WTI (Oct) $64.01 -59c, Brent (Nov)* $67.48 +29c, Diff-$3.47 -55c
USNG (Oct) $3.00+6c, UKNG (Oct) 76.90p -1.55p, TTF (Oct) €32.00 +€0.14
*Denotes October contract expiry

Oil price

Today is Labor Day and US and Canadian markets are shut, those that are open are showing oil to be slightly better after last weeks flat performance. There are still plenty of problems ahead such as Russia, China and India and Opec+ lurks next week so we can expect a quiet week until those chickens come home to roost.

Challenger Energy Group

Challenger has advised that the transaction for the sale of the entirety of its business and operations in Trinidad and Tobago has been completed. The Company and the purchaser have agreed to a minor variation of the payment terms (but not overall payment quantum) to allow for remaining payments to be in cash and not shares.

Eytan Uliel, CEO of Challenger Energy, said: 
“I am pleased to report that we have completed the sale of our business in Trinidad and Tobago. This allows full focus on our core assets in Uruguay, where we have a compelling opportunity to create near-term value for our shareholders”.

Good news for CEG shareholders here as the company has got rid of an asset that doesn’t fit in with current management asset policy. With such investment of time and money in its exciting offshore Uruguay projects, the Trinidad acreage was simply in excess of requirements and so CEG can focus offshore South America.

I remain convinced that CEG has huge potential and whilst the shares have taken a breather recently I am confident that my target price of 50p does not represent a stretch and that the next 18 months will be very exciting for Challenger.

Details

• The sale of 100% of the Company’s St Lucia domiciled subsidiary company, Columbus Energy (St. Lucia) Limited (“CEG Trinidad”), which in turn holds various subsidiary entities that collectively represent all of the Company’s business, assets and operations in Trinidad and Tobago, has completed effective 29 August 2025 (“Completion”).
• Completion follows receipt of requisite regulatory approvals in Trinidad and Tobago.
• The purchaser is Steeldrum Ventures Group (Trinidad) Limited (formerly Caribbean Rex Limited), an entity jointly owned by T-Rex Resources (Trinidad) Limited (51%), a wholly owned subsidiary of Predator Oil & Gas Holding Plc (“POGH”), and the West Indian Energy Group Limited (49%), a Trinidadian company active in the domestic oil industry (“WEIGL”).

Reflective of the longer than anticipated time taken to secure regulatory approvals, the Company and the purchaser have agreed to a variation of the payment terms (but not overall payment quantum, which remains $1.75m in total), to allow for all remaining payments to be in cash (and no further POGH shares) as follows:

• at the time of entering into the transaction (February 2025), the Company received an initial deposit of $0.25 million in POGH shares (4,411,641 POGH shares were issued to the Company);
• as at Completion, the Company has been paid a further $0.5 million in cash; and
• the Company will be paid a further $1 million in deferred consideration, all in cash – $0.5 million on 31 Augusts 2026, $0.25 million on 31 December 2026, and $0.25 million on 31 December 2027.

Effective from completion WEIGL has assume all liabilities, provisions and potential exposures of the business, assets and operations in Trinidad and Tobago (which for the purposes of the transaction were agreed to be $4.25 million), with the effect that from Completion the Company has no residual exposure to the business and operations in Trinidad and Tobago, and all associated assets, liabilities and exposures reflected in the Company’s financial statements have been eliminated. Seller’s warranties under the sale and purchase agreement remain applicable for a period of 12 months from Completion.

At year-end 2027, an additional contingent payment of potentially up to $2 million is also available, under certain conditions linked to production exceeding 750 bopd.

Predator Oil & Gas

Predator has advised that the previously announced transaction for the purchase of the entirety of Challenger Energy Group Plc’s St. Lucia-domiciled subsidiary company, Columbus Energy (St. Lucia) Limited (“CEG Trinidad”) and its business and operations in Trinidad and Tobago has been completed (“Completion”), with an effective date of 29 August 2025, following the receipt of all regulatory consents.

At Completion:

• Caribbean Rex Limited, re-named Steeldrum Ventures Group St. Lucia Limited (“SVG”), acquirers of CEG Bonasse Limited, will also be the holding company for CEG Goudron Limited, CEG Inniss-Trinity Limited and CEG Icacos Limited to facilitate potential consolidation of tax losses in the future.
• a variation of the previously announced payment terms, reflective of the longer than anticipated time taken to secure regulatory approvals, has been agreed as follows:

- as at completion, Challenger Energy Group Plc (“Challenger”) has been paid US$0.5 million in cash from uncommitted funds in the Company’s working capital forecast; and
- Challenger will be paid a further US$0.5 million in deferred consideration on 31 August 2026, US$0.25 million on 31 December 2026; and US$0.25 million on 31 December 2027.

There are no changes to the following terms of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (“SPA”):

• Seller’s Warranties under the SPA remain applicable for a period of 12 months from 29 August 2025.
• Following Completion, the West Indian Energy Group Limited (“WIEGL”) has assumed all previously represented liabilities, provisions and potential exposures of CEG Trinidad’s business, assets and operations in Trinidad and Tobago (which for the purposes of the transaction were agreed to be US$4.25 million), with the effect that the Company has no residual exposure to CEG Trinidad’s business and operations.

Forward Plans

• The Company has executed a Production and Field Services Management Agreement (“PAFSMA”) with NABI Construction (Trinidad and Tobago) Limited (“NABI”) to replicate the arrangements for the Bonasse Field to cover the Goudron, Inniss-Trinity and Icacos Fields.
• In accordance with the PAFSMA, the Company will receive 30% of gross sales receipts at the sales point after deduction of royalties and taxes (“net PAFSMA revenues”) from the existing production with no exposure to field operating costs and investment costs required to satisfy the minimum work obligations for the licences.
• NABI will initially execute up to 13 heavy well workovers (“HWO”) over the next 12 to 24 months with the objective of enhancing the current consolidated field production of 285 bopd by up to 40% (“incremental production”). NABI will also execute a drilling programme to satisfy the minimum licence obligations over the next two years.
• For the incremental production and the new drilling, on any new well, or heavy worked over well the Company will receive 15% of gross sales receipts of those respective wells at the sales point after deduction of royalties and taxes gross until recovery by NABI of HWO and drilling costs on a well-by-well basis.
• Predator’s wholly owned subsidiary T-Rex Resources (Trinidad) Ltd. (“T-Rex”) has entered into final negotiations with the rig contractor for the T38 Rig reactivation and commissioning to drill Snowcap 3 in early 2026, and any  other prospects identified by T-Rex after the completion of the Snowcap-3 appraisal and development well. T-Rex and the rig contractor expect to execute the final contract upon submission of regulatory documentation to the Ministry of Energy next month.
• The Company will complete a technical review of the portfolio of assets in SVG to identify new prospects for drilling and missed opportunities for well interventions.

Business development strategy executed

The acquisition of the Challenger Trinidad’s existing business structures, contractual arrangements, facilities, and practical operations experience creates material substance and the in-country relationships necessary to support the Company’s logistical infrastructure required to strengthen its primary business objective. This is to operate its core asset in the Cory Moruga Exploration and Production Licence through appraisal and development and the transport and sale of oil into a pipeline entry point.

With 2P/2C unrisked Contingent and Prospective oil resources of 14.31M barrels of oil, unchanged since the January 2024 Independent Technical Report, and a projected peak field production rate of 3,000 to 4,000 bopd based on the adjacent Moruga West Field production profile analogue,  developing the Cory Moruga asset continues to represent a high reward opportunity now supported by the enlarged portfolio of Trinidad assets and infrastructure.

Paul Griffiths, Chief Executive Officer of Predator, commented:
“We are pleased to have successfully completed the acquisition of three new producing assets with an immediate generation of revenues for the Company from the Completion Date.

The agreement executed with NABI relieves the Company of the burden of funding minimum work obligations and field operating costs.

The arrangement also ensures that an aggressive heavy workover and infield drilling programme will be executed over the next 24 months to address over-looked opportunities with potential to enhance oil production. It provides multiple newsflow opportunities.

The revenue-sharing agreement with NABI may be regarded as a form of royalty that guarantees positive cash flow for the Company without exposure to operational risks.

The consolidation of the Trinidad business structures within the overall Company management structure ensures that our long-held principles of minimising  administrative costs and not entering into interest-bearing loan arrangements but retaining exposure to potentially higher reward drilling opportunities are maintained.

The timing of Completion of the acquisition is particularly noteworthy given the recent reports from Trinidad of ExxonMobil entering the Trinidad offshore with a committed expenditure of US$ 42.5M and a reported speculative US$16.4 to 21.7B spend on development if initial seismic and other technical studies are successful. This will ensure that Trinidad will be a centre of attention in the oil and gas sector over the next few years.

We have focused on getting the Trinidad acquisition over the line whilst we have a short operational hiatus in Morocco. In September we will review the data for the perforated MOU-3 “A” Sand interval and prepare to plan for the next phase of operations.”

This does seem to be a rare deal in which both sides can claim victory of sorts. For Predator it beefs up the Trinidad portfolio and if it can get production up enough it will tip a meaningful bonus. Meanwhile Morocco has had a modest operational hiatus but a return there is imminent. 

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas

Eco has announced its unaudited results for the three-month period ended 30 June 2025, and the appointment of Gadi Levin as Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”).

Financial

• The Company had cash and cash equivalents of US$3.6 million and no debt as at 30 June 2025.
• The Company had total assets of US$20.4 million, total liabilities of US$1.5 million and total equity of US$19.0 million as at 30 June 2025.
• All warrants in the Company have now been cancelled or expired, with no warrants outstanding.
• The company is due to receive additional $11.5m from Block 3B/4B JV partners upon reaching certain milestones. 

South Africa

Block 1

• Further to the Company’s announcement on 5 June 2024 detailing Eco’s acquisition of a 75% interest in Block 1 Offshore South Africa Orange Basin, Eco received the Governmental Title Award and the Exploration Right and Operatorship, as announced on 4 June 2025.

Block 3B/4B

• On 13 January 2025, Eco announced the completion of the transaction with Africa Oil Corp. now Meren Energy Inc. for the sale of a 1% Participating Interest in Block 3B/4B in exchange for the cancellation of its 54,941,744 shares and 4,864,865 warrants in Eco (valued at ~C$11.3 million). All warrants have now been cancelled or expired, with no warrants outstanding.
• The company is due to receive additional $11.5m from Block 3B/4B JV partners upon reaching certain milestones. 

Namibia

• ·     The Company is witnessing considerable interest in its licenses in Namibia and is currently assessing options to progress its exploration work programs amid a potential farm-out. 

Guyana

• The Company remains engaged in an active farmout process for the Orinduik Block and is evaluating the Jethro and Joe heavy oil discoveries to determine the appropriate appraisal approach. 

CFO Appointment

Eco’s long-standing CFO Alan Rootenberg has announced his retirement, having worked with the Company since 2011. The Company would like to thank Alan for his efforts during his time at Eco and wishes him well in his retirement.

Eco is pleased to announce the appointment of Gadi Levin as CFO effective 2 September 2025. Gadi is a chartered accountant with over 20 years’ of experience in both public and private equity markets. He has been a long-standing member of Eco’s finance team, having previously held the role of Finance Director since 2016, working closely with Eco’s executive team in support of the effective financial management of the Company.

Gil Holzman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, commented: 
“Eco has continued to make progress across its portfolio and operations in the three months to 30 June 2025. During the period, the Company received the Governmental Title Award and the Exploration Right and Operatorship for Block 1, offshore South Africa, where Eco now holds a 75% interest. The Orange Basin remains one of the most exciting offshore postcodes in the world with Eco’s acreage strategically located at its heart.  In Namibia, we continue to progress the license work programs and farm out discussions.

In Guyana, we have continued to hold positive discussions with a number of prospective partners where we are working hard to realise the potential of the Orinduik block.

I am also pleased to announce the appointment of Gadi Levin as our CFO following the retirement of Alan Rootenberg. Gadi has been a key member of Eco’s finance team for many years and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him. I would also like to thank Alan for all his hard work at Eco over the years and wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.

As we look forward to the rest of 2025, Eco is in a strong position with a number of potential catalysts to create real value for the Company and its stakeholders. We look forward to being able to provide further updates as we advance our various assets, ongoing workstreams, and projects.”

These are historic figures and they are historic with a loss, as expected, and no revenue, as expected albeit with cash of $3.6m. But unlike most companies Eco has huge promise, fair enough management must be hugely busy with so much activity in the portfolio from South Africa to Namibia to Guyana and therefore really exciting developments in the making which I am convinced will create significant value.

Tower Resources

Tower has announced that the Company has agreed to expand its Bridge Loan, initially announced on 26 March 2025 and expanded on 1 July 2025, by £250,000, from £750,000 to £1,000,000, with effect from 29 August 2025. The other terms of the Bridge Loan remain unchanged.

The Bridge Loan is an unsecured fixed-price convertible loan (the “Bridge Loan”) provided by Prime Resources Limited (“PR”) with a term of up to 12 months from 25 March 2025, and convertible into ordinary shares at a fixed conversion price of 0.05588 pence per share (being a premium of 100% to the average of the 5 daily VWAPs prior to the original issue date) if not prepaid earlier. PR is a Gibraltar-registered private investment company and is not related to the Company’s prospective farm-in partner Prime Global Energies Limited.

Tower Resources Chairman & CEO, Jeremy Asher, commented:
“The purpose of the Bridge Loan has been to provide the Company with working capital flexibility in preparation for the drilling of the NJOM-3 well on the Thali license in Cameroon. We are still anticipating spudding the NJOM-3 well in Q4 2025, although this is now quite a tight schedule. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Cameroon has issued instructions for the grant of the extension of the initial exploration period of the Thali license and the approval of the farm-out to Prime Global Energies Limited, and the process is ongoing. Therefore, although we expect to receive the formal documentation of these approvals and completion of the farm-out presently, it is important that we keep the current work streams on track in the meantime, in order to minimise delays to the drilling schedule.”

I detect a very careful selection of words here but the bottom line appears to be that while the NJOM-3 well is still on for spudding in the next quarter ‘it is now quite a tight schedule’. I suspect that things work quite slowly in Cameroon and that while the news of the ‘process is ongoing’ the Bridge Loan’s purpose of providing capital flexibility will keep current work streams on track in order as they say to ‘minimise delays to the drilling schedule’.

All very sensible really…

Key Terms of the Bridge Loan

The Company has agreed a fixed-price convertible loan, now increased from £750,000 to £1,000,000, with PR, with a duration of up to 12 months from the original drawdown. The material terms of the loan comprise a 5% cash implementation fee payable on drawdown (which is immediate) and interest of 15% per annum or pro rata until repaid, accrued daily and paid on the maturity date. The loan agreement states that as long as the Company’s share price (as defined by the average of the 5 latest daily VWAPs) is below the fixed conversion price, then the Company has the right to prepay the loan with accrued interest to the date of repayment and no further fees, with 10 business-days’ notice, in which case the conversion right immediately lapses on repayment. However, if the Company’s share price is higher than the fixed conversion price, then it will be at the lender’s discretion to accept an early cash redemption.

The loan is unsecured, but Tower’s operational subsidiaries are parties to standard corporate guarantees, and the facility contains standard default provisions.

Importantly, the terms of the Bridge Loan do not include the issue of any warrants or other equity-linked instruments other than the standard fixed-price conversion right if not repaid with interest.

Sunda Energy

Sunda Energy Plc (AIM: SNDA), the AIM-quoted exploration and appraisal company focused on gas assets in Southeast Asia, is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2025.

Chief Executive’s Statement

The first half of 2025 was a period of intense activity for Sunda, as operational planning activities in Timor-Leste approached a climax. The period ended with the disappointment of a postponement of the drilling operations, with the Board’s current focus on ensuring that the new drilling timeline of H1 2026 is achieved in tandem with various initiatives to capture material new business and broaden the Company’s growth portfolio. Key highlights from the period are described below:

Timor-Leste TL-SO-19-16 PSC (“Chuditch PSC” or “PSC”) (Sunda 60% interest)

The Chuditch PSC is located approximately 185km south of Timor-Leste, 100km east of the Bayu-Undan field and 50km south of the planned Greater Sunrise development. The PSC covers approximately 3,571 km2 in water depths of 40-120 metres and contains the Chuditch-1 discovery well, which lies to the southeast of the PSC area. Chuditch-1 was drilled by Shell in 1998 in water depths of 64m and encountered a 30m gross gas column in the Jurassic Plover Formation sandstone reservoirs, at a depth of 2,910m on the flank of a large, faulted structure. The discovery and neighbouring prospects are largely covered by a 3D seismic survey acquired in 2012 and subsequently reprocessed by Sunda. This 3D seismic reprocessing demonstrated Chuditch to be a field of significant scale, interpreted to be more than 20km long and around 150m in vertical relief, with a Pmean Contingent Resource of 1.16 Tcf of gas.

The Chuditch PSC is currently in Contract Year 3, which contains a commitment to drill a well to appraise the Chuditch gas discovery. A well location was selected for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well (“Chuditch-2”), that is 5.1km from the original Chuditch-1 discovery well, in a water depth of approximately 68m. The predicted vertical column height of gas in the Jurassic reservoirs at this location is 149m, as compared with the 30m gross gas column encountered in the discovery well. 

The reporting period was dominated by operational and funding preparations for the drilling of Chuditch-2, which had been expected to commence during Q3 2025 but was ultimately delayed (as outlined below) and is now expected to be drilled during the first half of 2026.

In January 2025, the Company completed an Environmental Baseline Survey (“EBS”) in the area of the planned well. The purpose of the EBS was to gather information on the seabed sediments and fauna, as well as collect seawater samples. The results were integrated into the Environmental Impact Statement and the Environmental Management Plan for submission to the regulator, Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (“ANP”), as part of the process for securing an Environmental Permit for drilling activities.

On 24 April 2025, the Company announced that it had entered into a binding Farm-In agreement (the “Farm-In Agreement”) with its government-owned joint venture partner TIMOR GAP Chuditch Unipessoal Lda (“TIMOR GAP”), whereby the Company’s wholly owned Timor-Leste subsidiary, SundaGas Banda Unipessoal, Lda. (“SundaGas”), would assign a 30% interest to TIMOR GAP in addition to the 15% interest acquired by TIMOR GAP in the Farm-In transaction completed on 8 February 2024 and its original 25% interest (which portion is carried to first gas, the “Carry”). This assignment would have resulted in SundaGas retaining a 30% working interest in the Chuditch PSC, with TIMOR GAP holding a 70% interest. From the effective date of 1 April 2025 until the end of Contract Year 3 of the PSC, TIMOR GAP would have been responsible for paying 72% of all PSC costs, including their share of the drilling of the planned Chuditch-2 appraisal well (and their share of the Carry).

At the same time, the Company announced that it had conditionally raised up to US$9.0 million, through the issue of unsecured convertible loan notes (the “Loan Notes” or “CLNs”) to three institutional investors. Together with the TIMOR GAP Farm-In Agreement, the combined funding arrangements provided the Company with the funding required to drill Chuditch-2, commencing with the execution of a contract for the use of a jack-up rig. Following a general meeting of the Company on 10 May 2025, the first tranche of US$1.5 million (£1.135 million) of CLNs was issued on 12 May 2025 and, on 16 May 2025, holders of the Loan Notes exercised their right to convert all of the outstanding balance of their Loan Notes into Ordinary Shares of 0.025p each in the Company, resulting in the issue of 3,125,594,493 new Ordinary Shares. Further information is provided in Note 11 to these Interim Financial statements.

However, on 16 June 2025, the Company announced a postponement of the drilling of Chuditch-2, which is now expected to be drilled in H1 2026. The delay was caused by the absence at the required time of helicopter services in Timor-Leste that met the necessary operational objectives and safety standards, and the non-approval of alternative international helicopter service providers. This issue meant that the Company was not able to proceed with the execution of a definitive contract for a drilling rig, and hence the Farm-In Agreement also terminated. Termination of the Farm-In Agreement meant the working interests on the PSC remain unchanged, with SundaGas holding a 60% working interest and operatorship and TIMOR GAP having a 40% interest. SundaGas and TIMOR GAP are responsible for paying 80% and 20% of all project costs respectively.

On 17 June 2025, ANP granted a 12-month extension to the current phase (Contract Year 3) of the PSC, which now expires on 18 June 2026.

Following postponement of Chuditch-2 and continuing subsequent to the reporting period, SundaGas is in dialogue with TIMOR GAP concerning operational and funding plans for Chuditch-2. Discussions are constructive and positive, and the Company looks forward to providing further information in due course.

Revised proposals from the Timor-Leste helicopter company have been received for the support of the offshore drilling operations at Chuditch in H1 2026 and these appear broadly acceptable, which is encouraging. The Company is actively engaged with a number of rig operators with a view to contracting a rig for Chuditch-2 drilling operations. In parallel, efforts to secure an Environmental Permit continue in good order and are expected to be completed in the near future.

New Ventures

The Company continues to evaluate and pursue new business opportunities in line with its growth strategy in the Southeast Asia region.

Sunda’s applications for two blocks in the 1st Conventional Energy Bid Round of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (“BARMM”) in the Philippines remain outstanding, pending final Presidential signature. The blocks are located in the Sulu Sea adjacent to the Malaysian state of Sabah and contain several gas discoveries and multiple prospective drilling targets. The Company continues to liaise with the Philippines authorities, its joint venture operator and Philippines partners and looks forward to the final award of the blocks in the near future. We remain excited about the potential of the two application blocks and are eager to commence activities in the area. More detailed descriptions of the potential and forward plans for the blocks will be provided in due course.

As part of Sunda’s growth plans as well as the desire to expand and diversify its upstream portfolio, the Company is actively engaged in the pursuit of a number of new business initiatives. The target opportunities are potentially material and would be highly impactful to Sunda if secured. Further details will be provided if any of these new business activities are successful.

Financial Position

The net loss after finance costs and tax of £1,130,000 (30 June 2024: net loss of £910,000; year to 31 December 2024: net loss of £2,049,000), represented a loss of 0.004p per share (30 June 2024: 0.004p; year to 31 December 2024: 0.008p).

On 12 May 2025, the Company issued the Loan Notes for an aggregate value of US$1,500,000 (£1,135,000). The Loan Notes carry a finance charge of 10% of the aggregate value of the issued Loan Notes and can be converted into Ordinary Shares of 0.025p each at the option of the holder at any time prior to 22 April 2026. In the event of conversion, the Company will also grant the holders warrants amounting to the equivalent of 75% of the value of the Loan Notes to be converted, at a 30% premium to the conversion price.

On 16 May 2025, holders of the whole of the above-mentioned Loan Notes exercised their right to convert all of the outstanding balance of their Loan Notes into Ordinary Shares of 0.025p each in the Company. The conversion price was calculated at 0.03995p per share resulting in the issue of 3,125,594,493 new Ordinary Shares. In addition, the Company granted in aggregate 1,803,227,592 warrants to the holders of the Loan Notes, with each warrant entitling the holders to subscribe to one Ordinary Share at an exercise price of 0.051935p for a period of three years from grant.

Available cash (excluding monies held as security for the Bank Guarantee in Timor-Leste) as at 30 June 2025 was £976,000 (30 June 2024: £4,545,000; 31 December 2024: £3,171,000).

The Bank Guarantee issued by Banco Nacional de Comércio de Timor-Leste (“BNCTL”), a bank wholly owned by the government of Timor-Leste for the Chuditch PSC remains at US$2.5 million (net US$2.0 million), as required by the regulator, Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (“ANP”), for the work commitments in Contract Year 3 of the PSC. The use of BNCTL is part of the Company’s commitment to maximising local content inside Timor-Leste, but also indicative of its objective to broaden its business partnerships in-country.

Gerry Aherne, Sunda Chairman, commented:
“Despite some headwinds during the first half of the year, considerable progress has been made and the team continues to strive towards drilling the Chuditch appraisal well as soon as is practicable. The new business ventures being pursued are encouraging as we endeavour to grow the portfolio with additional material projects and I am hopeful that the Company will announce positive news on these initiatives soon. I look forward to significant progress on Timor-Leste and beyond during the second half of 2025.”

Far be it for me to comment on what is a long statement but it is safe to say that these figures are historic and there is a loss, as expected and no revenue, as expected. Waiting for Chuditch remains the dream and is still on the cards, but when, the Chairman is ‘hopeful’. 

Original article   l   KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog