Longboat Energy Share Discussion Threads

[ohisay] 10/11/2023 13:17

Absolutely re UPL. If there was ever a stock defying gravity ...

Im old enough to remember being in Cove too .!

LBE my largest position .
You never know whats going to turn up here with that cash cushion for deals.

[zengas] 10/11/2023 12:54

To have 52.5% of a 12,000 km2 block of this size with over 6,000 km2 of 3D seismic not to mention 17,500 km lines of 2D is phenomenal.

The cost to carry out that amount of seismic would run into the tens of $millions alone along with the extensive geochemistry work confirming very high concentrations of methane and low CO2. That can't be understated.

At about 17 mins into the interview James Menzies says they beleive there could be in excess of 9 TCF recoverable for Kertang.

At 18:30 he states that 'there are multiple structures surrounding Kertang that are also extremely big - it's just that they are dwarfed by this giant.'

When you refer back to the Topaz slides particularly page 6 you can see '3 main identified prospects' which includes Kertang. The two other structures are in very close proximity to Kertang with the other 2 combined having an area roughly the size of Kertang itself. All 3 are covered by 2,900 km2 of 3D seismic.

Given the analogue description to the smaller 6 TCF Kasawari field - taking into account the 3 main structures, there could well be potential for 15+ TCF recoverable here.

Retaining 10-20% post farmout would be potentially huge given a ready gas market.

Not since Cove acquired 8.5% offshore Rovuma from struggling Artumas in 2009 has there been an opportunity as big imo.

Their share price was 9p in 2009. If you were patient, Dolmens Brian Gallagher called it a speculative buy on tues 9th March 2010 and a target of 59p.

By the time Shell had bid in Feb 2012 there was an estimated 20+ tcf recoverable estimated. Shell bid $1.8b while PTTEP of Thailand pipped them with a $1.9b takeout at 240p post tax.

Coves 8.5% share of 20-30 TCF = 1.7 - 2.55 TCF.

Reataining 10-20% of block 2A for LBE could mean on the 3 prospects covered by 3D, there might be 1.5 - 3 TCF net to play for.



14/3/12
'Cove said it was “delighted to note” that Anadarko had announced “an increase of the P90 (Proven) estimated recoverable gas resource of the gas discovery area by another 2 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf). The gas discovery area is now estimated to contain 17 to 30 plus (Tcf) of recoverable gas”.

At Wednesday’s early trading price of 209.75p (up 0.75p), the market cap in US$ is just over $1.6bn. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. The shares last month touched a high of 283p – giving a market cap of $2.16bn – before reports that the Mozambique authorities might tax the deal.'
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At this price LBE is well underpinned by what it has already and with a few upcoming deals both in Norway and S.E Asia, this has to be one of the best opportunities around with patience. If this was coming to market on the basis of just Block 2A as an only asset i'd have thought it would have been in the £50m-£75m price range alone.

UPL mentioned earlier - but there's no PSC yet, no 3D which will be needed at some point and no estimate of recoverable resources (no 3D again which would help), no other assets of strength, no cash and at 2.75p carrying a m/cap of £32.5m compared to here underpinned by assets and in no doubt with forthcoming deals via Japex supplying it with the $100m of cash for such.

[darcon] 10/11/2023 10:44

Auctus Advisors currently have a core NAV of £0.31 and a ReNAV of £0.57 on LBE.

Auctus's calculations currently do not include the Kertang prospect. It will be interesting to see what Auctus's risked and unrisked estimated values will be once the Kertang prospect is properly defined by the LBE team for farm-out purposes. Will Auctus offer up some estimated values when the Topaz acquisition is completed or will Auctus wait until LBE provide further information about the prospect or later upon farm-out?

In their September 28th note Auctus among others wrote:

"The cash consideration to be paid by Longboat Norge for interests in Sygna and Statfjord Øst on completion is expected to be near the headline price of US$12.75 mm announced in July. In the interim period until completion, a five well infill programme has been undertaken to double production to 600 boe/d net to Longboat Norge.

• Overall, we forecast that Longboat plc will hold ~£4 mm in cash at YE23. The repayment of £32 mm of exploration financing facility held by Longboat Norge due in November will be repaid from the £35 mm Norwegian Government tax rebate due at the same time.

• The Lotus exploration well is expected to be drilled in 2024. This is the remaining high impact well of the programme with an unrisked NAV of £0.22 per share.

• We re-iterate our target price of £0.60 per share.

• The shares continue to trade well below the value of the business based on the Kveikje discovery and Statfjord Øst & Sygna only.

[ohisay] 10/11/2023 02:31

Interesting comparison there between Kertang and Kasawari ,

Kasawari discovery under field development by PETRONAS (post FID); approx. 6 TCF & column height in excess of 1,000m; due onstream at 900 mmscf/d

Quite why UPL is 3 times the market cap of LBE when they are basically a one trick pony without the support of the likes of Japex is beyond me .

[sogoesit] 09/11/2023 10:31

Makes sense imv. Deep pockets will be needed for Kertang and Japex have that.

[ohisay] 06/11/2023 03:27

Indeed re Kertang..Japex have already been partnering with Petronas on Carbon Storage projects since last year.

[darcon] 03/11/2023 14:02

US sanctions on Russian LNG project put additional pressure on Japanese companies to find alternative gas supplies according to Bloomberg:



Presumably the four executives seconded by Japex to Longboat Japex Norway have got the memo from head office and are working diligently with the LBE team on identifying and closing the right development project for all or part of that $100m of Japex debt funding.


Also, surely Japex could become interested in the future once those Kertang prospective gas resources are ready to be farmed out. If the Japex/LBE team ends up working well in Norway then who is to say a similar JV structure is not possible in Malaysia or elsewhere.

[bumpa33] 02/11/2023 08:41

Kertang has prospective mean resources of some 9TCF gas, roughly equates to 1.6billion barrels oil equivalent if my math is correct. That’s the kind of target that gets investors salivating. They’ve indicated they’ll bring in big partner(s) for this size of play. Until then it’s what they bring in in the way of deals in conjunction with JAPEX. At this mkt cap as said, you get a heck of lot of bang for your buck.

So, a waiting game for the drills, hopefully not so much though for development deals.

[ohisay] 01/11/2023 10:41

Yes indeed ..and Kveikje /Lotus drills next summer.
Reminder of the Cavendish note a month ago ...you get a lot of bang for your buck here.

Significant Discovery Adjacent to Kveikje Wellesley Petroleum has made one of the largest discoveries offshore Norway over the past ten years, containing 60-100mmboe of gas condensate, and up to 300mmmboe potential recoverable in and round the accumulation.
The discovery significantly derisks the deeper Jurassic prospectivity on the adjacent Longboat acreage.
An exploration well targeting Lotus is scheduled for Q3/24.
- Rebuilding Balance Sheet Strength
Whilst cash at the end of the period was £2.1m, Longboat’s ‘Group’ cash post the completion of the JAPEX transaction stands at £10.9m, c.104% of Longboat’s current market cap. Exploration finance facility drawings at period end were £33.7m, which will be repaid from the Norwegian Government’s tax rebate of £35.5m due in November.

[sogoesit] 01/11/2023 09:43

Yep, LBE is highly prone to newsflow at this stage of its development and it looks to me as most upcoming news will be significant given the aspiration for "deals" as, iirc the next well is quite some time away (?).

[bumpa33] 01/11/2023 07:58

One month ago we had the Q&A session where Helge said LBE are “focused on the first significant deal in Norway with JAPEX”. Wonder when we’ll get news on this…?


Just over 20 minutes in…





Could re-rate in a flash if it is indeed “significant”…

[ohisay] 24/10/2023 08:58

Thanks for the article Darcon.

[darcon] 23/10/2023 12:01

Recent Petroleum Economist article from 5 October 2023 which also mentions their strategy and increasing of their stake in the "Kertang" prospect:

"Longboat splits attention between Norway and Malaysia
CEO Helge Hammer speaks to Petroleum Economist about the company’s recent activities and its expansion plans

Norway-headquartered independent Longboat Energy recently expanded its footprint in Malaysia and has ambitions for further M&A-led growth. CEO Helge Hammer spoke to Petroleum Economist about the company’s recent activities, its expansion plans and the parallels to be found in operating in the Norwegian and Malaysian upstream sectors.


Longboat Energy CEO Helge Hammer
“Our long-term goal is to build a large gas-focused business,” explained Hammer. The idea is to be a “full-cycle E&P player”, he continued, comprising production and development, in addition to exploration. Longboat is “very active in M&A” and that is how the company plans to grow its production, said Hammer, adding that there are “multiple live processes” underway and that “hopefully before next summer” the company will have announced multiple new deals. Longboat is seeking assets that are already in production, or in advanced development and near production, and Hammer confirmed the independent is looking at potential acquisitions in Norway, Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Earlier this year, Longboat secured a deal with Japan’s JAPEX to form a joint venture (JV) in Norway called Longboat JAPEX Norge; the partnership includes a $100m financing facility. The JV intends to “pursue growth... on the Norwegian continental shelf... primarily through the acquisition of production and development projects and growing 2P reserves to reach a significant production level within three-to-five years”, Longboat stated, as well as continuing “to pursue exploration and appraisal opportunities with the target of drilling one to three wells per year”. The JAPEX finance is a very important component to the expansion plans, Hammer added.

As for managing risk as a small independent, Longboat is primarily looking to spend on deals, Hammer said, but also on exploration, using the traditional model for smaller oil and gas firms, which he explained is to enter a basin or development early and then subsequently farm down their stake and bring in partners to help bring the asset into production.

Malaysia and the Kertang prospect

Longboat's most recent acquisition was that of the privately owned Topaz, which had been a partner in the Block 2A production-sharing contract (PSC) offshore Sarawak, Malaysia. Topaz’s sole asset was a 17.5% stake in the block, so the deal increased Longboat’s share to 52.5%, with the rest held by Malaysian NOC Petronas and Sarawak state-owned company Petros. The majority, operating stake puts Longboat in “a stronger position” and Hammer confirmed they are looking for a larger company to bring in as a partner, potentially—but not necessarily—one that would take over operations.

“Small cap players can find success where the majors are leaving behind opportunities to extract value” Hammer, Longboat
Block 2A includes the “huge deepwater gas prospect” of Kertang, which is potentially “multi-tcf in size” and meshes with the company’s gas-orientated goals, said Hammer. He noted Shell owns neighbouring Block 3 and said any development of Kertang would benefit from Sarawak’s existing gas pipeline and LNG export infrastructure, particularly as the latter requires fresh sources of feed gas. Longboat and its partners have two-and-a-half years remaining on the licence to carry out further studies. Technical work is underway, and Hammer suggested next year could see the planned farm-down of Longboat’s stake, plus a commitment to develop, followed by drilling in 2025, “although the process could take longer”.

Norwegian portfolio

Longboat emerged as a successor company to independent Faroe Energy and started in late 2019. The pandemic resulted in a slow start, Hammer explained, but the company has since drilled nine exploration wells in Norway and has made finds at six of those wells, albeit of small volumes so far. For instance, the company recently announced a non-commercial discovery at Velocette, stating the presence of gas de-risks “numerous other prospects” contained within the licence.

Hammer suggested that the Equinor-operated Kveikje prospect, west of Troll, is the most advanced of the firm’s Norwegian projects, and is a “prolific area where multiple discoveries have been made this year”. The Oswig prospect, operated by Austria-headquartered OMV, needs appraisal but is also promising, he continued.

Common ground

Longboat splits its attention between Norwegian and Malaysian waters, but Hammer explained the two countries have plenty in common in terms of their oil and gas sectors.

Both have large and well-established oil and gas industries, with long histories of activity by the oil majors. That means there are now M&A opportunities for firms such as Longboat, as those majors rationalise their portfolios. “Small cap players can find success where the majors are leaving behind opportunities to extract value,” stated Hammer. Additionally, the two already have significant infrastructure, gas pipelines and LNG export capacity in place, making them good locations to build a gas-focused business.

The two countries “are very supportive of those industries, unlike other jurisdictions”, he continued, emphasising that both the Norwegian and Malaysian governments “believe oil and gas will have a role to play for decades to come”. Another area of common ground between Norway and Malaysia are the countries’ fiscal regimes. Norway has a traditional tax regime and Malaysia uses PSCs. Overall, “the government take is roughly similar”, he said. Both governments, and their respective regulatory and tax regimes “are quite OK to work with”, said Hammer, stressing the long-term stability of both jurisdictions.

And finally, Longboat’s management team has experience in both Norway and Malaysia, as well as Southeast Asia more broadly, Hammer explained."

[darcon] 23/10/2023 09:58

Interesting update this morning by Upland Resources (see: which has onshore acreage in Sarawak (see: and are a JV partner with Petros on that acreage.

LBE has offshore acreage Sarawak (see: and are also a JV partner with Petros and also Petronas on that acreage. LBE also recently announced an increase to its interest in its flagship "Kertang" prospect (see:

Will any of the interest in UPL and/or Sarawak cross over to LBE?

[ohisay] 19/10/2023 16:08

Been trying to buy these at 16.5p today but cant get the trade through.

[alhambra1] 11/10/2023 12:08

RNS - shareholder increasing stake

( ￣▽ʏ07;)

[ohisay] 28/9/2023 03:01

Investor Meet recording ..

[greedfear] 27/9/2023 10:54

GL. Makes sense to buy/add. Tempted myself but knowing the craziness, impatience of fellow investors, am going to wait.
I’ve got myself a nice position. If it goes up. Great!
If it goes down (preferably not) I will add.

[ohisay] 27/9/2023 10:45

Lot of clarity in the presentation .
I just added 50k at 16.5p
Plenty of value here at £9m market cap IMV.

[hpcg] 27/9/2023 10:29

Wouldn't surprise me if it went back to 10p, simply because that is how charts / share prices act. Would be a good entry point again.

[hpcg] 27/9/2023 10:26

There is definitely a gas cloud showing above the structure of Kertang.

[ripvanwinkle3] 27/9/2023 09:54

LBE floated in Nov 2019 at 100p. share price currently 17p
KIST floated in Oct 2020 at 100p. share price currently 232p.
So KIST has created 15x more value than LBE according to the share prices.
True reflection of the situation, or a value opportunity?

[terminator101] 27/9/2023 09:13

Pile of pish mode continues.

[greedfear] 27/9/2023 08:27

If..I’ll be loading up.