a recent window has voted with his wallet and made a vote of confidence in the company.

SDX Energy

SDX has announced its audited final results for the year ended 31 December 2023.

The Annual Report & Accounts of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2023, containing full financial statements that comply with IFRS, is now available on the Company’s website and has been sent to shareholders.

Chairman’s Review

2023 marked a period of transformation for SDX. We welcomed new cornerstone investors, forged innovative gas pre-payment agreements, and reinforced our board and senior management team.

Our strategic focus and the evolution of SDX away from a pure oil and gas business into an integrated, hybrid energy provider in Morocco gained momentum throughout the year. We laid the groundwork to deliver on this strategy well into 2024 and beyond.

Sale of Egyptian Assets

In March 2023, the Company announced the reconstitution of the South Disouq disposal transaction where Sea Dragon Energy (Nile) B.V. (“Nile B.V.”) assigned a direct 18.15% interest in the South Disouq concession to EFGL by way of a Deed of Assignment. EFGL simultaneously returned its 33% stake in Nile B.V. to SDX for a nominal fee. There was no change to the economic substance of the original transaction.

The divestment of the Egyptian assets has been a focal point and has occupied much of the board’s time, particularly during the last quarter of 2023 and into early 2024. The West Gharib asset sale terms were agreed in January 2024 and the binding sale and purchase agreement was executed in April 2024. Following completion adjustments, the total sales proceeds received was $7.2 million. The first instalment of $3.5 million was received in April 2024 and part of it was used to fully repay the outstanding secured EBRD reserves-based lending facility, amounting to $2.7 million.

The remaining $3.7 million was received, following the deposit of EGP 100 million (c. $2.1 million) into an escrow account to be used to settle any potential tax liabilities. The Company continues to negotiate the sale of its remaining Egyptian asset, South Disouq.

Morocco

With increasing energy demand from its offtakers, the Company directed its efforts towards expanding its base of production assets. In May 2023, the Company renegotiated its gas sales agreement with one of its key customers, which allowed it to move forward with a summer drilling campaign. In September 2023, the KSR-21 well was drilled and, earlier this year, was tied in and ready to supply offtakers. After receiving the necessary government approvals in April 2024, KSR-21 was brought into production to supply existing offtakers in the Atlantic Free Zone, near Kenitra. In April 2024, we drilled the BMK-2 well, encountering a 9-metre interval with strong gas shows up to c.100 times background readings. The well was drilled to its total depth of 1,412 metres, with a plug set to allow the well to be sidetracked to the target formation, once the required equipment has been mobilised.

Our partnership with CITIC Dicastal continued to strengthen through 2023 and early 2024 and 3-month gas prepayments were concluded for the three quarters, Q4-2023, Q1-2024 and Q2-2024, for approximately $2.0 million per quarter. We continue to work with CITIC Dicastal (a subsidiary of CITIC Group – a Chinese holding company with a corporate portfolio approaching $1 trillion) on a long-term prepayment agreement for future Moroccan gas deliveries as well as other longer-term projects aimed at increasing available energy resources to feed growing industrial demand.

Corporate and Funding

During 2023, we appointed William McAvock as CFO and member of the board and Daniel Gould as Managing Director and subsequently CEO with a board seat. Following these appointments, I reverted back from my role as Interim Executive Chairman to Non-Executive Chairman effective 1 January 2024.

In addition to the two gas prepayment agreements, the Company worked tirelessly through the year to reduce costs and fund itself efficiently. This included successful balance sheet optimisation replacing a cash-backed bank guarantee with a parent company guarantee and releasing $1 million of restricted cash.

As announced in July 2023, the Company entered into a syndicated unsecured convertible loan agreement with Aleph Finance Ltd for up to $3.25 million. Pursuant to this agreement, the company drew down $2.50 million during 2023. The period to draw the remainder expired, but the original agreement was amended in April 2024 to extend the draw-down period. This granted the Company access to further cash of $0.75 million, which was drawn down in April 2024 to pay service providers in relation to Moroccan drilling activities and general corporate purposes.

Looking ahead

As outlined in our strategy update in November 2023, SDX is committed to continuing its upstream activity while embracing new opportunities for growth. Our dedication to delivering a diverse energy portfolio aligns with our vision of serving Morocco and beyond with reliable and sustainable energy solutions.

Thank you to all our stakeholders for their support in 2023 and look forward on delivering on our milestones in 2024.

As always historic results show only that, but things are on the move at SDX and I look forward to meeting the new CEO before long to see what the future holds.

Petro Matad

Further to the announcement dated 26 June 2024, Petro Matad (AIM: MATD), the AIM quoted Mongolian oil company, is pleased to announce that, following the closing of the Retail Offer on the BookBuild Platform on 28 June 2024, 20,000,000 Ordinary Shares will be issued at a price of 2.0 pence per Retail Offer Share in connection with the Retail Offer, which was significantly oversubscribed.

Capitalised terms used in this announcement have the meaning given to them in the launch announcement, unless otherwise defined in this announcement.

Allocation was made to existing Shareholders applying the principles of soft pre-emption. Shareholders were allocated approximately 31.5% of their soft pre-emptive allowance.

Consequently, 43,307,084 Subscription Shares, and 20,000,000 Retail Offer Shares, resulting in a total of 63,307,084 new Ordinary Shares, will be issued in relation to the Subscription and Retail Offer.(1)

Application has been made for the Subscription Shares and Retail Offer Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM (“Admission“). Admission is expected to take place at 8.00 a.m. on 3 July 2024.

Following the Admission, the total number of Ordinary Shares in the capital of the Company in issue will be 1,483,883,601 with each Ordinary Share carrying the right to one vote. There are no Ordinary Shares held in treasury and therefore the total number of voting rights in the company is expected to be 1,483,883,601. The above figure may be used by Shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA’s Disclosure, Guidance and Transparency Rules.

The successful raise from the Retail  Offer enables Petro Matad to use that and the rest of the proceeds to go back to work on Heron and at Gobi Bear. It’s been a long call and I wish Mike Buck and team all the very best in Mongolia. 

Petrofac

Petrofac has extended its existing forbearance agreement in respect of the non-payment of the interest coupon on its senior secured notes from 30 June to 25 July 2024.

The forbearance agreement is entered into by an ad hoc group of noteholders representing approximately 47% of the outstanding senior secured notes, increased from 41% at the time of the publication of Petrofac’s annual results.

The forbearance agreement provides an assurance that relevant noteholders will not take any action in respect of the non-payment of the coupon until at least 25 July 2024, in order to provide further time for the Group’s financial restructuring to be progressed, the objective of which is to materially strengthen its balance sheet, improve liquidity and secure performance and advance payment guarantees to support current and future engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts.

Further forbearance which seems sensible to me and whilst the financial restructuring can take a while at least and if that ensures the order book can be profitably exercised then maybe, just maybe PFC could be back on its feet.

Echo Energy

Echo has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Echo Natural Resources Limited, has entered into a shareholders joint venture agreement regarding a 50:50 joint venture company in Peru with the founding partners of Boku Resources SAC, to participate in the interests of Boku, being gold and silver mining and the cleaning of known tailings deposits containing gold and silver in Peru.

Through Boku, Echo has secured an opportunity to scale operations in Peru, with experienced local partners, producing gold and silver through primary mining and tailings cleaning, owning 50% of the production and potential resources.

Any references to resources in this announcement are solely an internal estimate at this stage. Such estimates do not constitute resources as defined by any specific mining code (such as JORC) and there is no guarantee that they ever will do.

Highlights

Tesoro Gold Concession

• Boku intends to establish formalised artisanal and small mining (“ASM”) operations on its 100% held Tesoro Gold concession, southern Peru.
• Early cash flow generation – Phase I development targeting mining revenues by Q4 2024 from an initial 147 oz/month of gold production (estimated) through an existing plant, operated by a third party.
• Tesoro has quartz-gold veins hosted in intrusive rocks with grades of 5-15 g/t Au with certain other zones of >30 g/t Au.
• Internal estimates suggest approximately 150,000 t with an average grade of 15 g/t Au for 73,000 oz Au.  

Tailings Cleaning 

• Boku also aims to build a material resource base of gold and silver rich tailings, targeting an internal estimate of 4.9 Mt for a contained estimate of 243,000 oz AuEq across an initial seven tailings dumps in northern Peru.
• Strategy to process the tailings dumps, extracting gold/silver while remediating the land, and bringing the tailings into legislative compliance.
• A process to bring the internal estimates to compliance with accepted international resource standards is to be undertaken.

The JV Agreement

Under the terms of the JV Agreement, Echo will commit a total amount, in aggregate, of up to $750,000 to Boku, over a period of 18 months, as consideration for it taking a 50% interest in Boku. Echo received a 50% interest in Boku upon entering into the JV Agreement. The consideration will be provided in monthly instalments based on the working capital requirements of Boku necessary to develop the mining projects in its portfolio. The initial consideration payable by Echo upon entering this agreement is $12,500

Pursuant to the JV agreement, Echo directors Stephen Birrell and Christian Yates have been appointed to the board of Boku. Christian Yates, Non-Executive Chair of Echo, will act as President of the board, having a casting vote, and will serve for an initial term of three years.

The JV Agreement will be governed by the laws of Peru.

In order to comply with the ASM legislation in Peru, the JV will operate between Echo and Boku through a Bare Trust Agreement (“BTA”). The BTA is between Echo and a local Peruvian agent, Dentons Gallo Barrios Pickmann Abogados (the “Agents”). The Agents hold the 50% of Boku in trust for Echo. The Agents constitute a usufruct right over the shares in Boku in favour of Echo and provides Echo the right to receive all economic benefits and political rights. Through the agreement the Agents express and recognise that Echo is the 100% holder of the rights and shares of Boku. The Agents are irrevocably bound to carry out all acts mandated by Echo and may not enter into contracts or assume obligations unless expressly authorised in writing by Echo.

Tesoro Gold Concession

Boku holds 100% of the Tesoro Gold Concession (“Tesoro”), an exploitation licence with all permits required to start operations, which will be operated by Boku.

Tesoro is located in the prolific Nazca-Ocona gold corridor, south of Lima in Arequipa, and is characterised by quartz-gold veins hosted in intrusive rocks with grades of 5-15 g/t Au with bonanza zones of >30 g/t Au, and lengths >1km, depths between 0.6 – 1km, and widths between 10-80 cm. It has an internal estimate of approximately 150,000 t with an average grade of 15 g/t Au for 73,000 oz Au.  The full extent of the potential resource needs to be clarified once the JV is underway.

Peru is one of the world’s largest producers of gold and silver and the ASM sector accounts for 20% of the country’s gold production. Boku intends to establish ASM operations, targeting early cash generation from mining revenues by Q4 2024. The initial production plan is to produce 67,500 oz Au using an assumed 90% recovery of gold and assuming the internal estimate is all converted to a reserve, beginning at a rate of 147 oz/month of saleable gold, with the potential to be scaled. This has been validated in a detailed scoping study but will require more metallurgical testing to clarify the recovery performance. There can be no guarantee of the exact recovery rate that will be realised at Tesoro.

ASM in Peru requires relatively minimal infrastructure and capex. The quartz-gold veins at Tesoro are relatively shallow and will be mined out via shafts, with the ore being trucked a short distance to tolling plants for processing. Initial production will be from a single shaft and Boku has already begun putting infrastructure in place for an initial mining team of approximately 25 people including a mining engineer and a mining geologist. Boku is aiming for production of around 15 t/pd per shaft.

Tailings Cleaning

The Huaraz area in Northern Peru has a wealth of tailings from historical polymetallic mining and processing activities, which contain variable grades of gold and silver. Boku has identified an initial seven tailings dumps containing an internally estimated 4.9 Mt of weighted average grades of 1.3g/t Au and 47.5 g/t Ag.  This is based on a combination of small-scale sampling, analysis and metallurgy testing undertaken in 2023, along with using historical estimates from mining operations and back calculation methods. With the tailings at surface, the directors believe it should be a relatively simple process to apply volumetric calculations allied with comprehensive sampling for grade and density to bring these internal estimates to an international resource standard.

These tailings present an environmental concern, and cleaning of the sites is required to remediate the land and bring the tailings into compliance with current Peruvian legislation. Boku has signed heads of agreements to acquire several tailings sites.

A technical report, commissioned by Echo, estimates that the initial package of tailings cleaning projects could reach up to 243,000 oz AuEq, providing a processing life of 40 years at a rate of 350 t/pd or 20 years at 700 t/pd; however, the present scenario is not certain and the initial phase of work for the tailings will include additional sampling, analysis, metallurgy, beneficiation studies and resource estimation to NI 43-101 standards in order to reach a Final Investment Decision (“FID”) with a view to commencing production from the first site by 2025. 

Table 1: Echo’s internal estimates of resources contained in the current and identified JV projects:

Note: For determining the gold equivalent value of silver, an gold / silver ratio of 79x has been used.

Boku Operation

Echo has established the trading joint venture in Peru using a tax and legally optimised structure to ensure Echo retains effective control of Boku and that funds can flow to its shareholders. Operationally, Boku will be led by Erick Pegot-Ogier as Managing Director, who will provide on-the-ground local expertise through logistics and project management. Echo will not incur any project acquisition costs and will contribute the initial start-up and working capital necessary to achieve first production in Q4 2024 from the $750,000 referred to above.

Mr Pegot-Ogier is a senior executive involved in mining and ore processing businesses across Peru. He has a proven track record of operating mines and processing plants, implementing environmental remediation strategies, and running exploration initiatives. Mr Pegot-Ogier has been involved in mine and plant leasing contracts and is skilled in the regulatory landscape of Peruvian mining. He has been involved in the mining industry for over 16 years after qualifying as a lawyer.

The forecast of production and revenues from the JV is subject to funding availability; however, advanced discussions are in progress with a strategic investor to provide the capital to fund Tesoro and the tailings projects through to operation and production, with the priority being to achieve first production in Q4 2024. There can be no certainty that these discussions will result in the strategic investor providing capital to the Company. Further funding and cash flow derived from Tesoro will be used to progress to FID on the tailings cleaning projects with a full economic study and international compliant resource statement.

Stephen Birrell, Chief Executive Officer of Echo, commented:
“Through our Latin American networks, we have identified, pursued, and secured a transformational opportunity to scale a joint venture operation producing gold and silver through primary mining and tailings cleaning.

Echo is targeting early cash flow this year from Tesoro followed by building a material resource base, acquiring gold and silver rich tailings dumps. We expect the Company to be generating steady cashflow by mid next year from both mining and tailings cleaning operations.

We know that the Company’s shareholders have suffered highly unpalatable value diminution from legacy projects over the years, so it is pleasing to be able to deliver unique access to the Peruvian precious metals sector with potential near-term cash flow at a time when precious metals prices and forecasts are running at an all-time high. We have an opportunity to grow a Latin America focussed resources business of considerable scale. We see the concept of treating isolated remnant resource and cleaning of tailings as a scalable objective. The tailings, especially, are at surface and are accessible for establishing a quick, robust resource at minimal cost.”

I don’t cover mining stocks so only writing here as I think that Stephen Birrell seems to have put together a very interesting deal and on what seems like a very modest budget. The shares are up 10% and the holders will like his refreshing honesty regarding ‘legacy projects’ so I wish him and them well.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog