Charles Jillings, CEO of Utilico, energized by strong economic momentum across Latin America. Watch the video here.
Harbour Energy plc () has released an update.
Harbour Energy CEO Linda Z. Cook has bolstered her stake in the company with the purchase of 86,050 ordinary shares at an average price of 285.5 pence each. Following this transaction, Cook’s total interest in Harbour Energy amounts to 1.117% of the issued share capital. The purchase, conducted on the London Stock Exchange, signals a vote of confidence from the CEO in the firm’s prospects.
https://www.tipranks.com/news/company-announcements/harbour-energy-ceo-increases-shareholding
HBR CEO is clearly very confident and hence has Major Skin in the Game while owning more than £25 Million worth of HBR shares and still adding, TLW CEO should undoubtedly do same IMHO!
“Harbour announces that Linda Z. Cook, Chief Executive Officer, has purchased 86,050 ordinary shares in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at an average price of 285.5 pence per Ordinary Share.
As a result of this purchase, Linda Z. Cook has an interest in 8,603,532 Ordinary Shares, representing 1.117 % of the Company's issued share capital.”
Fantastic RNS! HBR CEO/Linda C. Buying More Shares Here and Clearly has Major Skin in the Game:
“Harbour announces that Linda Z. Cook, Chief Executive Officer, has purchased 86,050 ordinary shares in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at an average price of 285.5 pence per Ordinary Share.
As a result of this purchase, Linda Z. Cook has an interest in 8,603,532 Ordinary Shares, representing 1.117 % of the Company's issued share capital.”
U.S. crude oil inventories decrease by 6.4 million barrels
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased by 6.4 million barrels from the previous week. At 453.6 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are 3% below the five-year average for this time of year, according to the EIA crude oil and petroleum weekly storage data, reporting inventories as of April 19, 2024.
https://www.oilandgas360.com/crude-inventories-4-19/
Harbour Energy deal materially dilutes UK tax risk, suggests US bank
Harbour Energy PLC (LSE:HBR) will be Europe’s largest independent exploration and production company when it completes the Wintershall Dea Portfolio acquisition, notes Jefferies.
Assuming it completes in the fourth quarter of 2024 as planned, it triples Harbour's current production taking the pro forma company to 480,000boe/d in 2025, the first full year of trading.
International diversification of production across Norway, the UK, Argentina, Germany, Egypt, Mexico & Algeria/Libya materially reduces Harbour’s exposure to the UK fiscal risk exposure which has been the main overhang on the investment case, in Jefferies's view.
Buy with a 350p target is the broker’s view. Shares were 281p, down 2.5% today.
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1045630/harbour-energy-deal-materially-dilutes-uk-tax-risk-suggests-us-bank-1045630.html?rel=scroll
Once again, always excellent to note, even further reductions in HBR Short positions as evident here today, now this being the FOURTH consecutive/back to back rapid reduction by GLG Partners LP (3, 4, 5, and 16 April 2024).
Let the trend be your friend!
https://shorttracker.co.uk/company/GB00BMBVGQ36/
OFFSHORE ENERGY April 17, 2024
Fresh oil discovery making room for potential tie-back to existing North Sea infrastructure
Norwegian oil and gas player Vår Energi has found more oil in the Balder area, located in the central North Sea off the coast of Norway. The company sees the latest oil discovery as a potential commercial candidate to be tied into nearby existing infrastructure in this area.
The latest Ringhorne North exploration well and two additional side-track/appraisal wells are located in production license 956, which is operated by Vår Energi (50%), in partnership with Aker BP (20%), Harbour Energy Norge (15%), and Sval Energi (15%). The drilling operations were done with the Odfjell Drilling-managed Deepsea Yantai semi-submersible rig eight kilometers north of the Vår Energi-operated Ringhorne field, about 200 kilometers northwest of Stavanger.
Torger Rød, Vår Energi’s COO, commented: “The discovery proves that there are still opportunities in the mature areas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and I’m glad to see that our near-field exploration strategy is paying off. We believe there is more value to be unlocked in the Balder area, and we are intensifying exploration activities to maximise value creation from the existing infrastructure.”
With estimated recoverable resources of between 13 and 23 million barrels of oil, the operator believes that the Ringhorne North discovery adds to its “already impressive exploration track record,” as the company has had a discovery rate of over 50% over the past five years, with costs of less than $1 per barrel post-tax.
Rune Oldervoll, Vår Energi’s EVP Exploration & Production, explained: “Our exploration portfolio is the basis to unlock and create future value. We are among the largest license holders on the NCS with roughly 200 licenses. Our commitment to explore for further resources remains firm. We have a highly experienced team, and we are also leveraging the expertise of Eni, our major shareholder, one of the most successful explorers globally.”
According to Vår Energi, the latest discovery supports its plans for continuous development of the Balder area as a long-term production hub in the North Sea, as this black gold find unlocks new resources and proves the northern extension of the Ringhorne field. In addition, the Norwegian player underlines that the Ringhorne North discovery de-risks more drillable prospects in the area and opens up potential development synergies with other nearby discoveries such as King-Prince and Evra-Iving.
“The reserves and resource base in the Balder area has been steadily growing for decades and we are convinced it will continue to do so in decades to come. We are positioned to produce high value, low emission barrels for a long time – and the latest Ringhorne North discovery is underpinning our long-term production targets,” added Oldervoll.
UK & European Gas prices have been performing very well recently with UK natural gas prices now surging to above 82 pence a therm, the highest level since December, and all while Brent prices also remain at around the ~USD $90 mark.
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodities
UK and European Gas prices both now on the rise here while Brent remains nicely at USD $90+ levels:
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodities
Once again, always excellent to note, even further reductions in HBR Short positions as noted here today, now this being the THIRD consecutive/back to back rapid reduction by GLG Partners LP (3, 4, and 5 April 2024).
https://shorttracker.co.uk/company/GB00BMBVGQ36/
Bloomberg 8 April 2024
Oil Market to Get ‘Extremely Tight’ in Second Half, Citadel Says
Prices could rise to a level that will constrain demand
OPEC regained control of the market, says Sebastian Barrack
Global oil markets are on track to be “extremely tight” in the second half, with prices rising to a level that will eventually constrain demand if OPEC doesn’t bring back more supply, said the head of commodities at hedge fund Citadel.
“It has really fallen back to OPEC,” Citadel’s Sebastian Barrack said at the FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland on Monday. The group has “definitely regained control.”
Crude futures topped $90 a barrel last week for the first time since October as a combination of robust consumption, output disruptions and geopolitical risks pushed prices higher. Similar supply-demand dynamics have also lifted other industrial commodity markets out of their slumber, with copper hitting a 14-month high.
Citadel, a multi-strategy firm founded by billionaire Ken Griffin, has grown in recent years to become the biggest hedge fund player in commodities. It managed around $59 billion of investment capital as of March 1, according to its website.
In gas markets, the rapid growth of US liquefied natural gas supply in the next two years will be increasingly important for global prices, Barrack said. Exports of the fuel connect the country with the rest of the world and will have an “incredible” impact on volatility both domestically and internationally, he said.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-08/oil-market-to-get-extremely-tight-in-second-half-says-citadel
Always excellent to note, further reductions in HBR Short positions as noted here today, now this being the second consecutive/back to back reduction by GLG Partners LP (3 & 4 April 2024).
https://shorttracker.co.uk/company/GB00BMBVGQ36/
Always good to note Brent Oil, UK and European Gas prices all nicely on the rise again here:
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodities
Good to note that HBR Shorts have now clearly started to reduce their positions here, hopefully this trend will continue ahead, especially with USD $90+ Brent in place.
https://shorttracker.co.uk/company/GB00BMBVGQ36/
Interesting reading!
The Telegraph 27 March 2024:
Europe’s gas use to surge despite net zero promises
Only Germany tops Britain for future gas power generation
Europe plans to build enough new gas power stations to supply 60 million homes despite a target of decarbonising electricity grids by the middle of the 2030s...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/27/europe-britain-gas-use-surge-despite-net-zero/
Always good to see Brent Oil, UK and European Gas prices all nicely on the rise again here:
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodities
Https://seekingalpha.com/news/4081602-crude-inventory-decreased-by-2m-barrels-for-week-ended-march-15-eia
“Crude inventory decreased by 2M barrels for week ended March 15 - EIA”
“Harbour Energy (LON:HBR) Is Posting Promising Earnings But The Good News Doesn’t Stop There”
The stock was sluggish on the back of Harbour Energy plc's (LON:HBR) recent earnings report. Our analysis suggests that there are some reasons for hope that investors should be aware of.
Examining Cashflow Against Harbour Energy's Earnings
Many investors haven't heard of the accrual ratio from cashflow, but it is actually a useful measure of how well a company's profit is backed up by free cash flow (FCF) during a given period. To get the accrual ratio we first subtract FCF from profit for a period, and then divide that number by the average operating assets for the period. You could think of the accrual ratio from cashflow as the 'non-FCF profit ratio'.
That means a negative accrual ratio is a good thing, because it shows that the company is bringing in more free cash flow than its profit would suggest. While having an accrual ratio above zero is of little concern, we do think it's worth noting when a company has a relatively high accrual ratio. To quote a 2014 paper by Lewellen and Resutek, "firms with higher accruals tend to be less profitable in the future".
For the year to December 2023, Harbour Energy had an accrual ratio of -0.75. That implies it has very good cash conversion, and that its earnings in the last year actually significantly understate its free cash flow. Indeed, in the last twelve months it reported free cash flow of US$1.3b, well over the US$32.0m it reported in profit.
Our Take On Harbour Energy's Profit Performance
Happily for shareholders, Harbour Energy produced plenty of free cash flow to back up its statutory profit numbers. Based on this observation, we consider it possible that Harbour Energy's statutory profit actually understates its earnings potential! And on top of that, its earnings per share have grown at an extremely impressive rate over the last year.
O&G prices are flying very nicely at the moment:
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodities
Drilling Activity and Discoveries
Wintershall Dea will begin drilling the Kan-2 appraisal well on Block 30 offshore Mexico in the second half of 2024, following up the company’s discovery at the Kan exploration prospect made in April 2023.
UK operator Harbour Energy has reported a small gas discovery at its Ametyst exploration well located offshore Norway.
Harbour Energy has recently confirmed a gas discovery in its Ametyst well offshore Norway and the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) has now shared details about discovered resources.
https://www.marinelink.com/news/esgian-week-report-new-discoveries-uk-512307