WTI (Nov) $73.83 -$1.73, Brent (Dec) $77.46 -$1.58, Diff -$3.63 +15c
USNG (Nov) $2.50 -13c, UKNG 97.5p -0.95p, TTF (Nov) €39.5 -€0.55

Oil price

After a day in which Chinese stories abounded and then Opec cooled on demand numbers, to be followed by the IEA, all that was needed was a good old fashioned rumour. That was provided by the Washington Post who wrote that in a deal with Washington, Netanyahu has agreed not to target Iranian oil or nuclear installations. Down four dollars later and the market happy with the new US  sanctions on Iran, status quo appears to be around 70 and 74 bucks for WTI and Brent respectively. 

Deltic Energy

Deltic Energy announces that Graham Swindells, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, has informed the board of his intention to step down as CEO, effectively immediately, and that he will be succeeded by Andrew Nunn, the Company’s current Chief Operating Officer.

Andrew joined Deltic in 2014 and has been COO since 2015. Andrew is a geologist with over 25 years of experience working on exploration projects across Europe, Africa and Australasia. In his role as COO of Deltic, Andrew has led the successful development of the Company’s exploration portfolio and has been instrumental in securing licences and multiple farm outs to world-class partners. Andrew was also key to the origination and maturation of the Pensacola discovery and the Selene prospect, where drilling operations are ongoing.

Mark Lappin, Chairman of the Company, said:
“Graham will leave with the profound thanks of the board for his commitment and contribution to Deltic over the last 11 years, initially as CFO and more recently as CEO. Under Graham’s leadership, Deltic was transformed into a company with an attractive portfolio of licences along with world-class partners, positioning it at the forefront of UK exploration. I am delighted to confirm Andrew’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer. The combination of his experience, knowledge and commercial acumen makes him the ideal person to take the business forward.”

Commenting, Graham Swindells said:
“Despite the recent challenges presented by the UK’s political and fiscal environment, I am proud of what we have achieved in establishing Deltic as one of the UK’s leading explorers. As the team seeks to extract the maximum value from the existing UK asset base and rebuild a portfolio focussed outside of the UK, now is the appropriate time for me to hand over the role of CEO to Andrew who I have had the pleasure of working alongside for the last 10 years and believe is an outstanding successor.”

Andrew Nunn comments:
“Graham has led Deltic through some of the toughest and most volatile times I’ve ever experienced in this industry. Our small team has delivered what would have been, at any other time in the industry’s history, a company-making success with the Pensacola discovery. Deltic has the potential for a second major discovery at Selene where drilling operations are ongoing. Our progress to date has been carefully watched and recognised by our industry peers. We anticipate shortly announcing a series of measures to reduce the Company’s overheads. It will then be our job to capitalise on that hard-earned reputation and credibility as we look further afield to find value for shareholders. The initial focus will be on identifying and accessing those opportunities which deliver immediate, or very near term, cash flow while we incubate those high-impact exploration opportunities that will always be part of Deltic’s DNA.”

As Andrew Nunn starts his term as CEO of Deltic I can think of few people better qualified to take over from Graham Swindells in leading the company. As a team they have worked together for a long time and have acted hand in glove in developing the portfolio as it exists today.

And he is correct to say that Graham led the company through some of the toughest and most volatile times in recent energy history, indeed the history yet to be made, come October 30th, when the Labour Government introduces an actively anti energy budget. It is this higher taxation, albeit started by previous administrations, that did for Pensacola as the M&A market shut down and forced involuntary withdrawal from the licence. The very fact that the management team from all these years remains almost the same is tribute in itself. 

But you play the cards that you get dealt and if you looked at Deltic as it is today you would be pretty impressed with its portfolio and how good an asset Selene is within that. So the fact that the Selene well is drilling at the moment and presents a great opportunity to reward Deltic shareholders, is credit to the team and today’s change should prove a seamless transfer. 

As with every incoming new CEO, there will be changes and Andrew Nunn has indicated that there will be some reduction in overheads and also as the company moves forwards in this new Fiscally unpleasant land some exposure in foreign lands might be the obvious choice.

But for the time being Deltic looks like an extraordinarily good value play, the lesser without Pensacola of course but as drilling continues we can say that it is business as usual for Deltic and wish Graham Swindells all the very best safe in the knowledge that Andrew Nunn has his hands firmly on the wheel. 

SDX Energy

As announced on 4 September 2024, the Company and Aleph Finance Ltd (the “Lender”) signed a new agreement (the “New Facility Agreement”) that would refinance the Company’s syndicated unsecured convertible loan agreement with the Lender for up to US$3.25 million (the “Existing Convertible Loan”) and, as announced on 26 September 2024, the Company and the Lender agreed to amend the terms of the New Facility Agreement (the “Amended Facility Agreement”).

The Existing Convertible Loan is unsecured, convertible at any time at the option of the individual lenders and repayable on 24 July 2024, but the Company requested and the Lender consented and agreed to repayment now being delayed until 28 October 2024. The amount payable is US$3.82 million (principal US$3.25 million and interest US$0.57 million).

The Lender has confirmed that it has been funded by its sub-participants and, on or before 28 October 2024, will deliver a funding statement covering approximately US$4.5 million, which will be used to repay the Existing Convertible Loan. The remaining balance under the Amended Facility Agreement of approximately US$2.0 million will be available to the Company when the Lender confirms that this amount has been funded by its sub-participants and delivers a further funding statement covering this additional amount. The Company intends to draw this amount when it becomes available and to apply the proceeds towards capital expenditure in Morocco and general corporate creditors. The Loan will be available for drawdown within six months of the satisfaction or waiver of the conditions precedent under the Amended Facility Agreement.

On 14 October 2024, the Company held a General Meeting and shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the resolutions authorising the directors to issue shares if the Lender exercises the right to convert the outstanding Loan, including any accrued interest, in full or in part, into ordinary shares in the capital of the Company.

SDX are slowly getting the equity and debt restructured and are on schedule for repayment on or before the 28th October 2024. It was noticeable that the equity holders voted in favour of more shares, sounds interesting.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog