WTI (July) $88.90 +22c, Brent (July) $93.71 -58c, Diff -$4.81 -80c
USNG (July) $3.29 +19c, UKNG (July) 114.95p -0.38p, TTF (July) €47.68 +€0.275

Oil price

Oil is around a dollar fifty off today as Vice President Vance suggested on interview yesterday that the 60 day ceasefire has legs and that it now goes to the President for approval. Now don’t get me wrong, but although the idea is a good one the fine print is far from agreeable, including as it does, surrender of enriched uranium which silly old me thought was a red line…

The EIA inventory stats roughly followed the API, crude drew 3.327m barrels against a whisper of 4.1m, gasoline drew 2.572m in line with forecasts and distillates showed a bigger fall than expected at -2.107m. If and when the crude oil market opens the product market will sigh with relief, around the world the pips are beginning to squeak…

Borders & Southern

Borders & Southern has announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2025. Full copies of the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts, including the Company Overview, Chairman’s Statement, Remuneration Committee Report, Directors’ Report, Auditor’s Report and full Financial Statements, will be available on the Company’s website and posted to Shareholders along with the notice of the AGM shortly.

Summary

• Raised  a further $2.8 million (£2.2 million) before expenses through capital raises in early 2025
• Cash balance on 31 December 2025: $2.5 million (2024: $2.1 million)
• Administrative expense for the year: $1.5 million (2024: $1.2 million)
• Operating loss of $1.4 million (2024: $1.2 million)
• FID being declared by Navitas Petroleum and partner Rockhopper Exploration on Sea Lion is a pivotal basin-opening event.
• Company in active dialogue re the farm-out process with multiple interested parties

Full year 2025 results are of no interest to anybody with all due respect whenever they are released…But for Borders it’s all about the farm-out of the Darwin discovery and I remain convinced that this process will provide a massive result for shareholders when it is announced. 

The fact that Navitas and Rockhopper have declared FID at Sea Lion, with indicated  first oil of 2028 hurtling towards it means that the oil world’s eyes must be all over Darwin and its sheer size must have majors at the table. 

Accordingly I remain fully committed to B&S and whilst my target price of 50p seems aggressive I am good with that and its place in the Bucket List is a risk worth taking. 

Buccaneer Energy

Buccaneer has announced its final results for the year ended 31 December 2025 (the “Results”). A copy of the Results, along with a Notice of AGM, is being posted to Shareholders and is available on the Company’s website, www.buccaneerenergy.co.uk. 

The Buccaneer results statement is about a million pages long, certainly worth looking up but given how unimportant they are not for inclusion here. I have said many times before that I rate Paul Welch very highly and that Buccaneer is worth keeping an eye on, that thought remains and I like the OOR success engineered by Hunting but what the company needs more than anything else is scale…

Europa Oil & Gas

Europa has announced that its associated company, Antler Global Limited, has received approval from the Ministry for Mining and Hydrocarbons Department of Equatorial Guinea required to complete the Farm-out Agreement with Fuhai, as detailed in the announcement dated 30 December 2026. The deal remains subject to Overseas Direct Investment approval from the Shandong Provincial government.

Europa has a 42.9% equity interest in Antler which, on completion of the FOA, will hold a 40% working interest in the EG-08 PSC, and remain as operator, with 40% held by Fuhai and the remaining 20% held by GEPetrol (Guinea Equatorial de Petróleos), the national oil company of Equatorial Guinea, representing the State’s interest.

The Company expects to drill the Barracuda-1 well at the earliest opportunity, which is expected to be during early 2027.

William Holland, Chief Executive Officer of Europa, said:
“I am pleased to have received approval from the Ministry and I would like to thank the team at MMHD for their ongoing support as we progress this project to drilling. Alongside our partners at Fuhai, we have been working hard to assemble the drilling team needed to spud the Barracuda-1 well at the earliest opportunity. Once we have received ODI approval, we will then be able to secure a rig. I look forward to updating the market of our progress in due course.”

Good news that Ministry approval has been granted and that it now only requires ODI approval to get going on Barracuda-1 with the securing of a rig to be done as soon as this is received. The company has changed its timing for this well however, on Tuesday the guidance was that drilling would be ‘in late 2026 or early 2027’ today that has slipped to ‘be during early 2027’. 

Despite this I remain confident that there will be a great deal of interest in the shares as they run up to drilling, up 175% year on year may be a tough act to follow but there will be excitement for sure.

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