Hurricane Energy - The Times!28 Jul 2020 08:12
Hurricane Energy
Investing in oil and gas is not for the faint-hearted (Greig Cameron writes). Geopolitical tensions can quickly send oil and share prices into reverse. There is also growing pressure to switch to renewables.
Recently you can add demand issues caused by Covid-19, such as airlines being grounded and other forms of transport operating at fractions of their capacity.
Backing oil companies on London’s junior Aim offers opportunities for those who like to indulge in a healthy chunk of risk in their portfolio. And Hurricane Energy has experienced peaks and troughs in the price of its shares during the past few years.
They were about 10p at the start of 2016 and reached a high of 64p in May 2017 before sinking to less than 29p in September that year. By September 2018 they were above 58p but have been on a steady decline since last November. The shares started this year at about 30p and have not been above 10p since May.
Hurricane looks for hydrocarbons in rock formations known as fractured basements, which lie below where North Sea oil has typically been extracted. It successfully found large accumulations in an area to the west of Shetland with independent reports suggesting its acreage may contain more than two billion untapped barrels.
Hurricane raised substantial sums including a $230 million convertible bond, which is due in 2022, to build an early production system (EPS) on the Lancaster site to prove the viability of fractured basements. In 2018, Spirit Energy joined as a drilling partner on the adjacent Warwick area.
First oil began flowing from the Lancaster EPS in May last year and more than 5.7 million barrels have been extracted. Yet doubts persist as the amount of water brought up at one of the two Lancaster wells has continued to rise. Hurricane this year withdrew its guidance of 17,000 barrels per day for 2020.
However, yesterday the shares rose by 7.7 per cent to just under 6p after an electric pump on the more troublesome well lifted production to 5,000 barrels per day in the past few weeks. The other well continues to produce about 12,000 barrels.
ADVICE Hold
WHY There is not much further for the shares to fall and some potential upside
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hsbc-walking-tightrope-of-west-versus-east-wd3njj6h0