Analyst Comment8 Jun 2021 10:27
Zephyr Energy (ZPHR LN): Plans to achieve carbon-neutrality across operational footprint by 30 September 2021
Share price: 3.6p, Market Cap: £44m
• Zephyr has confirmed today that the Company intends to achieve carbon-neutrality across its operational footprint by 30 September 2021.
• This is the first step towards near-term delivery of hydrocarbons produced with an operational "net-zero" carbon impact, with the Company leadership committed to this initiative.
• As part of this undertaking, Zephyr has agreed to collaborate with the Prax Group, a British multinational independent oil refining, trading, storage, distribution and retail conglomerate dealing in crude oil, petroleum products and biofuels.
• The Prax Group will work with Zephyr to measure, reduce and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its businesses, with mitigation efforts primarily focused on the purchase of sustainability/decarbonisation offsets (called Verified Emission Reductions or VER) from reputable pre-vetted developers of sustainable projects.
• This exercise will include Zephyr's current corporate activity, its non-operated production assets in the Williston Basin, North Dakota, US, and its upcoming appraisal drilling project in the Paradox Basin, Utah, US.
• The cost to purchase the appropriate number of VERs to offset Zephyr's growing operational footprint is expected to average well under US$1/bbl of oil equivalent produced, although the net cost to Zephyr may be considerably less given the potential to sell oil volumes at a premium as a result of the anticipated "net-zero" operational carbon status of those volumes.
• Purchases of VERs will be staged in increments matching Zephyr's forecast production profile to facilitate effective cash management.
• Recent market-based evidence suggests that purchasers and supply chain partners of "net-zero" operated volumes are willing to absorb costs associated with the purchase of VER offsets related to oil and gas production.
• Zephyr's initial efforts will be focused on its Scope 1 GHG impacts, which cover all direct emissions from Zephyr-owned or controlled sources - from the drilling and production of operated and non-operated hydrocarbons through to transport to the refinery, as well as all other corporate emissions.
• Over the next few months, Zephyr and the Prax Group will focus on measuring, reducing and mitigating operational GHG emissions across the Company, and Zephyr's pledge to achieve carbon-neutral operations in a rapid manner is demonstrative of Zephyr's commitment to achieving sector-leading environmental standards.
Our take: In addition to the environmental benefits that will result from Zephyr's efforts to reach carbon-neutrality, it will potentially also yield economic benefits, including expanded access to a wider group of potential institutional investors given accelerating ESG requirements of public companies. Zephyr recently entered a new phase of growth and are now a cash-generating