WTI (Feb) $73.89 -33c, Brent (Feb) $79.39 -31c, Diff -$5.50 +2c
USNG (Jan) $2.57 +12c, UKNG (Jan) 85.75p +1.07p, TTF (Jan) €33.475 -€1.67

Oil price

So, Angola is leaving Opec which hasn’t exactly shaken the cartel, with declining production and not making its quotas will it be missed?

There is about a 40% fall in tanker traffic through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and rates are up accordingly, a 40′ container from Shanghai to the UK has gone from $2,400 to $10,000.

The rig count saw a fall of 3 units overall to 620 and the same drop of 3 to 498 in oil. And as I said yesterday volumes are low but oil is up today with Brent back over $80. And after the new year the EIA get rid of the treasured This Week in Petroleum and its gas and electricity will join it in Today in Energy.

Reabold Resources

Reabold has provided the following update on the ISS Proxy Analysis & Benchmark Policy Voting Recommendations, as it relates to the Company’s requisitioned general meeting to be held on 10 January 2024. ISS has recommended that shareholders VOTE AGAINST ALL proposed resolutions, consistent with the current Board’s recommendation. The current Board would encourage shareholders to cast their vote at their earliest convenience to ensure their votes are received before the general meeting.

ISS Proxy Analysis & Benchmark Policy Voting Recommendations concluded that:

“The Dissident’s allegations lack any detail and were disclosed very close to the date of the General Meeting. On the other hand, the response of the Board appears to address in detail the concerns raised by the Dissident. Overall, the Dissident has not made a sufficiently convincing case for the board changes. Consequently, none of the proposed shareholder resolutions warrant support.”

This is an important piece of backing from ISS as the holiday period sees the important voting ahead of the GM to remove the board. I expect more to come as is normally the case in these battles and as always the blog will be out next week if necessary.

Dial Square

Dial Square Investments plc (to be renamed EnergyPathways plc) (“EnergyPathways” or the “Company”), a UK focused integrated energy transition company, is pleased to announce that, in conjunction and simultaneously with completion of the acquisition of the entire issued share capital and other securities of EnergyPathways Ltd by the Company, at 8:00 a.m. today, its ordinary shares will commence trading on AIM under the ticker EPP, with ISIN GB00BM9M0884 and SEDOL BM9M088. As part of the process of admission to trading on AIM (“Admission”), the Company has raised gross proceeds of £2m through the issue of 50,000,000 new ordinary shares of £0.01 each at an issue price of 4 pence per share, equating to a market capitalisation of approximately £6.32million on Admission.

Immediately following Admission, in accordance with the Company’s Articles, the Directors intend to pass a resolution to change the name of the Company from Dial Square Investments plc to EnergyPathways plc. A separate announcement will be made once the name change has become effective.

OVERVIEW

The Directors consider EnergyPathways’ key strengths to include:

‘Ready to go’ gas development with near-term supply
The Company’s Marram Gas Project is a fully appraised gas field in the UK Irish Sea containing up to 35.3 Bcf of undeveloped gas 2P Reserves and 11 Bcf of 2C Contingent Resources in high-quality reservoirs. The Marram Gas Project has potential to be developed as a short cycle project with first production potentially as early as 2025.

Low-cost development and access to infrastructure
The Marram Gas Project is a shallow water, subsea tieback development opportunity in close proximity to existing gas and electricity infrastructure (circa 15-25km) that has available capacity. The development is expected to comprise two shallow short lateral production wells;

Low emission energy solution
The Marram Gas Project will produce low emission intensity gas. New UK domestically produced gas will be able to displace higher emission intensity LNG imports thereby reducing the UK’s carbon footprint. The Marram Gas Project has the potential to be integrated with regional low emission energy projects, including offshore wind generation, hydrogen hub developments and nearby CCUS projects. The UK’s leading hydrogen hub, HyNet, centred on the Liverpool-Manchester corridor, will use the nearby depleted Liverpool Bay gas fields to store carbon emissions from industry and blue hydrogen production. Spirit Energy and Centrica also hope to develop a CCUS and blue hydrogen project centred on Barrow;

Potential for reserves growth
EnergyPathways’ internal estimates suggest that there may be up to 2 Tcf unrisked gas resource in the UK Irish Sea region, which has the potential to be developed in relatively short time frames and provide the UK with increased energy security. EnergyPathways is actively exploring opportunities to expand its resource base and has a number of licence requests under consideration with the Government regulator;

Low technical risk
The UK Irish Sea is a proven hydrocarbon basin. The Marram Gas Project has been fully appraised with two prior well penetrations into it and is also covered by reprocessed 2D seismic data. This data set provides good subsurface definition and a relatively narrow recoverable resource range estimate;

Gas price outlook
Gas accounts for 43 per cent. of UK primary energy needs. By 2030 imports are expected to account for 80% per cent. of the UK’s gas demand. The UK’s dependency on gas imports is expected to increase and will influence future UK gas prices;

Possibility of extension of production life
There is available capacity in nearby gas infrastructure to transport gas produced from the Marram Gas Project. Capacity is estimated to be available until the end of the decade and this could potentially be extended further, depending on the production from existing and new fields in the region, as well as a number of factors including gas price, and operating cost considerations; and

Potential for energy transition opportunity
The UK Irish Sea offers potential for energy transition developments including long duration energy storage, hydrogen production and flexible power generation. Realisation of this potential would help reduce the UK’s carbon footprint and support the UK’s pathway to Net Zero. EnergyPathways aims to benefit from its early mover advantage in the UK Irish Sea region.  EnergyPathways has submitted licence requests for blocks containing the Knox, Lowry and Castletown undeveloped gas fields, all of which all have short cycle development potential.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

EnergyPathways has a strong management team with an established track record for value creation, operational excellence and a commitment to a progressive ESG agenda that prioritises environmental impact alongside the positive socioeconomic impact of its activities.

Ben Clube, CEO of EnergyPathways, commented: 
“We are delighted to have completed this reverse takeover process and begin EnergyPathways’ journey as an AIM quoted company.  We believe our company has a compelling investment proposition based on the fundamental market drivers for domestic gas supply to support the UK’s objectives around energy security and energy transition to net zero.  Our operated Marram Gas Project is a low-risk development with very attractive economics, and our focus through next year will be to progress that project to FID. In parallel we will seek to leverage our early mover advantage in our region of focus to build a balanced portfolio of discovered gas resources in the UK Irish Sea, an area in which we see significant opportunities for low emission gas development as well as gas storage.

“I’d like to thank our shareholders, both new and existing, for their support in the fundraising process and we look forward to repaying their faith as we deliver our strategic objectives and generate long-term value in the process. EnergyPathways has an exciting year ahead and we look forward to communicating our progress to our stakeholders and the wider market.”

I have copied yesterday’s announcement from Dial Square/EnergyPathways in its entirety without any comment as I have yet to meet the company and plan to do so after Christmas. After that if I decide to follow the company I will add comments.

NOTICE OF INVESTOR EVENT

Investor Presentation via Investor Meet Company: 9:30am Tuesday 16 January

EnergyPathways is pleased to announce that Ben Clube (Managing Director) and Mark Steeves (Chairman) will provide a live presentation relating to the Investor Presentation via Investor Meet Company on 16 January 2024 at 9:30am GMT.

The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted pre-event via your Investor Meet Company dashboard up until 9am the day before the meeting or at any time during the live presentation.

Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet EnergyPathways via:
https://www.investormeetcompany.com/energypathways-plc/register-investor

Investors who already follow EnergyPathways on the Investor Meet Company platform will automatically be invited.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog