Energy Summary for Oct. 2, 2014
2014-10-02 20:20 ET - Market Summary
by Stockwatch Business Reporter
Another Lundin company, Africa Oil Corp. (AOI), lost 26 cents to $4.56 on 1.69 million shares. Ten months ago it traded above $10.60. Investors were impressed with its discoveries in the South Lokichar basin of Kenya, and hoped it would repeat its success in other basins by drilling what it calls "basin-opening" wells. It did not have much luck. Previous wells targeting the Turkana and Anza basins in Kenya and the Chew Bahir basin in Ethiopia were dry or disappointingly low in oil, although the most recent Anza well, Sala-1, made a gas discovery that Africa Oil says could be profitable. On top of that, the company announced last week that Kenya has introduced a new tax system under which foreign companies will have to pay capital-gains taxes of a hefty 37.5 per cent. The news prompted TD Securities analyst Shahin Amini to reduce his target yesterday to $10.50 from $13. Earlier this week, IR man Robert Eriksson tried to impress Swedish analysts by presenting at a conference for them in Gothenburg. His spoken presentation was in Swedish, but the PowerPoint was in English. He did not say much that Africa Oil did not already say in its press releases or in a conference call two weeks ago, with one exception: The Sala-2 well was noted as having been plugged and abandoned after finding "minor gas shows." Sala-2 was an appraisal well for the above-mentioned Sala discovery well in the Anza basin, which tested at six million cubic feet of gas a day. (That well and its test rate were in the same list as Sala-2, so the Sala-2 information does not look like a typo.) Africa Oil has not disclosed the new Sala result in a press release. This is probably because (according to the company) the Kenyan government said earlier this year that it is sick of being inundated with phone calls every time Africa Oil puts out news, and told the company to group multiple well results together. That means the next update on wells will likely come toward the end of the month or in early November, when the company is finished the Ekosowan-1 well (which is trying to make another discovery at Lokichar) and the Kodos-1 well (which is trying to "open" the Central Kerio basin, right beside Lokichar).
