WTI (May) $100.12 -$1.26, Brent (June) $101.16 -$2.81, Diff -$1.04 -$1.55
USNG (May) $2.82 -6c, UKNG (May) 127.50p +4.87p, TTF (May) €50.345 +€1.615

Oil prices

After last night’s speech by President Trump the market has taken the view that there is more military activity to come from both sides. Accordingly oil is up sharply, WTI from the close above was $106.95 this morning and as I write is $113.07. Brent was $108.40 this morning and yet is only $109.58 now, for the first time for a while WTI is at a premium to it. 

EIA stats totally meaningless, a build in crude but a draw in gasoline and distillates but better than the API was. 

Reabold Resources

Further to the Company’s announcement on 13 March 2026, Reabold yesterday announced that it proposes to conditionally raise a minimum of £1.1 million via a placing of new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the Company at a placing price of 0.1 pence per share.

In addition, and consistent with the terms of the conditional subscription with a group of US-based strategic investors announced on 13 March 2026 (the “Strategic Investment”), participants in the Placing will receive 1.25 warrants for each New Ordinary Share, each with a right to convert to one new Ordinary Share at an exercise price of 0.11 pence per Ordinary Share (the “Warrants”). The Warrants will be created pursuant to the Warrant Instrument dated 12 March 2026 and will be exercisable from the first business day following the date of Admission (as defined below) until 31 March 2029. Full details of the Warrant Instrument will be set out in the Circular to Shareholders referred to below. As previously announced, the Strategic Investment of £1.9 million is conditional on the Company raising a further £1.1 million prior to 12 May 2026.

Separately, the Company also intends to complete a subscription for New Ordinary Shares (the “Subscription” and, together with the Placing and Strategic Investment, the “Fundraise”) at the Issue Price, which will also involve the participation of certain of the Company’s directors who have indicated that they intend to subscribe for approximately £306,000 worth of New Ordinary Shares, in aggregate. Investors in the Subscription will also receive Warrants on the same terms as set out above. Further details of the Subscription will be announced in due course.

The net proceeds of the Fundraise will be used to progress the key West Newton project, including the funding of both Reabold and Rathlin’s shares of the recompletion of the A-2 well, expected to take place in the coming months. The Warrant mechanism is intended to provide the Company with access to additional capital in the event of a successful A-2 recompletion and to enable it to move into early production as soon as possible. 

The Placing will be conditional on obtaining approval of the Shareholders at a General Meeting of the Company. A Circular containing a notice of General Meeting will be published and notified to Shareholders in due course. The Circular and notice of General Meeting, once published, will be made available on the Company’s website at https://reabold.com/.

The Placing will be conducted by way of an accelerated bookbuild (“ABB”) which will be launched immediately following this announcement (“Announcement”), in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the Appendix to this Announcement. The timing of the closing of the Placing, the number of New Ordinary Shares to be issued pursuant to the Placing and the allocation of the New Ordinary Shares to be issued pursuant to the Placing are at the discretion of the Company and Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (“Cavendish”) and a further announcement confirming these details is expected to be made in due course.

Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the New Ordinary Shares to be issued pursuant to the Placing to be admitted to trading on AIM. It is expected that Admission will become effective, and that dealings in the New Ordinary Shares will commence on AIM, at 8.00 a.m. on 27 April 2026 (“Admission”) on which date it is also expected that the New Ordinary Shares will be enabled for settlement in CREST.

The New Ordinary Shares, when issued, will be issued and credited as fully paid and will rank in full for all dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid after the admission of those Ordinary Shares and will otherwise rank on Admission pari passu in all respects with each other and with the Company’s existing ordinary shares, including the right to receive all dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid in respect of such New Ordinary Shares after the date of their admission to trading on AIM.

 Bookbuilding closed

Reabold has announced that that, further to the Company’s announcement released at 4:41 p.m. on 1 April 2026, the accelerated bookbuild has closed and the Company has conditionally raised £1.51 million (before expenses) through the successful placing of 1,510,000,000 New Ordinary Shares at the Issue Price of 0.1 pence per New Ordinary Share, pursuant to the Placing.

The Company has therefore conditionally raised gross proceeds of £3.41 million through the Placing and the Strategic Investment.

No surprises here as in recent announcements the US based strategic investors have made it clear that they are here for the long haul and ready to stump up as the recompletion of the A-2 well at West Newton is expected to take place ‘in the coming months’. 

Also as I wrote in my last comment on Reabold the warrants are in place in order to ‘provide the Company with access to additional capital in the event of a successful A-2 recompletion and to enable it to move into early production as soon as possible’. 

The warrants mean that there will be no delay or the need for further funding to take the project to the next stage, in this case potential early production. Reabold are in a very strong position, the investors are keen to back them and my 0.5p target price is not overly demanding with so much newsflow in coming months.

Rockhopper Exploration

Rockhopper has announced the results from an updated independent technical report conducted by Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc on behalf of Rockhopper on the Company’s Sea Lion field. The Report is effective as at 31 December 2025.

The Report shows that overall gross resource volumes are consistent with the Company’s previous independent resource evaluation, also conducted by NSAI, dated June 2025.

Importantly, the Report has reclassified volumes contained in the Sea Lion Field Northern Development Area (“NDA”) Phases 1 and 2 from the Contingent Resources classification to the Reserves classification. This reclassification has been possible following the Company’s Final Investment Decision (“FID”) on the Sea Lion field, made in December 2025. Phase 2 of the Sea Lion development is expected to be financed from cashflow generated by Phase 1. Later phases of the Sea Lion development have remained within the Contingent Resources category. 

Following completion of the placing, the Company had, as at 31 December 2025, a cash balance of approximately US$179 million (unaudited) which is anticipated to be sufficient to fund Rockhopper’s proportion of the capex required for the Phase 1 development plan for the Sea Lion field. 

Key Information (oil only)

Reserves

Summary of Gross and Working Interest Net Recoverable Reserves and Future Net Revenue attributable to Sea Lion Field NDA Phases 1 and 2

Rockhopper holds a 35 per cent working interest in the Sea Lion field.

Note: Oil volumes are expressed in thousands of barrels (MBBL). Gross (100%) figures represent total field reserves; working interest figures represent Rockhopper's 35 per cent share. Future net revenue is after deductions for Rockhopper's share of state royalties, capital costs, abandonment costs, operating expenses and estimates of Falkland Islands corporate income taxes. NPV10 represents future net revenue discounted at an annual rate of 10 per cent. NPV10 should not be construed as the fair market value of the properties. All figures are based on the Base Price Case. See Economic Parameters below.

Contingent Resources

The contingent resources figures below are unrisked - they have not been adjusted for the probability of commercial development. These estimates should not be aggregated with reserves without extensive consideration of the differing degrees of technical and commercial risk.

Unrisked Gross (100%) Contingent Resources - Oil (MBBL)

Unrisked Working Interest (35%) Contingent Resources - Oil (MBBL)

Summary of Unrisked Working Interest (35%) Contingent Cash Flows after Falkland Islands Taxes
Economic analysis has been performed on the Development Pending contingent resources only.

Economic Parameters

The Report has been prepared using the following Base Price Case oil price parameters, based on Brent Crude prices adjusted for quality, transportation fees and market differentials:

The development scenario underlying the NPV calculation for the contingent resources aligns with the previously disclosed multi-phase, two-FPSO scheme comprising the Northern Development Area ("NDA") Phases 1, 2 and 3 and the Central Development Area ("CDA") Phases 1 and 2.

Bluewater, the FPSO operator, has served notice on the Aoka Mizu FPSO and the vessel is expected to leave its current location in mid-2026 ahead of a period of refurbishment work prior to deployment at Sea Lion.

Sam Moody, Chief Executive Officer of Rockhopper, commented:
"We are delighted to book in excess of 100 million barrels of 2P reserves following the sanction of Sea Lion Phase 1 - another milestone for Rockhopper. The new NSAI report independently confirms the significant value we are now on the path to unlocking. Navitas, our Operator, has recently reported good progress on the project and has reiterated its target for first oil in early 2028."

More good news from Rockhopper as they book big 2P and 2C barrels and are well on their way to developing Sea Lion with Navitas, the operator. RKH are fully funded for phase 1 of the project and with this huge NPV the prospects are excellent, I see plenty of upside which will come as no surprise to those who have seen me follow the Falklands for many years.

Original article   l   KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Malcy's Blog