Chariot, the Africa focused energy company, today announces its unaudited interim results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2025.
Adonis Pouroulis, CEO of Chariot commented:
“We have steered the Company through a challenging past few months and I am pleased to report that we have emerged from this period with a new business plan and a clear focus to progress our projects and build shareholder value. As announced in June 2025, we are in the process of building out two standalone business units - Upstream Oil and Gas and Renewable Power - and we are currently setting out the future of both entities as we look to grow and deliver. Our overarching objective is to create two separate groups to realise more value for shareholders going forward and we are evaluating a range of opportunities and avenues in this regard. We remain committed and ambitious in our plans and we look forward to executing these over the coming months.”
Upstream Oil & Gas:
Morocco:
- Regained operatorship of the offshore Moroccan licences in May 2025 with 75% working interest now owned by Chariot
- Working with ONHYM to assess a rescaled Anchois development based on discovered resources with a key focus on development capex
- Ongoing development of the prospectivity across the offshore Lixus and Rissana licences and farm-out process initiated
- Integration of well results and reprocessing work completed in the onshore Loukos licence - multi-well campaign described with farm-out process ongoing
New Ventures:
- Widened new venture remit to span oil and gas opportunities across the full value chain
- Pursuing range of options across mature production, near term development and exploration assets
Renewable Power:
Electricity Trading:
- Funding completed in March 2025 ensured Etana Energy is now a fully financed, bankable entity
- US$155 million Guarantee Financing Facility secured from British International Investment (“BII”), GuarantCo and Standard Bank
- Up to US$20 million equity investment secured from Norfund
Renewable Generation Projects:
- Two wind projects in South Africa nearing financial close with further projects progressing
- Power-to-mining project portfolio:
- Tharisa – 40MW solar project in South Africa; First Quantum Minerals – 430MW solar and wind projects in Zambia; Karo – 30MW solar project in Zimbabwe
- 10% stake in the Essakane 15MW solar project in Burkina Faso sold to IAMGOLD, the operators of the Essakane gold mine for US$167k in January 2025
Water:
- Water desalination project in Djibouti performing well
- Evaluating future opportunities and options for the business
Green Hydrogen:
- Work on Project Nour in Mauritania ongoing alongside partner TE H2 (80% owned by TotalEnergies and 20% owned by the EREN Group)
- Partnership with Oort Energy and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (“UM6P”) continues in Morocco
- Pursuing financing options at the subsidiary level
Corporate and Financial:
- Placing and oversubscribed Open Offer successfully raised gross US$7.1 million in June 2025
- Cash position as at 30 June 2025 of US$5.6 million
Upstream Oil & Gas – A Redefined Growth Business
Morocco - Lixus and Rissana Offshore and Loukos Onshore licences (Chariot, Operator, 75%, ONHYM 25%)
Across our Moroccan portfolio we have three distinct investment opportunities within our Lixus, Rissana and Loukos licences and we are looking to partner across these assets to fund and deliver further work programmes. We have a range of exploration and development opportunities that could be of interest to different parties and this prospectivity is also underpinned by the existing infrastructure, robust gas commercial fundamentals and excellent fiscal regime that Morocco offers.
Within the offshore Lixus licence and at the Anchois project specifically, three wells have now been drilled, all of which found gas. With the resources discovered to date we still see material economic value and we are in the process of rescoping an optimised development plan with reduced capex to enable a path towards a Final Investment Decision. We also see plenty of upside opportunities beyond Anchois in shallower targets such as the Anguille hub, where a prospective best estimate recoverable resource base of 500Bcf has been identified. This cluster of prospects are on trend from Anchois and along the planned flowline route and therefore could link directly into the planned Anchois infrastructure or even be a lower cost initial development.
Rissana, our other offshore licence, offers giant scale prospects within mapped Tertiary basin floor fan and Jurassic Clastic plays that have multi TCF (in a gas case) and multi-million barrel (in an oil case) prospective resources. Majors are beginning to return to frontier exploration and Morocco continues to attract new entrants, so we believe that these offer an attractive farm-out opportunity to industry players of scale.
Loukos Onshore is smaller in scale but is a project where we see a valuable opportunity. Further to our drilling campaign in 2024 and extensive reinterpretation of reprocessed 2D and 3D seismic and historic well data we have defined a portfolio of over 100Bcf resource potential. A multi-well programme has been described across the licence and we are talking to interested parties around participating with us in this wider scope of work.
New Ventures
We continue to follow our interests in Namibia where we hold a 10% back in right and are looking to secure a larger acreage position. Chariot was one of the frontier explorers in what is now a global exploration hotspot and our team has a deep understanding of the subsurface of these basins. Though the licence access process is taking longer than initially expected, we believe we are in a strong position to secure these assets and will provide further updates when possible.
We have reviewed a number of new hydrocarbon opportunities in recent months and are actively pursuing those that have been screened and high-graded. We are looking at projects that we can approach on a bi-lateral basis that have been overlooked or are under the radar of larger companies where we can add value through our operating credentials and fresh insights from our technical team. We are looking across the exploration, development and production spectrum at key points of the value curve but fundamentally at assets that are in the best basins, with low entry costs and short cycle times. Near-term cashflows are a priority and we are also focussing on those projects which we believe can be funded at the asset level through partnering. Our team is busy, and we will continue to pursue new business opportunities over time as we focus on expansion and growth.
Renewable Power - Creation of an Emerging Market Renewable Player
With our Renewable Power business, we are both participating in and actively shaping the electricity trading market in South Africa. Renewables are increasingly becoming a key part of the energy mix due to the abundant wind and solar resources that South Africa is endowed with and through Etana Energy we are facilitating the delivery of much needed energy across the country. Etana, in which Chariot holds an economic interest of 34% (with H1 Holdings (Pty) Limited (“H1”) holding 36%, Norfund, 20% and Standard Bank 10%), is one of the very few companies in South Africa to hold a NERSA-approved trading licence which means it can buy power from multiple generators and sell this on to multiple customers across the national grid. It is one of the only electricity traders to be adopting this “many generators to many offtakers” business model.
Following the combined US$175 million in guarantee and equity financing packages we announced earlier this year with BII, GuarantCo, Standard Bank and Norfund, Etana is now fully financed and funded through to first revenues. Etana has expanded its team in recent months and signed up a further offtake agreements which is indicative of the strong demand for reliable, competitively priced supply across a range of sectors. Many of these customers are large industrial users that also want to reduce their carbon footprints and with the ever-increasing demand for more sustainable energy, this is a business that is highly scalable.
The trading platform also facilitates and enables the building of new wind and solar plants by providing bankable offtake, as demonstrated by the 75MW Du Plessis Dam solar project that reached Financial Close in March and is now well into construction. Chariot is also participating in the power generation side of the equation with two large wind projects moving towards Financial Close. We are working on these in partnership with H1, our founding partners in Etana, and world class sponsors. The power generated by these projects, and others that will follow in the future, will directly supply into Etana’s offtake customer base. Importantly, this is being financed at the subsidiary level, and we are in the final stages of completing an equity investment from a strategic third party investor. The team, over time, will also look to expand into the wider Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) and investigate battery energy storage solutions.
Our power-to-mining projects are ongoing, for First Quantum Minerals where we are working on a 430MW solar and wind power development for their copper mines in Zambia in partnership with TotalEnergies, the Buffelspoort solar project for Tharisa in South Africa and the solar plant at Karo Mining’s platinum mine in Zimbabwe. The water project in Djibouti continues to operate very well and the team are looking at future opportunities and options for this side of the business.
Green Hydrogen
We continue to work alongside our partners TE H2 (80% owned by TotalEnergies and 20% owned by the EREN Group) on developing the giga-scale Project Nour in Mauritania and progressing the Investment Convention with the Government. Once this is in place the next step will be to conduct further conceptual studies and refine the phasing of the development plan, scope opportunities for utilising green hydrogen in country and work on securing long-term offtake agreements. In Morocco, the 1MW PEM electrolyser is still scheduled for installation at the Jorf Lasfar campus of UM6P in Ben Guerir. This will enable the electrolyser to be run and tested in an industrial setting as we look to further evaluate the feasibility and scale-up potential for larger projects in country.
We remain committed to our green hydrogen assets as we still see it as a core commodity of the future and Mauritania in particular holds all the attributes required to build a project of such scale. We also continue to collaborate across the sector and discuss other potential pilot projects with large industrial players. As previously noted, we are looking to secure funding at the subsidiary level for this business and on a demerger of the Group, these assets will sit within Renewable Power going forward.
Financial Review
The Group remains debt free and had a cash balance of US$5.6 million at 30 June 2025 (US$2.9 million at 31 December 2024).
Other administrative expenses of US$3.2 million (30 June 2024: US$5.0 million) are lower than the prior period reflecting the cost savings made from October 2024 onwards.
To provide further detail of total operating expenses, the non-cash share of losses from equity accounted investments of US$1.0m (30 June 2024: US$0.1 million) has been split out from other administrative expenses within the consolidated statement of comprehensive income. The increase from the prior period is reflective of the rapid progress made in Etana to conclude financing transactions with Standard Bank, Norfund, BII and GuarantCo and a power purchase agreement on the Du Plessis Dam 75MW solar generation project, the first within Etana’s initial offtake portfolio.
Hydrogen and other business development costs of US$0.1 million (30 June 2024: US$1.0 million) comprise non-administrative expenses incurred in the Group’s business development activities within the Green Hydrogen pillar. The reduction is due to the Project Nour feasibility studies and the proof of concept electrolyser project with Oort Energy and UM6P occurring in 2024.
Finance income of US$0.2 million (30 June 2024: US$0.1 million) is approximately in line with the prior period reflecting foreign exchange gains on non-US$ cash.
Finance expenses of US$0.1 million (30 June 2024: US$0.2 million) are slightly lower than the prior period reflecting foreign exchange losses on revaluation of non US$ assets and liabilities.
Share-based payments charges of US$0.6 million (30 June 2024: US$2.0 million) are lower than the prior period due to diminishing charges on share options issued in previous periods.
We were very pleased with the support we received in our fundraise in June which raised gross proceeds of $7.1 million from new and existing investors as well an oversubscribed open offer. We thank our shareholders for their ongoing support.
Outlook
We are excited for the future of Chariot and the clear drivers that we have for the next steps in the evolution of our Upstream and Renewable Power businesses. We will continue to evaluate how best to enact a demerger, and valuations and the markets will be key factors to consider around timing, but we are ready to grow, deliver on the opportunities we have before us and create lasting value. I would like to thank our team and the Board as their ongoing hard work has made it possible to get to where we are today and the months ahead are about now building, scaling and unlocking the value that we see across the Group.
KeyFacts Energy: Chariot Oil & Gas Morocco country profile