By Amy McLellan The highly anticipated Badada-1 wildcat in Block 2B in Kenya’s Anza Basin has spudded, a potential play-opener that will be closely watched by shareholders in Canada’s Taipan Resources and AIM-quoted Tower Resources. Legal wrangles had threatened to delay the drill in November but, as predicted by the parties involved, an injunction was…
By Stewart Dalby A year ago the managers of LGO Energy, which was then called Leni Gas & Oil, talked about production from Trinidad, and in particular from the flagship Goudron field, reaching 2000 bopd. But it seemed more like a wistful dream rather than a meaningful target. LGO had been picking the low lying…
By Alastair Ford It’s been an interesting 12 months for George Ogilvie. George was appointed chief executive of Kirkland Lake Gold back in December 2013, just as the gold price was bottoming out at US$1,200 per ounce after a precipitous fall from US$1,800. That fall, following repeated delays to the planned expansion programme at the…
By Amy McLellan With the oil price still in free-fall, oil companies are weighing their options carefully as what looked a steal just six weeks ago at US$70 per barrel now looks far less compelling as the price sinks below US$50. As a result, deals are being pulled and projects iced as companies wait for…
By Stewart Dalby When we last wrote about TSX-Venture listed Cub Energy in the middle of November last year we reported that Cub Chairman and CEO Mikhail Afendikov said the company intended to keep “truckin” on in Ukraine, where it is focused, despite concerns about continued operations in that troubled country. At that point the…
By Alastair Ford The Merelani graphite project in Tanzania isn’t exactly new. It was discovered several decades ago on a site not far from the town of Arusha in the north of the country and within sight of Mount Kilimanjiro. But graphite markets have been fickle over the years, and although it was briefly mined,…
Central Asia Metals has continued the strong run of results it initiated in 2012, reporting record annual copper production for the year to December 2014 of 11,136 tonnes. That represents a six per cent increase year-on-year and a significant percentage increase on the nameplate capacity of the company’s Kounrad operation in Kazakhstan, which was originally…
By Stewart Dalby Is there corporate life after death? You might conclude, after the recent experience of ASX and AIM-listed Tangiers Petroleum, that there is. I exaggerate. Tangiers did not die, but following the news last August that the Tao-1 exploration well on the Tarfaya block offshore Morocco was a duster, the company was in…
By Amy McLellan News that the President of Cameroon has at last inked a transformational farm-out of the Etinde permit in Cameroon means shareholders in Bowleven will be able to breathe a little easier. It has been an anxious wait for the President to sign-off on this document, which transfers a 50 per cent slug…
By Alastair Ford Contrary to popular belief, not all Chinese investors have an endless supply of US dollars. Sure, the great parastatals do, and their investments are dictated largely by policy and the necessity of securing supply. But further down the food chain, things are a little different. And it’s further down the food chain…
