A flash blog this morning, the first for a while and regulars will know that means either a one-off announcement or that I am on the move into town. Today it’s the latter as with lockdown ending I have my first day in the big city…

Jersey Oil & Gas 

JOG has announced the appointment of Les Thomas as an independent NED. This is an exceptional choice by JOG as Les is a well known and highly respected oil industry man, specifically in the North Sea, with a massive reputation from time at Wood Group and perhaps more importantly at Ithaca Energy.

I have always personally found Les to be enormously helpful and extremely knowledgeable and I’m sure that he will be a huge help to JOG as they move ahead with the development of the GBA in coming months. This has without doubt strengthened JOG’s already highly experienced board and shareholders should be very happy.

Marcus Stanton, Chairman of Jersey Oil & Gas, commented:
“We are very pleased to welcome Les to the Company as an Independent Non-Executive Director.  Throughout his career to date, he has helped oil companies to develop projects successfully, deploying subsurface, commercial and project management expertise.  Most recently, he led Ithaca Energy through a significant growth phase, including the acquisition of Chevron’s UK North Sea portfolio.  His wealth of experience in the UK North Sea leading upstream and services businesses will be of significant value to JOG as we progress our Greater Buchan Area development project and take the Company through its next phase of growth.  We look forward to working closely with Les and benefitting from his highly relevant North Sea industry experience.”

Coro Energy

Coro issue an operational update this morning following the recent acquisition of the Global Energy Partnership. As far as I’m aware the company has had no meetings with regard the acquisition so I’m quoting directly from today’s RNS.

The structuring of local Philippines project holding company commenced with work to progress the flagship 100MW wind and 100MW solar projects in the Visayas region of the Philippines initiated, including discussions on the Energy Service Contracts, local landlord engagement, Environmental Impact Assessment, Grid Impact Assessment and the negotiation of Power Purchase Agreements.

The initiation of a comprehensive data gathering campaign at the 100MW onshore Philippine wind project is underway with a view to positioning the Company to have both projects construction ready by mid-2022 and, subject to availability of project financing, maiden revenues achieved some 12 months later.

Elsewhere, the Operator of the Duyung PSC, Conrad Petroleum, to submit updated Plan of Development (“POD”) for the Duyung gas project in due course and still remains a significant asset, (see my upcoming interview with Empyrean Energy).

The Company has made ‘considerable progress in recent weeks in establishing its operating infrastructure in the Philippines, with the structuring of a local holding company underway through which the Group’s current and future Philippine interests will be developed, contracted and managed’.

A twelve-month data gathering campaign for the 100MW wind project is in the final planning stages and is expected to commence mid-June. This campaign will use a traditional calibrated wind mast and high-tech Lidar and is an important step in establishing the optimal design for the wind farm as well as providing further confirmation of the project’s viability. The Company confirms that it is already in possession of all data required for the 100MW solar project.

Commenting, Mark Hood, Chief Executive of Coro Energy, said:
“This is an exciting time for Coro Energy as it looks to build on its recent acquisition and the resulting opportunities in SE Asia’s rapidly growing renewable energy sector. Coro Energy is proud to be supporting the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy in SE Asia and we have a large number of important commercial and operational milestones approaching over the next 6-12 months.  I am confident that we will rapidly develop our platform of operated assets, with a view to creating a variety of revenue streams that will add material value to the business.  We also look forward to commercial progress at Duyung.”

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