Nigerian elections 28th March
Nigeria turns out to vote in the 2015 Presidential election on Saturday 28 March. Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan is campaigning against Muhammadu Buhari, a former Major General who ruled Nigeria from December 1983 to August 1985. It is a repeat of the 2011 election, in which Goodluck Jonathan won 59% of the vote. Current polling is difficult to come by, but media reports suggest a close race.
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Hit guidance and stocks fly - the crazy world of junior E&Ps
Last week, EnQuest delivered some solid numbers in its 2014 results presentation. They were nothing spectacular but the company reported production, revenues and EBITDA inline or marginally above previous guidance from January.
Read more...Ophir results - Acting counter-cyclically… or not?
We attended Ophir’s FY14 results presentation at 10.30am today. Surprisingly - even if Ophir was clashing with EnQuest’s results at 9am - the room was only half full… (I remember a time not too long ago when people had to stand at the back of the room!)
Read more...UK Election Budget: Impact on the UK oil & gas industry
So we had an interesting budget at last for the North Sea as Osborne finally puts back taxes to where they were pre-2011 when he massively shook up the market with increases to the supplementary charge. Reducing the supplementary charge and PRT to 20% and 35% respectively may just arrest the dramatic underlying flight we have seen from the industry in recent years.
Read more...Reserves - better not blink or they could be gone
In a week of carnage among the UK listed E&P mid-caps, one of the more puzzling big fallers is Soco International. At the time of writing the stock is down nearly 40% from the start of the week as investors get to grips with a spectacular drop in 2P reserves, from 130mmboe to 41mmboe. However, this reeks of a potential over-reaction and a lack of understanding among much of the analyst community as to what reserves actually mean. We therefore think it is worth considering in this post what companies and independents auditors actually mean by the simple words “reserves”.
Read more...Omne trium perfectum
Everything comes in threes
This week was not a good one. It has seen three major announcements by well-known London-listed oilers, resulting in week-to-date share prices falls of 20% for Cairn, 38% for Soco and 12% for Afren.