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So much negativity and so misplaced.
"All three of our projects hold historic discoveries, multiple prospects and leads, and benefit from easy access to infrastructure. Our existing asset base therefore provides us with considerable run-room to build on the two discoveries we have already made in Romania and Italy and grow the value of the Company further. Last month, we reported a 77% increase in the net book value of our investments to £4,307,617, a figure which is more than twice our current market valuation. In our view, this is very much the start. With much activity planned across our assets over the next 12 months, including bringing Selva online, I look forward to providing further updates on our progress, as we look to continue to expose our shareholders to value trigger events and in the process generate value for our shareholders."
and neither will the rig be. Patience will be rewarded.
Significantly, for the six-month period under review we generated £1.62 million in receipts from sale of test volumes of crude oil. These cash-flows are, as per standard industry practice, offset against ongoing capitalised testing costs at Horse Hill.
Portland testing operations at Horse Hill continued to exceed our expectations, enabling UKOG's subsidiary company Horse Hill Developments Ltd ("HHDL") to declare last October that the Portland oil pool is commercially viable at oil prices significantly below current levels. Portland test production remained robust, continuing at a stable 220 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") from the unstimulated HH-1 vertical well using a very modest pressure drawdown. The test continues to provide further data necessary to finalise development plans and surface facility requirements.
We also tested the deeper naturally fractured Kimmeridge Limestone 3 ("KL3") and KL4 oil pool, which during its initial 50-hour period produced 563 to 771 bopd from the single KL3 perforated zone alone. The 40-41° API crude oil flowed continuously to the surface with zero water content. The test data confirmed that the Kimmeridge oil pool produces from one single vertically-connected 600ft (200m) or more naturally fractured zone, extending from the deeper KL2 to at least the top of the KL4 zone. Oil production is interpreted to come from both naturally fractured limestones and calcareous shales, which is an unexpected learning.
"Bainet-2 is our fourth well in two and half years and follows two discoveries; Bainet-1 in Romania, which is currently on production, and the soon to be producing Podere Maiar-1 in Italy, which is expected to come online in 2020 at a rate up to 150,000 cmpd. With much activity underway across our portfolio including work programmes at the Tesorillo Project in Spain to de-risk 2 TCF of gas unrisked Gross Prospective Resources, I look forward to providing further updates on progress made on the ground, as we focus on closing the huge gap between the value of our assets and our share price."
"A maiden net profit of £779,000 is testament to the progress made on the ground across our portfolio of late stage European projects during the year under review. This includes first gas production in Romania, confirmation of a commercial gas discovery in Italy and an increase in our interest in the up to 830bcf Tesorillo gas project in Spain to 15% from 2.5%, following completion of 2018 work programmes. Our objective remains to expose our shareholders to a continuous stream of high impact activity, and in line with this we are focused on ensuring 2019 builds on the success we have had over the past two years. 2019 is expected to see us participate in the drilling of a second well in Romania targeting a prospect that is a lookalike to the producing Bainet field, and further advance our work programmes in Spain and Italy. I look forward to providing further updates on our progress as we focus on ensuring the underlying value of our assets is more fully reflected in our share price."
The first half of 2019 has been another period of significant progress. We have delivered on our first half financial targets, whilst developing our investment plans to ensure a strong full-year 2019 and beyond. You can clearly see the impact of our strategy in our revenue growth of 22% and continued strong gross margin performance. This points to the strength of the underlying business fundamentals and our growing position in an attractive market environment, delivering high value data analytics to our pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. In the second half of 2019 we expect to accelerate the pace of our investment to enable further scale up in support of our long-term growth plans.