Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) shares advanced on Thursday as the Wressle discovery moved closer to commerciality.
New test results from the Wressle well, in east Lincolnshire, yielded flow rates of up to 182 barrels of oil per day.
Chief executive Hugh Mackay says the company’s 33% owned discovery has the potential to transform production and revenue profiles.
The project is operated by Egdon (LON:EDR) and Union Jack Oil (LON:UJO) is also a partner – they have 25% and 8.3% respectively.
It was one of a smattering of statements from the small cap sector this week.
Another came from UK Oil & Gas Investments (LON:UKOG), which struck a deal to acquire full ownership of the Markwells Wood oil field, in the Weald basin, onshore UK.
Markwells Wood hosts an oil discovery in the Great Oolite formation, which has previously flowed at around 100 barrels per day.
UKOG already owned 60% of the project and it has now agreed the acquisition of the other 40% from Magellan Petroleum for a nominal £1 fee.
The company was also in focus in brokerland this week, as well tests at the Horse Hill discovery will be the key catalyst for UK Oil & Gas Investments (LON:UKOG) in 2015, says broker WH Ireland.
The programme will test flow rates from the discovery in the Portland reservoir, as well as the ‘blue sky’ Kimmeridge intervals.
It will be a “closely watched” programme, according to analyst Brendan D’Souza, who began his coverage of UKOG with a ‘buy’ recommendation.
Trinity Oil & Gas (LON:TRIN) is aiming for a number of strategic milestones in the current quarter, while its producing operations weather the impacts of lower oil prices.
The Trinidad-focused oil company today revealed production had averaged 3,603 barrels oil equivalent per day (boepd) for the whole of 2014, after a rate of 3,470 boepd was recorded for the fourth quarter.
For 2015, Trinity forecasts group production in the range of 3,000 to 3,400 boepd.
In light of the current oil price volatility the company is currently working to reduce costs, and since the end of the fourth quarter some 21% of operating expenses (opex) have been removed; opex is now US$25.7 per barrel, down from US$32.4 in the month of December.
Cluff Natural Resources (LON:CLNR) also featured heavily this week after it revealed a possible tie up with Halliburton - one of the world’s largest energy services companies.
Halliburton and CLNR will collaborate on the development of underground coal gasification (UCG) projects in the United Kingdom, under a memorandum of understanding between the companies.
The initial agreement will remain in place for one year, and in the meantime it is intended that a separate joint collaboration deal will be formulated.
CLNR’s main focus has been on the Kincardine project, estimated to contain the equivalent of f 1.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas-in-place, which is located in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, and is set to be the UK’s first deep offshore UCG project.
The group also said this week it had found a potentially large source of coking coal on its licences near the Solway Firth, Cumbria.
Confirmed is an exploration target of between 384 mln and 640 mln tonnes based on seven coal seams potentially suitable for conventional mining.
Underground gas (UCG) potential is likely to be further offshore, Cluff said, but it is considering amending its licence to incorporate the conventional coking coal potential.
Toronto-listed Primeline Energy’s (CVE:PEH) value has risen by 25% in the past month as investors have latched onto the cash flow potential of its Chinese gas production growth story.
Primeline’s position is underpinned by premium pricing and its partnership on the LS36-1 gas venture with China’s state oil company China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), chief finance officer (CFO) Stuart Joyner told Proactive Investors.
CNOOC, which operates and owns 51% of LS36-1, officially began commercial scale gas production from the field in the East China Sea at the start of December.
Circle Oil (LON:COP) is well placed to exploit a number of growth opportunities, according to broker Peel Hunt.
Analyst Werner Riding, who rates the company as a ‘buy’, says he has increased confidence that the AIM-quoted oil share is trading at discount to its core asset value.
He adds that Circle has in recent operational updates shown that it is benefiting from a stable base of oil and gas production in Egypt, and, importantly, that it intends to maintain output at the same level throughout 2015.