WTI $55.96 +79c, Brent $60.92 +43c, Diff -$4.96 -36c, NG $2.33 +5c

Oil price

It looked like the rally was going to be better than it was yesterday, when I signed off the blog I noted a gain of ‘over a dollar’ as the markets assessed tariffs and the Opec+ meeting. Indeed the Saudi mantra for ‘deeper cuts’ looked like it might carry the day until further spanners were thrown into the international trade situation. This morning gains are around 30 cents per barrel.

Coro/Zenith

Coro has announced the disposal of its Italian portfolio to Zenith for £3.9m of which £0.4m is payable on completion, these assets, as Coro has previously announced, are non-core as they are committed to the SE Asia growth strategy. Subject to the Italian portfolio achieving daily production of 100,000 scm over four successive months deferred consideration of £3.5m through the issue of Zenith shares at a 40% premium to the share price at the time.

For Zenith this is a material addition to their existing Italian operations ‘significantly enhancing’ them and with a material increase in revenue generation and natural gas production making it one of the leading natural gas producers in Italy. The deal also broadens the portfolio with a concomitant reduction in beta

Coro has also announced today that the Bulu acquisition agreement, has been delayed whilst waiting for receipt of approvals,  and accordingly the company are negotiating a further six month extension to the Long Stop date.

Range Resources/Star Phoenix Group Ltd

Range Resources has changed it name and is now called Star Phoenix Group Ltd, ticker STA and website address is  www.starphoenixgroup.com.

Angus Energy

I noticed yesterday that Angus announced that the OGA had  given its consent to the assignment of a 51% share in Saltfleetby Energy Limited’s interest in the Saltfleetby Field to Angus Energy who will also be exploration and production operator of the block.

It seems that a lot of the key work to reconnect the field is already underway such as reconnecting to the Theddlethorpe grid entry point, and coordinating long lead items. Angus has also hired Oilfield International to produce a CPR, hopefully available in Q1 2020 and is also in discussions with an oil major for a ‘multi-year annual off-take arrangement which is expected to be between 17-19m therms based on last known and reported production rates.

This is beginning to look like a potentially very interesting deal for Angus, paid $2.5m to take on the stake it seems to me that downside is very limited but potential upside is still substantial, after all if for any reason flow is difficult or uneconomic Angus has been given the money to cover the abandonment liability. (Two of the existing 8 wells will be subject to abandonment to reduce overall liability)  The field has been built and kept in immaculate condition and if Oilfield International’s upcoming CPR suggests maybe 10-18 BCF on site then the upside is huge just by working the field over.

Angus admit in yesterday’s RNS that there are still quite ‘ a few hoops’ still to get over, not least OGA approval of the company’s FDP and planning approval for the change in setup of the site but I for one think that this one could be worth keeping an eye on.