Oil prices have climbed to their highest levels since October following reports from Reuters about new US sanctions targeting Russian crude. Brent crude surged by up to 5% today, exceeding $80 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose by as much as 5.3%, approaching $78 per barrel.
As of January 9, 2025, UK storage sites’ inventory was 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full,” Centrica said. This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.”
The UK government has stated that it actively monitors energy levels and possesses “all tools” necessary to secure the nation’s energy supply. In the event of increased demand, the UK has the option to purchase additional supplies from Continental Europe.
On Friday, Tower Resources PLC (TRP) saw its shares surge by roughly 45.00% to 0.054p after announcing a highly anticipated farm-out deal with Prime International for non-operated interests in Cameroon and Namibia. Tower Resources is expected to drill the NJOM-3 appraisal well in the second half, which could confirm the commerciality of the prospect. SP Angel has updated its share price target to 0.16p/share.
Enteq Technologies (NTQ) a developer of downhole oil and gas technology, reported that testing of its SABER rotary tool has revealed a need for further engineering modifications. Consequently, delays in starting active test drilling with an Australian customer have created uncertainty around the revenue timeline, with drilling now potentially beginning in April. These setbacks, along with additional costs, mean that available cash will not endure as long as previously anticipated, prompting Cavendish to retract its forecasts. Enteq was previously expected to become profitable in 2026-27, and the share price subsequently plunged 72.6% to 0.85p.
Pulsar Helium Inc. (PLSR) has successfully concluded the initial tranche of its brokered private placement, previously announced on December 30, 2024. The company issued 5,263,160 shares at a price of US$0.38 each, raising gross proceeds of US$2 million. The placement attracted participation from high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors in the United States, including University Bancorp, Inc.
Georgina Energy Plc (GEX), provides an operational update on EP513 Hussar and EPA155 Mt Winter. As announced in December 2024, the Company was required to submit an Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) and heritage report as part of the final application for the drilling permit.
Due to the expansion of the structural closure to approximately 350 km² – an increase of 50 km² – the Company and its consultants are now required to submit a revised EIR to the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety of Western Australia (“DEMIRS”) due to reflect the additional development opportunities within the field and enhanced scope of future field development.
UK came “within a whisker of blackouts” on Wednesday
Britain narrowly avoided blackouts on Wednesday as plummeting temperatures and reduced wind power generation forced grid operators to work overtime to maintain electricity supply. According to data from the Amira platform, the national grid’s surplus electricity capacity had dwindled to just 580 megawatts (MW) at 5:30 PM on Wednesday.
This critically low level meant that even an outage at a “relatively small” power plant could have triggered widespread blackouts, one expert warned.
Zephyr Energy plc (ZPHR) confirmed that, further to its announcement on 23 December 2024, the Nabors Drilling USA B29 rig (the “rig”) is now being mobilised to site where it will drill an extended lateral on the State 36-2 LNW-CC-R well (the “well”). The rigging up process is expected to be completed shortly, with drilling operations expected to commence in mid-January 2025. In order to expedite drilling operations, preparatory work on the well, which included the removal of production tubing from the existing wellbore, has already been completed utilising a cost-effective workover rig.
The extended lateral will be drilled horizontally from near the base of the existing wellbore and is expected to target an additional 5,500 feet of the Cane Creek reservoir. Drilling, once the well has spudded, is expected to take circa 30 days.
Mendell Helium plc (MDH) previously Voyager Life plc, is undergoing a transformation as it shifts focus from wellness products to becoming a prominent helium producer. Listed on the Aquis Stock Exchange under the ticker MDH, the company’s strategic pivot is centred on a game-changing opportunity in the North American helium market, with interests in high-grade helium wells in Kansas.
Mendell Helium’s journey toward acquiring M3 Helium Corp. continues to progress, demonstrating the company’s commitment to becoming a significant player in helium production. Initially announced in June 2024, the option agreement to acquire M3 Helium has now been extended to January 31, 2025, providing crucial time to finalize the transaction and strengthen operations. M3 Helium operates six wells in southwestern Kansas, with three—Peyton, Smith, and Nilson—already in production and generating revenue. A fourth well, Rost, located in Fort Dodge and boasting a helium concentration of 5.1%, is expected to begin production shortly.
Malcy’s Blog – Oil price, Union Jack Oil, Challenger Energy Group & Serica Energy
Global Petroleum Limited (GBP) announces a successful capital raise of £1,500,000 to advance Juno Project, on-going PEL 94 Farm Out discussions, licence upkeep and general working capital. Global is fully capitalised to meet all the work programme commitments for Juno Project including drilling which we expect in H2 this year. Global is excited at the progression of Juno Project where we are targeting Intrusion Related Gold Systems (IRGS) similar to Havieron and Telfer. The aeromagnetic data in late 2024 was of very high quality and confirmed the strong intensity and large size of the magnetic feature at Juno
Union Jack Oil plc (UJO) a USA and UK focused onshore hydrocarbon production, development, exploration and investment company is pleased to announce that it has been informed by the Operator, Reach Oil and Gas Company Inc (“Reach”) that the Moccasin 1-13 well (“Moccasin”), located in Seminole County, Oklahoma, USA has been spudded. Union Jack holds a 45% working interest in this well.
A completion programme update on the Taylor 1-16 (“Taylor”) well is also provided, in which Union Jack holds a 45% working interest. Reach assesses a high chance of finding movable hydrocarbons in the Base Pennsylvanian Sands and an approximate 50% chance of success in other target zones.
Pulsar Helium Inc. (PLSR) announces that drilling for the deepening of the Jetstream #1 appraisal well commenced at 6:00PM (central time) on January 2nd, 2025, at its flagship Topaz Project in Minnesota (“Topaz” or the “Project”). As part of this crucial phase, Pulsar plans to deepen the Jetstream #1 appraisal well by a minimum of 1,640 feet (500 metres), to a total depth of no less than 3,840 feet (1,170 metres) which is anticipated to be completed later this week. Upon completion, a series of downhole tools will be used to gather data on the well characteristics.
Arrow Exploration Corp. (AXL), the high-growth operator with a portfolio of assets across key Colombian hydrocarbon basins, is pleased to provide an update on the operational activity at the Alberta Llanos field on the Tapir Block in the Llanos Basin of Colombia where Arrow holds a 50 percent beneficial interest.
On December 24, Arrow put the AB-1 well on production in the Ubaque formation which has approximately 62 feet of net oil pay. The pay zone is a clean sandstone exhibiting an average porosity of 25% with high resistivities. An electric submersible pump (ESP) was inserted in the well after perforating.
The well was put on production to allow the well to clean-up and conduct proper water cut evaluation. Currently, the well is operating at a pump frequency of 33 Hz and a choke aperture of 34/128.
The AB-2 well was spud on December 25, 2024 and reached target depth of 10,795 MD feet on January 1, 2025. Logs and potential productive sands are being evaluated. AB-3 will be drilled immediately upon completion of the AB-2 well.
