WTI $71.97 -64c, Brent $75.34 -33c, Diff -$3.37 +31c, NG $5.11 n/c, UKNG 165.5p +7.5p 

Oil price
Oil had a good week, WTI was up $.25, Brent $2.42 based primarily on the agencies reporting  a tightening up  of their supply/demand numbers as we head towards the 4th quarter. International markets were already collapsing but today is much worse, led by what eastern markets that were open and in particular one stock by the name of Evergrande which is a huge property company led by one of Asia’s richest men. This company was subject to rumours of not being able to pay a regular debt payment which started the ball rolling and the knock on effects were bad for financial markets. As I write Wall Street is down 700 and oil minus $1.50 odd.

The FOMC meets later in the week and there are domestic issues with regard to tapering, taxation and quite possibly US bank exposure to Evergrande…

The rig count on Friday reported a rise of 9 units overall to 512 and oil rigs were up10 to 411.

San Leon Energy

San Leon has provided an update regarding the outstanding loan notes due from Midwestern Leon Petroleum Limited. The announcement points to a further extension of the Conditional Payment Waiver until the end of September 2021.

IGas Energy

IGas through subsidiary GT Energy has signed an MoU with SSE for the development of a geothermal district heating project in the City of Stoke-on-Trent. SSE will develop and deliver a district heating network in Stoke-on-Trent working with GTE and Stoke-on-Trent City Council. The MoU grants exclusivity to each of SSE and GTE with regard to the Project for a period of 12 months with certain milestones including executing a heat offtake agreement in relation to GTE’s future geothermal plant.

Giles Newton, Head of Business Development for SSE Energy Solutions, said:
“We are delighted to announce our partnership with GT Energy which will help us to fully explore the feasibility of providing heat offtake from their future geothermal project in the Stoke area. We have proven expertise in the sector, with our 19 existing UK heat network sites, and we believe that geothermally sourced energy will play a vital role in decarbonising heat, as well as having the potential to tackle ‘hard to decarbonise’ process heat. We look forward to developing the Stoke City project with GT Energy over the next 12 months”.

Stephen Bowler, IGas CEO, added:
“We are delighted to be working with SSE as we seek to deliver this flagship renewable project for the city of Stoke-on-Trent. SSE is leading the way in developing the low-carbon assets and infrastructure required for the UK to reach its target of net zero emissions by 2050.

We are also working closely with other energy providers on a number of district heat networks in other cities.

Both the BGS report and the ARUP report, published in May this year, support the need for deep geothermal in the Government’s energy policy for the next 30 years, but with real and tangible benefits in the immediate future.  Deep geothermal has the potential to become a world leading industry here in the UK, provide a stable transition away from oil and gas, and help meet the Government’s net zero ambitions by decarbonising heat on a mass scale. It would also create 1,000s of new jobs and generate tens of millions of pounds in new investment.”

Today’s news follows on from last week when, in my absence, it announced that it had agreed a Heads of Terms  with CeraPhi Energy, a specialist in repurposing oil and gas assets for geothermal energy. IGas and CeraPhi will jointly develop geothermal energy projects utilising specific wells in IGas’s asset portfolio.

The first project will be sited in the Lincoln area on one of IGas’s existing sites. The development will capitalise on IGas’s deep local knowledge, surface infrastructure and existing wells and CeraPhi’s patented technology, CeraPhiWell, a closed loop downhole heat exchanger.  At that time IGas CEO Stephen Bowler said that ‘CeraPhi is another important step in IGas’s drive to diversify its operations, adding to the ongoing work on hydrogen production and carbon storage and bolstering our established geothermal offering’.

IGas is doing some interesting stuff in this field and I’m sure that with upcoming results we will hear much more on this news. However, it is worth noting that given the current gas price it’s a no brainer to bring on geothermal as soon as possible to decarbonise large scale heat – big businesses, hospitals, universities etc.

What is more, the company are wisely starting slowly and are only asking for 55/ MWh per year per project, for the first 30 projects.  Low operational cost and long lifecycle of  geothermal plants represents high value  investment and is looking very cheap compared to gas right now.

This news has been taken well by the market and the shares are in new, positive territory and it should be a key play in what could be meaningful hydrogen and geothermal markets going forward.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog