WTI* (Oct) $73.03 -5c, Brent (Oct) $77.20 -46c, Diff -$4.17 +88c
USNG (Sep) $2.20 -4c, UKNG (Sep) 91.75p -3.62p, TTF (Sep) €38.36 -€1.39
*Denotes WTI September crude contract expiry

Oil price

Oil is quiet, September WTI expired and murmurings about the peace talks makes me think that all is not good, now the caravan has moved to Egypt but if Hamas won’t agree then it ain’t happening.

Ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium tomorrow and Friday markets are also quiet, a quarter of a point from the Fed seems to be consensus and probably will be signalled by Jerome Powell.

Genel Energy

Genel refers to announcement made by Genel on 6 August 2024, and is hereby announcing the result of the reverse tender offer to holders of Genel Energy 4 Finance plc’s USD 300 million senior unsecured callable bonds with ISIN NO0010894330.

The Company has accepted offers for USD 107 million nominal value of bonds with the Maximum Accepted Price set to 102 per cent of nominal value.

Cash settlement for the Bonds, including accrued interest, is expected to occur on Friday 23 August 2024. Pareto Securities acted as broker for the Buy-Back Offer.

Genel recently announced buy-back of the 2025 bonds and today confirm that the tender was successful to the tune of $107m, this follows the $25m reduction last year and makes perfect common sense.

Kistos

Kistos has announced that TotalEnergies, together with Kistos as joint venture partners, has been offered seven new blocks or part blocks in the Greater Laggan Area, West of Shetlands offshore the UK. On completion of the licencing round, Kistos will hold a 33.3% working interest in all of the acreage, with TotalEnergies assuming Operator status.

The full list of blocks and part blocks is as follows:

These blocks lie within the Greater Laggan Area (“GLA”), where the JV Partners already produce oil and gas from the Laggan, Tormore, Glenlivet, and Edradour fields. The blocks were applied for during the 33rd Offshore licencing round, with submissions made in January 2023, and were previously held by the GLA JV prior to Kistos’ acquisition of 20% non-operated stake from TotalEnergies in 2022.

The award of these blocks, which include the previously identified Ballechin exploration prospect, supports the JV Partners’ efforts to identify opportunities to extend the life of existing infrastructure and maximise economic output. The work programme includes studies on a seismic dataset that is already owned by the JV Partners.

Given that these blocks were applied for some 18 months ago, there is less reason for surprise that anyone is getting anything done in Millibands’ energy fiefdom than one may think. The blocks have had work done and Kistos with TotalEnergies appear to have identified opportunities to ‘extend the life of the existing infrastructure and maximise economic output’. 

So now Kistos owns a 20% WI and the opportunities include the Ballechin exploration prospect which has a substantial booked prospective resource as well as the substantial seismic dataset owned by the partners. Given all this, it is one of the few places in the UKCS where a combination of upsizing the existing developments as well as adding value from the periphery may well be of some considerable advantage to Kistos. 

Touchstone Exploration

The board of directors of Touchstone announces that, further to Touchstone’s announcement on 5 August 2024:

• the Touchstone Board has waived Condition 2.3 (ii) of Part A of Part Three of the Touchstone Scheme Document (as defined below); and
• the terms of Touchstone’s offer for Trinity announced under Rule 2.7 of the Code on 1 May 2024 (the “Touchstone Offer”) are final, and the Touchstone Offer will not be increased.

The Touchstone Board notes that the Irrevocable Undertakings provided to Touchstone by Trinity Shareholders in respect of a total of 15,083,344 Trinity Shares representing, in aggregate, approximately 38.9 percent of Trinity’s ordinary share capital in issue (excluding any Trinity Shares held in treasury) continue to remain binding.

When taken together with a letter of intent provided by a Trinity Shareholder, the total number of Trinity Shares subject to Irrevocable Undertakings and the letter of intent are 16,023,344 Trinity Shares, representing approximately 41.29 per cent. of the ordinary share capital of Trinity in issue on 20 August 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to this announcement and excluding any Trinity Shares held in treasury).

Touchstone notes that the terms of the Irrevocable Undertakings oblige those Trinity Shareholders and Trinity Directors who gave Irrevocable Undertakings to vote against the recommended offer by Lease Operators Limited for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Trinity (the “Lease Operators Offer”), which is intended to be implemented by way of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement pursuant to Part 26 of the Companies Act (the “Lease Operators Scheme”). As long as the Irrevocable Undertakings remain binding, the statutory majorities required for shareholder approval of the Lease Operators Scheme would not be capable of being met and the Lease Operators Scheme would not, therefore, be capable of becoming effective.

The terms of the Irrevocable Undertakings (including the circumstances in which they would cease to be binding) were summarised in both the announcement on 1 May 2024 and the shareholder circular relating to the Touchstone Scheme published by Trinity on 24 May 2024 (the “Touchstone Scheme Document”), and that summary is reproduced in full in the Annex to this announcement. The Irrevocable Undertakings themselves are available online at: https://www.touchstoneexploration.com/trinity-acquisition.

Touchstone continues to recommend that Trinity Shareholders to take no action in response to the Lease Operators Offer. A further announcement will be made by Touchstone in connection with the Touchstone Offer in due course, as and when appropriate.

Paul Baay, President and Chief Executive Officer of Touchstone, commented:
“We continue to believe that the Touchstone Offer represents an attractive opportunity to materially enhance value for both Trinity’s and Touchstone’s shareholders, and we have therefore decided not to allow the Touchstone Offer to lapse at this juncture. The Touchstone Board maintains strong strategic and financial discipline with all corporate activity and continues to believe that the Touchstone Offer represents very attractive value to Trinity Shareholders; therefore, notwithstanding the Lease Operators Offer, Touchstone does not intend to increase its previously communicated offer.

Separately, within the constraints of the offer process, we will continue to keep our shareholders regularly updated on operational and strategic developments as we progress towards initial production from our Cascadura-2ST1 and Cascadura-3ST1 wells, and drill two additional development wells at our Cascadura B site in the fourth quarter of 2024, as previously announced on 13 August 2024.“

There is little for me to add as the bid process is well and truly underway but this seems to make it clear, Touchstone is playing hardball and does not intend to increase its offer and will hold those shareholders who gave irrevocable undertakings to the board to which they are being held, welcome to the world of the Panel…

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog