WTI (Sep) $78.28 +69c, Brent (Sep) $82.37 +66c, Diff -$4.09 -3c
USNG (Aug) $2.05 -7c, UKNG (Aug) 74.75 -0.65p, TTF (Aug) €32.38 +€0.11

Oil price

Oil has been drifty this week, despite a cracking set of inventory numbers where crude, gasoline and distillates all fell and with Beryl still affecting refinery runs which were over 2% down. At the moment its the Magnificent Seven taking down Nasdaq but they to be fair owned its huge rise. 

Touchstone Exploration

Touchstone notes the announcement made yesterday by Trinity Exploration and Production Plc. regarding a possible cash offer for Trinity, and the decision by the board of directors of Trinity  to reschedule the Court Hearing to 23 August 2024.

Capitalised terms used but not defined in this announcement have the meanings given to them in the shareholder circular relating to the Scheme published by Trinity on 24 May 2024.

The board of directors of Touchstone  notes that the Possible Offer is a “conditional, non-binding, indicative proposal” and is subject to the completion of “satisfactory confirmatory due diligence”. The Touchstone Board also expects that any firm offer announced by Lease Operators Limited would also necessarily be subject to certain regulatory approvals in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, in the same way as the Scheme.

Touchstone notes the following:

1. Conditions 2.1 and 2.2 to the Scheme (relating to the approval of Trinity Shareholders at the General Meeting and Court Meeting on 24 June 2024) and, as stated in Trinity’s announcement, all Regulatory and Antitrust Conditions, as set out in Part A of Part Three of the Scheme Document, have been satisfied.

2. But for the action taken by the Trinity Board, and subject to the Court’s sanction of the Scheme at the Court Hearing and the delivery of a copy of the Court Order to the Registrar of Companies, the Scheme would have become Effective as anticipated on 1 August 2024. 3. As highlighted by the Trinity Board, Touchstone will have the ability to invoke Condition 2.

3 (ii) of Part A of Part Three of the Scheme Document on the day prior to the Rescheduled Court Hearing if it so chooses.

A further announcement will be made by Touchstone in due course.

I’m afraid I can’t add anything to what has come to light in the last three days and nothing more to add to the points that Touchstone make above. If I knew anything about the potential bidders I may be able to understand but as I said the bid on the table seems very full and was so in order to get agreed status.

Jadestone Energy

Jadestone has announce that through the Malaysia Bid Round Plus, it has been awarded a 100% participating interest in a Small Field Asset Production Sharing Contract (the “SFA Cluster PSC”) offshore Peninsular Malaysia by Petroliam Nasional Berhad (“PETRONAS”), through Malaysia Petroleum Management.

The SFA Cluster PSC is located in shallow waters offshore Peninsular Malaysia. It is surrounded by the PM428 PSC, in which a 60% operated interest was awarded to Jadestone earlier in 2024 through the MBR 2023. The SFA Cluster PSC award was effective from 1 July 2024. Jadestone has secured a bank guarantee amounting to US$0.5 million in favour of PETRONAS to undertake the minimum work commitment in the initial phase of the PSC.

The SFA Cluster PSC includes the Penara, Puteri, Padang and North Lukut fields, assets in which Jadestone previously held a 50% non-operated interest (through the PM318 PSC and the Abu, Abu Kecil, Bubu, North Lukut and Penara PSC) following the Company’s entry into Malaysia in August 2021. The SFA Cluster PSC fields were producing at a gross rate of 5,000 boe/d in early 2022 prior to production shut-in.

Jadestone currently estimates that the SFA Cluster PSC contains c.15 mmbbls of gross 2C contingent resources. Leveraging the experience gained through the very successful 2023 infill drilling campaign on the PM323 licence, Jadestone believes there is the potential for significant upside from future infill drilling across the existing SFA Cluster fields as well as prospects and leads on the surrounding PM428 PSC. The Company intends to continue its technical assessment of the SFA Cluster prior to submission of a field development and abandonment plan to PETRONAS.

The SFA Cluster PSC is governed by the Small Field Asset (“SFA”) terms, which are specifically designed to incentivise investment into smaller accumulations of hydrocarbons in Malaysia. Further information on the SFA terms can be found here. Jadestone has uploaded a short presentation to its website at www.jadestone-energy.com summarising the SFA Cluster and PM428 opportunities.

Paul Blakeley, President and CEO commented:
“The SFA Cluster PSC award builds on the success of the 2023 PM323 infill drilling programme, enhancing the scale and value of our Malaysian platform. I would like to thank PETRONAS for this award and their continued confidence in Jadestone, and I look forward to developing our relationship with them further in order to realise the potential of the SFA Cluster and deliver significant benefits for all of our Malaysian stakeholders.”

Another slice of the Malaysian action for Jadestone who if I remember correctly from my discussions with Paul Blakeley he likes for longer term growth. With assets like this taken from licence awards and other from M&A activity Jadestone continues to build the business with varying costs of acquisition and so ultimately highly profitable. I have put the link to my interview with Paul below if anyone would like to recap on his wide ranging and most interesting thoughts.

Core Finance CEO Interview: Paul Blakeley of Jadestone Energy