Member Info for ZENGAS

" The Company and Savannah Investments will agree a royalty agreement for a 0.5% gross overriding royalty (capped at US$50 million) on crude oil sales attributable to a 17.14% participating interest in OPL 310.In the event the participating interest in OPL 310 held by Savannah or an Affiliate of Savannah is less than a 17.14% interest, the royalty rate will be 0.5% on that lower participating interest and the USD$50million cap will be appropriately reduced, and

*** in the event the participating interest is greater than 17.14%, the royalty rate will apply to 17.14% of the interest.*** "

Should add that previously LEK bought over Afrens share to take them to 40% but they didn't get ministerial consent and as far as i know that 22.86% Afren interest is still with the ministry.

Could Save be looking at 40% here ie 300+ mmbls net and be the technical partner ?

If SAVE gain the 17.14% interest on OPLL 310 it would give SAVE about 132 mmbls. They would exclude LEK other than a future payment from production so no involvement for LEK.

Optimum is still the 60% Indigenous partner. The below WoodMac report says there is now no technical partner.
Yesterday Energy Voice and the whole article should be read (see earlier post) that SAVE could develop it. So what happened to Afrens 22.86% interest (still sitting with the ministry?).

Why would Save develop it with only 17.14% ? and it's known that AK has always said they want to be operator or in control on most assets. So if you were going to take the old Afren interest you might not want Lekoil tagging along and have to sort that side of things out by getting Lek restructured ? It happened at Accugas with the minority interests and Save surprised us by taking the Petronas interests on top of Exxon in Chad keeping the number of partners to a minimum so could this be an early stage move on OPL 310/OGO ?

If anyone listened, in interviews it was vaguely said they might swap some of the old outstanding debt for an equity interest in a field.

Reading the wording in the Energy Voice article where they say it could pave the way for SAVE to develop the block and this from the WM report - could Save be looking at taking 40% of OGO (OPL310) and effectively some 300 mmbls net (with further significant upside) ?

WoodMackenzie report Jan 2022 $3100
'Ogo is a large oil and gas discovery located in shallow water offshore Lagos. Discovered in 2013, Ogo lies in the Keta-Togo-Benin Basin and yielded a P50 reserves estimate of 770 mmboe, well in excess of the pre-drill 200 mmboe estimate. In May 2014, a large 3D seismic survey was carried out over OPL 310 and OML 113. Within OPL 310, the survey covered 1,505 square kilometres equating to 80% of the block's acreage. Interpretation of the results commenced in H2 2014 and have now been completed. Although Ogo is a large discovery and potentially very valuable, the collapse of Afren and the current absence of an experienced technical operator means we have downgraded it to a technical reserve.'
https://www.woodmac.com/reports/upstream-oil-and-gas-opl-310-ogo-24514296

From Energy Voice yesterday

Eyes on Ogo

If Lekoil does not pay the amount back, Savannah can exchange the loan into 177.1 million new shares in Lekoil. There are currently around 536mn shares in Lekoil.
Savannah has also backed up a deal by Lekoil with some of its service providers. They have agreed to accept 22.9mn new Lekoil shares to cover unpaid fees. If Savannah owns both sets of shares, it will control 25.2% of Lekoil.
Furthermore, Lekoil has signed an option with Savannah granting an option on inter-company debt. This is owed to Lekoil by Mayfair Assets & Trusts, with an associated security on OPL 310.

This licence holds the Ogo discovery, one of the largest finds globally in 2013, but which became mired in various difficulties.

The deal potentially paves the way for Savannah to develop the block, with a royalty interest due to Lekoil.

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/africa/ep-africa/391296/nigeria-savannah-lekoil-financing/

If the restructuring works out SAVE will have 25% of a producing company.
Otakipiko is to ramp up to 6-8,000 bopd.
With the other discoveries LEK would be left with about 57 mmboe of reserves/resources.
OPL 325 is covered to some extent by 3D and has a gross unrisked 5.7 billion boip and at 62%= approx 1 billion bls unrisked recoverable for Lek.
Save would have 2 directors on the board.

The bigger prize is OPL310 and the 2 discovery wells left as producers on OGO with 774 mmbls estimated recoverable. It could be up to 40% higher. There's also additional analogue prospects on the block.

Saves goal appears to be to take this interest independently of LEK who would get a future $50m payment cap overtime from Saves net production. Save should gain at least over 100 mmbo and if this is achieved it will be a significant material development at limited cost rather than the 25% ownership of LEK.

Kos results just out this am and have included these along with TLW. Both these stocks are still in recovery and should grow higher. Net debt increased to $2.59b today.

Kosmos listed in London Aug 2017 with 389m shares and £5.20 = £2b m/cap + $1.28b net debt. Now 452m shares F/D.
From 110 mmbls P2 in 2017 and today = 580 mmboe P2.

Year/Revenue/Production/Net Debt with (£ M/Cap in brackets).
2016 $310m/18,500 bopd/ $1.32b
2017 $578m/30,500 bopd /$1.28b (110 mmbls P2) (£2b m/cap)
2018 $886m/50,500 bopd/$2.12b (£2.8b m/cap)
2019 $1.5b/68,000 bopd/$2b (£2.1b m/cap)
2020* $804m/60,800 bopd/$2b (£2b - £350m/cap)
2021 $$1.32b/70,000 boepd/$2.59b (£1.53b m/cap)

Tullow from end 2016 with 914m shares , 2017 = 1386m shares and currently 1.43b shares in issue.
Also 550 mmbls reserves/resources end 2016 to 220 mmbls P2 now.

Year/Revenue/Production/Net Debt with (£ M/Cap in brackets).
2016 $1.27b/67,100 boepd/$4.8b (£3b m/cap)
2017 $1.7b/89,000 boepd/$3.5b (£2.7b m/cap)
2018 $1.9b/88,200 boepd/$3.1b (£2.43b m/cap)
2019 $1.68b/86,800 boepd/$2.8b (£989m m/cap)
2020* $1.396b/74,900 boepd/$2.37b (£425m - £140m m/cap)
2021 'Expected to be $1.3b/59,200 boepd/$2.1b' (£745m m/cap) .
"Oil production guidance is 55 to 61 kboepd 2022"
==============================

OilPrice.com historic Brent chart used . April 2017 $55/b with an average Nov 2017 - Jan 2020 of approx $65/b. Substantial crater in 2020 with recovery to and stayed over $65/b since March 2021. (2020* = Price crash/revenue & m/cap range).

SAVE 38k boepd, 183 mmboe 2P, projected $8-$900m revenue including midstream. Net debt yr end $579m falling to $134m in 2.5 years. M/cap £350m @ 27p (£378m F/d). 25k bopd of further acquisition at $6-$800m cost range @ $70/b oil takes revenue to about $1.4-$1.5billion. With their acquisition strategy i expect them to overtake or equal the above with the valuation range to be 100p-150p before any significant Niger exploration. Dyor (and the maths).

Certainly looks like VR Global now gone this evening

After reducing from 4.58%, VR Global had a remaining holding balance this morning of 4,909,183 shares (0.37%).

Trades after 4pm today-

6:10:48 1m 27p
16:15:06 1m 27p
16:15:27 2m 27p
16:15:55 909,183 27p.

Total 4,909,183 @ 27p.

' Mount Teide 23 Feb '22 - 11:36 - 4751 of 4762

Goldman has raised their 2022 average Brent price from $85/bbl to $96/bbl, and to $105/bbl for 2023 - S&P Global Platts '
=================================

To expand on what MT posted (on the Ad v f n board). Simply put, if the Goldman averages were to pan out, it means there is some $165m additional FCF to play for (including the Accugas refinancing ) to the end of next year.

Therefore with strong oil prices and refinancing on Accugas due, can we be possibly net debt free on the existing assets a year earlier ?

FinnCap on their $60/b price and net debt estimate for this yr end = $569m. Next year end = $378m. End 2024 just $134m.

In addition to that $165m additional FCF to play for - From this mid year on ie Workovers/Well Optimisations & Polymer flooding EOR + Company owned rig arriving year end x 12 new wells/yr.

Every 5% increase in Doba production (approx 1100 bls) = + $7m at the base case.

2 x forecast 1500 bopd oil wells (revenue sharing) already drilled and waiting to be connected at Stubb creek with debottlenecking to occur next year.

Can we achieve 1-1500 bopd phase 1 from Niger in line with forecast pipeline completion Q2 next year ?

Another potential income source is if other Chad producers along with ourselves increase pipeline throughput, meaning more cash from this midstream interest but i'm not looking at that within the window by end of next year as having real impact nor including anything from additional Accugas GSAs.

All in all, If those assets are practically paid down much sooner, it leaves the possibility to leverage up by $1b+ for more substantial divestment assets and become a 60-70k+ boepd producer (prior to the Niger exploration upside) with the added bonus of midstream income assets but approx $1b less net debt than Tlw/Kos but similar or bigger in size.

As i see it, all reserves depletion from production for the next 6-8 years in Nigeria & Chad likely to be replaced from the significant 2C volume and the main Uquo producing field has already had a 27% reserves upgrade last September after allowing for past production.

Meanwhile blue sky potential from Niger exploration.

Personally glad to see the majority of main institutions over 3% having increased at the placing and some of them since, which is a big vote of confidence and speaks volume for whats on offer here.

54% of FCF derived from non oil price (ie Accugas/C-C pipeline).

But on the oil assets -
From the $75/b assumed oil price for this year (my original reference was post 4419 on 31st Jan) and how it now might look

For January the average was $84/b = + $1.6m
Oil should at least average $92/b for February meaning = + $3.2m = almost $5m further cash adjustment since Jan 1st this year.

An average of $90/b to 30/6 would be worth approx an extra $17m to recieve by mid year - not to be sniffed at plus if the Accugas refinancing is in place by mid year it offers some $27m additional FCF/Yr.

'IF' $90/oil average and 6 months contributions of Accugas refinancing = approx additional $48m FCF could be expected this year.

Maybe not that obvious but yesterdays door opened in a very positive way with AXXELA (same Victoria Island complex) gas distribution company 100% owned by Africas biggest private equity investor. https://www.axxelagroup.com/operations/ All since SAVE gained access into the new market reach area with Afam as the 1st deal.

18 February 22, 11:46 am

#Niger, #Nigeria and Algeria have signed the ‘Declaration of Niamey’ during ECOMOF 2022 this week that will see the resumption of the multi-billion-dollar Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project that runs through the countries.
https://bit.ly/3JBzSG0

Older

I have to ask, where has it been said that we ever had any buying opportunity in the past to ourselves ?
Also how are current higher oil prices making any new acquisition higher risk and lower reward ?

Surely the fact that the CPR and presentatation itself is based on a longer term $65/b and FC using $60/b is reason enough that they don't veer off chasing assets at too high prices just because in a 1-2 year period they find their current ranging $80-$95/b.

There might be problems that push oil higher on Ukraine/Russia but if the Iran nuclear deal is sorted that will bring fresh oil into the market and why it's dropped of its high and why i posted recently i'm investing on that $60/b F/Cap average.

I doubt SAVE would overpay - why would they ? - Any oil price will be valued on a longer term outlook. Of course with a higher oil price, there's no reason that any deal will not have a similar clause where some of that uplift is shared with the seller and capped over 1-3+ years like it has been built into the Exxon deal to $80/b and built into the Panoro deal in acquiring Tullows EQ asset.
The asset pool from the 4 main majors alone for divestment is beleived to be about $100b. Save have said they have access to capital and in their info have said they can borrow to $2.5b. Many of the companies that could chase these assets are already heavily indebted at much greater levels (Tlw $2.1b/Kos $2.3b). Are they and others in a similar position like them going to buy assets at high oil prices and risk having seriously high debt levels all over again in 2-3 years that they can't manage if oil prices turn lower ? Some assets will be out of others price range and some companies may not have access to the same level of debt as SAVE.

Since well over a year ago i've said we could end up with similar production to my two comparrisons for perhaps $1b less and i still think that.

At the GM in January, SAVE stated they were not buying assets for oil volume sake but looking at the right deep value assets with upside. They screened about 20 assets in 202-21 and reportedly 27 this year - so far we have 2 signed and it's been a well flagged strategy/goal this past few years that this was happening. Just because they've been reported in the press at looking at this or that doesn't mean we end up buying everything we are mentioned in. (Occidental Ghana, ENI Tunisia, Exxon Chad, Exxon Equatorial Guinea, Petronas Chad, Petronas S.Sudan and others). Mid life and older assets are for sale in this divestment era/window and the right buyers need to be found and will there be enough of them imo.

Yesterdays AI

16/2/22

Vaalco eyes Chevron and ExxonMobil's assets

Boosted by strong financial results, US junior Vaalco Energy has plans for new acquisitions, and has its sights set on fields operated by oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron in Equatorial Guinea.

In its latest press release announcing its fourth-quarter 2021 results, Texan firm Vaalco Energy remained intentionally vague about its new plans, mentioning without going into further detail that it was looking for "opportunities" in Equatorial Guinea. While praising his company's good financial health, CEO George Maxwell did not specify which assets Vaalco was interested in. The energy company is already in the country having recently carried out feasability studies on block P, where the Venus and Europa discoveries were made, and is currently coveting two other sites.

Targeting Zafiro

According to our sources, Vaalco is interested in buying the Zafiro oil field currently operated by ExxonMobil. The field, which is also coveted by Trident Energy, and at one time by Tullow Oil, has been on the market since 2019 although Malabo has not yet approved any of the potential buyers who have expressed an interest. Zafiro produces 30,000 bpd but the field has been in decline for the past decade and Exxonmobil's partner, state-owned GEPetrol, cannot afford the necessary investment to reverse it. To buy out ExxonMobil's 71%, Vaalco would have to fork out several million dollars which it does not have, despite the lucrative yields of its Etame Marin block in Gabon (whose production rose from 619,000 barrels in the first quarter of 2021 to 741,000 barrels in the third).

Chevron in the balance

Vaalco is also interested in Chevron's blocks in Equatorial Guinea. The US major started producing from its fields offshore in 2020 after buying Noble Energy for $13bn. For the past decade, Noble has been producing oil from the Aseng and Alen fields (whose gas has been supplying the EGLNG train since 2021). Chevron, which is more interested in Noble Energy's US and Israeli licenses may not stay in Equatorial Guinea, despite the acquisition at the end of 2021 of a new license (EG-09), which Noble won before it was then taken over by Chevron.

From AI

17/2/22

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Trident bids again for ExxonMobil's Zafiro as Savannah lies in wait
Equatorial Guinea's largest oilfield, Zafiro, has been on sale for nearly three years and continues to attract the attention of junior players, despite some of these being repeatedly rejected in Malabo.

Jean-Michel Jacoulot has tried his luck one more time. The managing director of Trident Energy, formerly with Perenco, contacted ExxonMobil management once again at the end of last year about their Equatorail Guinean Zafiro field (30,000 bpd), but as before they rejected his offer. Already operating in the country since 2017 in partnership with Kosmos Energy, Trident Energy is unlikely to acquire new assets due to the French nationality of its management.

The sticking point is not ExxonMobil, which has no reason to refuse the deal. Yet the American group has accepted the fact that such a deal would never be approved by the government, who have consistently turned down the Trident deal for the past three years under pressure from Teodorin Obiang Nguema, the son of Equatorial Guinean president Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The heir apparent is not happy with the fact that in 2020 he was given a three-year suspended prison sentence by the Paris Court of Appeal in the "ill-gotten gains" case.

Others in the picture

According to our sources, another party has started discussions with ExxonMobil about buying Zafiro: Savannah Energy. The firm, which is the flavour of the month on the continent, is in the final stages of preparations to purchase the shares of ExxonMobil and Petronas in the Doba oilfields in southern Chad. The deal is worth $600m. but Savannah boss Andrew Knott's appetite seems to be far from satisfied.
Since 2014, Savannah has bought the blocks given back by China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) on Agadem in Niger, and then Seven Energy's gas operations in the Niger Delta in Nigeria in 2019. In parallel to the ongoing negotiations in Chad, Knott is also in talks with Petronas to take over its blocks in South Sudan, via the London investment bank Jefferies (AI, 24/12/21).

I posted this on the other board in response to possible high price v demand destruction.

Nearly everyone will remember the dramatic climb to $140/b in June 2008 and steep decline to $46/b in Jan 2009 before rising to $125/b in April 2011. It averaged $110/b for almost 4 years to Q3 2014 (check the chart for reference) before hitting a low of $36/b in Dec 2015 before recovering to over $80/b in 2018 where it averaged $65/b before the Covid severe price blip to $22/b in 2020 and that fall needs to be seen in context before a sharp rebound in a matter of months. The overall average in 2020 was still a lot higher than the absolute short term low that scared the pants of people with a short term outlook.

Now it's in the $90/b range.

If you look back at the period from Dec 2010 to Sept 2014 - almost 4 years where oil averaged about $110/b - those prices did not cause demand destruction (again check the chart).

Now 10-12 years on allowing for inflation, oil is still well below that range but i believe $100/b oil for 2-3 years could be possible.

Either way, i choose to rely on the base case figures of $65/b in SAVEs long term presentation and where FinnCap use $60/b to eradicate net debt from $569m this year end to $378m next and $134m in just under 3 years in overall total. Of course 12-18 months of strong oil prices would be a bonus combined with the Accugas debt refinancing, a modest ramp up in production and/or some additional gas sales could eliminate the net debt by a year earlier.

The net debt of 30p on the books will translate to value as it reduces on top of the 85p price target using $60/b oil (F/Cap) = 115p.

It's worth remembering that we have significant insulation in oil price swings by having fixed long term gas contracts and substantial pipeline tarrifs in our revenue mix.

Brent historic for reference https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/brent-crude-oil

AI 8/2/22

NIGER

CNPC going full steam ahead on export pipeline
China is revving up the bulldozers on its huge Agadem oil pipeline project now that it has lifted its Covid-19 ban. This massive undertaking will stretch 2,000km from south-east Niger to Benin.

Less than a year and a half to go before China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) can officially begin exporting Agadem oil via Benin. The company recently touched based on the project with senior officials from the Nigerien ministry of oil. According to our sources, over the last six months, CNPC has already laid around 100km of pipeline between the Agadem oilfields and Zinder, a city on the border with Nigeria where the refinery is located. The rest of the route, covering a total 1,980km of which 1,293 are in Niger and 687 in Benin, is expected take longer as some densely populated areas still need to be vacated.

This should not pose too much of a problem in Niger as a lot of the infrastructure passes through desert areas. However, in Benin, not all of the expropriations have been negotiated with the local populations, especially in the south near to the future export port of Cotonou where there is far more urban space than land.

Projected output

CNPC expects to be exporting around 90,000 bpd via the pipeline from its Agadem oilfields by the end of June 2023. This will bring Niger's total production to 110,000 bpd, of which 20,000 bpd will be used to supply the Zinder refinery inaugurated in 2011. This output is likely to change quickly once Savannah Energy starts up production on its R1, R2, R3 permits, on which 50 million barrels have already been discovered.

As we revealed (AI, 13/12/21), the signing of the new contract on these four blocks was conditional on the company making a moral, unwritten, commitment to achieve first oil in 2023. The British junior's management is expect in Niamey to sign this new agreement in the coming weeks. Sipex (Sonatrach) has also won a new contract on its Kafra licence in exchange for the promise to drill four wells in four years and develop the reserves quickly.

edit

Should add that Ingalls and Snyder have added a further 7m since the 3/1/22 to over 79m now

(so have gone from 53.78m pre placing to 72.76m when the placing was conducted and have since picked up that extra 7m in the last month to 79.738m.)

Holdings 3/1/22
Standard Life 82.78m to 121.439m = + 38.65m (9.73%)
TT International 90.25m to 120m = + 29.78m (9.62%)
Premier Miton 90.7 to 109.3m = + 18.6m (8.76%)
Capital Group 64.59m to 96.128m = + 31.52m.
VR Global 57.125m = unchanged.
Ingals & Snyder 53.78m to 72.76m = + 18.9m.
JO Hambro 51.384m to 64.4m = + 13m
Cavendish 51.2m = unchanged.
At least 6 of the biggest institutions added 150m shares.
CEO + 11.6m. M Iannotti + 1.7m. Chairman + 258k. Sir S O'Brien + 258k. D Clarkson + 517k = Directors total + 14.33m.
Accounts for 164.3m out of the 251m new issue. Leaves 86.7m hopefully taken up by existing/new institutions/HNWs that are below the 3% level. Stated as oversubscribed.

=========================

Update on the website today 7/2/22 - top 8 shareholdings above 3% hold 55.66% + 4.6% directors = 60.26%.
Abrdn (Standard Life) RNS on the 28th Jan that they added 3m to 125.118m = over 10%.
I do not see Cavendish listed now. Have they undergone a name change or are they a seller still to report ?. They did not add in the placing so may be reducing post relist if they haven't had a name change ?
RWC Asset adivsors are now on the significant shareholders list holding 43.7m which is 3.5%.

"The African Export-Import Bank has invested in the Ecow-Gas project aiming to boost Liquefied Natural Gas distribution in #Africa and put the continent on the path of energy "
'To deepen Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) penetration in West Africa, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) through its subsidiary, Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), on Thursday said it has invested in Ecow-Gas B.V. (Ecowgas), a special purpose vehicle designed to achieve that objective.
The investment follows a realization that limited power supply from the grid has plunged Africa’s industrial sector into severe energy shortages, leading to high production costs, inefficient operations and reduced global competitiveness, amongst scathing development.
The regional bank thus reckons that off-grid solutions were required to address the aforementioned challenges and put Africa firmly on the path to energy sustainability.
Commenting on the development, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, Prof Benedict Oramah said that FEDA’s investment in Ecow-Gas, in partnership with a leading international oil company, will support the creation of the infrastructure to provide access to cheaper and cleaner fuels for underserved industrial customers across the region using LNG.
This, he explained, will also promote efforts to minimize carbon monoxide emission by replacing environment-polluting fuels currently in use.
“FEDA’s investment in Ecow-Gas is a testament to its mission of providing development equity capital to sectors critical to the growth and development of intra-African trade, export development and industrialisation. Through this investment, FEDA is seeking to unlock access to affordable and cleaner energy for industrialization purposes and to significantly impact intra-regional trade, especially in the West Africa region”, Oramah stated.
Emmanuel Assiak, Acting Chief Executive Officer, FEDA , added:” We are delighted to partner with experienced operators and investors on this mission-critical opportunity to unlock the provision of cheaper and cleaner fuel in West Africa. The combined complementary skills and capabilities within the Ecow-Gas platform stakeholders will help enable the Company to execute its growth plans. We believe that EcowGas will help to significantly remove the energy supply and cost bottlenecks that negatively impact the competitiveness of the region as a manufacturing destination.”
Kwaku Boakye-Adjei, CEO of H Investments and Ecow-Gas, commented: “We are excited to commence this project as we see LNG as not only a fuel for large scale Independent Power Producers in the region but for mid to small scale industries as well to transition from Heavy Fuel Oil, Diesel and other distillates and ultimately, to renewables. LNG powered microgeneration can help to alleviate issues such as intermittency which act as a barrier to wide scale adoption of renewables in West Africa.”
https://www.sunnewsonline.com

I wonder what could possibly lie outside the future Oil & Gas and Renewable energy projects where they might make investments or take some kind of stake ?

The last interivew/GM AK was keen not to be too generous with a dividend and said he beleived better use of this could be made via re-investing.

From the last presentation - ' Other Areas'

'Savannah and our employees are passionate around our goal of assisting Africa to industrialise.
Over the course of the coming years, Savannah intends to explore investments in other industries in Africa consistent with this goal.'

So it's now a goal ?

As Africa industrialises perhaps there could be up and coming ground floor growth opportunities. Is there a possibility for stakes/partnerships in companies/business that could also have the potential for future seperate listings ?

CHAD
Savannah Energy always opts for Azerbaijani traders

The British junior continues to enjoy the support of Azerbaijani funds when acquiring blocks in Africa. After Niger, Savannah is now interested in Chad.
The information can be found on one tiny line, hidden in a 564-page prospectus entitled 'Savannah Energy PLC, admission document, December 2021'. This document allowed Savannah Energy back on the London Stock Exhange, after a suspension pending information about its plans to buy assets from Petronas and ExxonMobil in Chad. In it, Savannah names the "senior lender" who will help raise part of the $600m needed to obtain 75% of the Chadian licences, which currenly represent around 30,000 bpd. The senior lender is Maddox DMCC, named after the street in London's Mayfair neighourhood.

Maddox is not just any trader. It was run by Mariam Almaszade from 2016 to 2018. Almaszade currently runs Socar Trading, owned by Azerbaijani oil giant Socar, in turn run by Rovnag Abdoullayev, also one of President Ilham Aliev's MPs. Maddox has headquarters in Dubai and Geneva, but is little-known in the trading community there. Founded by Azerbaijani Rovshan Tamrazov, it is known for its close ties to his country. When contacted, Tamrazov declined to comment.

Azerbaijani aid on Agadem
As we revealed, the ties between Savannah Energy's founder and MD Andrew Knott and Azerbaijan are not new. When it purchased China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC)'s R1, R2, R3 and R4 former blocks on the Agadem zone in Niger in 2014, one of Socar's longstanding traders, Turab Musayev, became a stakeholder in Savannah through his company Luzon Investments (AI, 16/10/18). Turab Musayev's brother, Taleh Musayev, is also one of Knott's old acquaintances. They worked together at US bank Merrill Lynch and he also holds a stake in Savannah through Aralia Capital and Peleng Holding Corp. In 2013, Knott and Musayev even founded a company together - Lothian Oil & Gas Partners - which provided financial and administrative services to Savannah in 2014.

In last months admmision doc -

'Accugas Limited will begin construction on the interconnection works necessary to connect the Accugas facilities to the Mulak facilities, the cost of which is for Mulak. Mulak are developing a compressed natural gas production facility at Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State.'

The Mulak contract kicks off July next year. It has a 7 year initial period and is priced at $5.15 mcf linked to US PPI. FinnCap in their 2021 coverage had pencilled in 10 mmcf/d after 3 years. That would be worth $19m/year and could be worth a lot more as gas gensets really grow and a deal with Mulak is about the best you can get and it could mean a nationwide rollout.

(Customer Benefits include 40% Saving in Energy Costs and 30% Reduction in Carbon Footprint (RNS headline last year). There is about 25GW supplied via diesel/petrol/ gensets. We currently supply barely 10-15% of the current 4-5GW that goes out to the grid so a huge market to tap into and why Mulak could be as big as all our current output over time.