Energean sparked higher by acquisition of minority stake in Israeli subsidiary

Energean PLC (LON:ENOG) rose 2.1% to 712.3p in late-morning trading after the firm said it has agreed to acquire the 30% minority interest in its subsidiary, Energean Israel Limited (EISL), from private equity group Kerogen, leaving it in full control of the group.

Energean said it will acquire the stake for a total consideration of between US$380mln-US$405mln, US$175mln of which will be paid upfront while deferred payments of between US$155mln and US$180mln are expected to be funded from future cash flows and optimisation of the group capital structure, post-first gas from its Karish project.

The acquisition payment also includes US$50mln of convertible loan notes, while Energean said the purchase will add 29.5bn cubic metres of gas and 30mln barrels of liquids, representing approximately 219mln barrels of oil equivalent in total, to its portfolio.

Elsewhere, mining firm Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) rose 1.4% to 2.8p after it said a maiden drill programme targeting the discovery of nickel and platinum group metals (PGM) is now underway at the Haneti nickel project in Tanzania.

The AIM-listed explorer, which owns a 35% stake in Haneti, said the programme involves 2,000 metres of Rotary Air Blast (RAB) drilling with a planned 50 holes to circa 40 metres depth per hole.

9.00am: Petrotal flows higher as it exports first oil from Brazil

Shares in Petrotal Corp (LON:PTAL) flowed up 4.9% to 13.9p in early trading after the company said it has completed the first export of Bretana oil into the Atlantic region through Brazil.

The AIM-listed firm said the initial shipment of 106,000 barrels will provide it with an additional option to monetise oil sales beyond its existing sales arrangements with Petroperu using the Northern Oil Pipeline, and to the Iquitos refinery.

Petroltal added that it will also facilitate future oil production growth when it continues development of the Bretana oil field, which is targeted to reach 20,000 barrels of oil per day in the first quarter of 2022.

Elsewhere, crypto mining firm Argo Blockchain PLC (LON:ARB) jumped 15.2% to 38p as the firm said it will co-lead an investment into Luxor Technologies, a management platform designed to maximise earnings for cryptocurrency miners.

The company said as part of the deal it will invest US$100,000 into Luxor, which the investee will then use to make several key engineering hires to strengthen the development of its hashrate management platform and build out its proof-of-work software infrastructure.