WTI (Feb) $58.32 +$1.00, Brent (Mar) $61.76 +$1.01, Diff -$3.44
USNG (Feb) $3.52 -10c, UKNG (Feb) 71.65p -2.25p, TTF (Feb) €27.895 +€0.024

Oil price

Nothing much to add to my notes on the oil price yesterday, nothing has changed but oil is up modestly this morning. Reaction to the situation in Venezuela continues but I reiterate that building the country’s dire production will be slow and expensive, nothing will be easy but the economy is oil dependent so there should a willing to make it work. 

Prospex Energy

Prospex has announced that Mark Routh has advised the Board of his retirement as CEO and a director of the Company.  Tom Reynolds will be appointed as Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company with effect from no later than 1 February 2026, in order to provide time to wind up his pre-existing commitments, and Mark’s retirement will take effect from such date.

Mr. Reynolds is a well-qualified leader with extensive and successful experience in senior executive roles in listed companies in the energy sector, including CEO of Scirocco Energy,  and CEO of Bridge Energy.  He is currently a non-executive director of Zephyr Energy, a role in which he will continue.  Tom has also had considerable executive experience in a wide range of privately held companies involved in energy, energy investment and finance. He holds a B. Eng. Chemical & Process Engineering with First Class Honours.

Mark will assist in developing Tom’s knowledge of the Company’s investments and partners to ensure a smooth and orderly transition starting immediately, and likely to be for a period of no more than three months. 

The Board is very grateful to Mark for his considerable achievements in building an attractive and geographically diverse portfolio of gas assets in Europe for Prospex, and for his assistance in the transition. 

Tom Reynolds will receive an appropriate remuneration package for the role and reflecting the experience and qualities he brings to the Company, with a meaningful proportion in equity, subject to signature of a definitive contract of employment. This includes a signing bonus of £50,000, which is expected to be settled through the issue of Convertible Loan Notes currently being offered by the Company (see further below).  Of the £250,000 annual salary, c. £50,000 will be satisfied in equity in the Company, paid on a monthly basis based on a prevailing VWAP. In addition, he will be awarded nil-cost options over c. 3.5% of the Company’s share capital which will be exercisable on a liquidity event for the Company accepted or approved by the shareholders. 

Further information regarding the appointment of Tom Reynolds in accordance with paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the AIM Rules for Companies (the “AIM Rules”) is set out in the appendix of this announcement.

Convertible Loan Note Issuance – remains open for subscriptions

The Board confirms that the previously announced up to £1.6 million convertible loan note offering remains open for subscription.  Interested investors who are qualified to invest should contact the Company’s brokers VSA Capital or Hannam & Partners by email:

The Loan Note Investor Presentation and Term Sheet can be downloaded from the Company’s website at https://prospex.energy/investors/corporate-documents. Further information can also be found in the Company’s 19 December 2025 RNS.

William Smith, Non-Executive Chair of Prospex, commented:
“We are very pleased to welcome Tom Reynolds to the Company. He has the experience to continue to grow the asset base and increase shareholder value. I am confident in his ability to deliver results. I would also like to thank Mark for his significant contribution in getting the Company to its current stage and wish him the best for the future.” 

Tom Reynolds, CEO designate, said:
“I am delighted to join the highly capable Prospex team and board. Prospex has an attractive asset base within the European energy market where each asset has a path to significantly increase reserves and production, offering a clear route to value growth. I look forward to engaging with Prospex partners and stakeholders over the coming months and building on the existing solid foundation, delivering a clear path to value for shareholders.”

Prospex shareholders will be delighted at this news this morning as the highly experienced and well respected Tom Reynolds has been appointed as CEO designate. With a month to get up to speed he will surely find a lot to like about the Prospex portfolio. 

Getting to know the train set will be fairly straightforward and with his experience he will be well suited and prepared for the challenge. He is also very aware of the pitfalls of life on Aim and its sometimes quirky ability to obfuscate companies quoted there.

Interestingly one of the former negatives for those involved in European domestic transition hydrocarbon development has over the last year or so turned into a very decent positive, unlike over here where politicians are head in the sand, elsewhere attitudes are much more positive. 

The desire to use indigenous production to secure, particularly onshore production, has already started to pay off for companies like Prospex and although they have had some operational pitfalls, the desire to keep the lights on from regulators and legislators alike has already proved beneficial. 

Tom Reynolds starts with a decent list of shareholders whom I imagine will be highly supportive and with his history I imagine that a few others may be tempted to come along for the ride. I can see Tom creating a story that will appeal and in my conversation with him this morning he is clearly excited to get his feet under the table. 

I have been taking a much more positive view on Prospex for a while and this news significantly accelerates that view, it will take a bit of breaking eggs as is often the case when a new CEO joins, but the process should be beneficial and for those not cognisant with the company I think it will be well worth a gander.

Don’t rule out changes, the portfolio could do with some broadening and I’d like to see some additions in both production and maybe a bit more beta, but as a start Prospex has a good base and I really rate Tom Reynolds as the best possible agitator in the process. 

Reabold Resources

I  noted that yesterday the RBD price closed up 14% having been over 40% during the day and that recent gains show a gain of 40% m/m and still up 10% y/y.

The sharper amongst you will have noticed an announcement that came out on Reabold over Xmas, Rohan Oza declared a 3.4% interest in Reabold, see below. 

LSE:RBD – Reabold Resources – Standard form for notification of major holdings

Accordingly, whilst not specifically one for the blog at the time I decided to do a little digging to see if anything materialised and this is what I came up with….

Let me explain… Rohan Oza is a very successful businessman and investor in the US, earning the moniker, the “Brandfather”. He is famed for regularly featuring on ABC’s Shark Tank – their version of Dragon’s Den. On the show, Rohan Oza invested $400,000 in what was then known as Mother Beverage, later rebranded Poppi soda, for a 25% equity investment. On March 17, 2025, PepsiCo announced acquisition of Poppi for $1.95 billion.

Other notable investments include early bets alongside Justin Timberlake on Bai Brands , which was sold to the Dr Pepper Snapple Group for $1.7 billion. Additionally, he has backed Smartwater, Bulletproof Coffee and Health-AdeKombucha.

So, in the US, Rohan Oza has quite a following, and the interesting thing is that all of Rohan Oza’s investments made to date have been in private companies. This may be his first investment where general investors have been able to follow his money on the same terms that he has.

Where does that lead us in terms of his investment in Reabold, after all, it is not quite what he is used to? My guess is that he has seen many digital asset plays make big money for investors across the pond, and whilst that particular game may be fairly mature now, in the UK it is in its infancy. 

The RNS above seems to suggest that Rohan Oza is taking a view that Reabold’s digital asset strategy could offer upside potential and there is no doubt that the shares offer significant upside on any potential NAV calculation, giving decent protection. 

Reabold has plenty to offer, its market cap of c.£6m is handsomely backed by around £4m of cash and as we move into 2026, the West Newton development offers significant upside. In Italy the positive news from the Colle Santo small-scale LNG development was accentuated by the approval by the EIA commission and was a major milestone for a project that has major national significance in the country. 

This can only add to the attractions that Reabold offers, even without this investor the company has significant upside and without doubt worth having on the radar screen. 

It’s all here….  Rohan Oza – Wikipedia

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