SMALL CAP MOVERS: Irish oil and gas industry shares slump

Irish oil and gas developers were hit hard by AIM this week after the Irish Green Party stifled plans for an offshore project in Cork.

Barryroe offshore energy lost 32 percent to 1.2 pence while Lansdowne oil and gas lost 21 percent to 0.16p.

Ireland’s Coalition Government Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, sent a letter to the partners in the Barryroe venture stating that he was ‘unsatisfied with the financial standing of the applicants’.

According to the Irish government, the companies now have no rights to the asset.

The license expired in July 2021 and Barryroe and Lansdowne, who have invested $20 million in the project, were looking to extend or renew it.

If successful, a new project could have entered the assessment and development phase.

Steve Boldy, Lansdowne’s chief executive, said it will now “recourse to legal proceedings related to our investment.”

“We believe we have a very strong claim against the Irish government and the company will be resolute in defending and protecting our shareholders’ rights and investments,” added Boldy.

Across the broader market, the AIM-All Share Index fell 2.4 percent to 792. The London blue chip companies on the FTSE 100 fared little better, losing 2.1 percent to 7,587, while the FTSE 250 was down 2.4 percent fell to 18,811 .

It wasn’t all bad news for oil and gas companies in London’s junior market, though.

Corcel added about 8 percent to 0.32 pence this week after it struck a deal to buy onshore oil assets in Angola.

The company agreed to buy a 90 percent stake in Atlas Petroleum Exploration Worldwide, which has interests of between 20 percent and 35 percent in a total of seven oil fields in Angola.

The consideration for the deal is £800,000, paid in shares at a premium price of 0.4p each – which will be ‘locked in’ preventing the sellers from selling for 18 months.

Active energy rose 34 percent to 6.2 pence after the company, which develops biomass fuels, said Player Design had been granted a license to build and operate a CoalSwitch facility in the US.

According to the company, CoalSwitch is a biomass fuel that can replace traditional coal-fired power plants.

Stick to positive news and Phoenix Copper told investors it was moving closer to production at the Empire copper mine, sending shares up 21 percent to 27.4 pence.

The US-focused precious metals exploration and production company added that it is also seeking funding for initial production with minimal additional dilution for shareholders.

Byotrolthe infection prevention and control company, rose 40 percent to 2.1 pence after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the virucidal claims for its 24-hour germicidal surface cleaner Byotrol 24.

On some fallers, and Printing Technologies certainly felt the pressure as shares fell 4 percent to 42 pence.

The industrial valve manufacturing company published results showing an operating loss of £2.6m for the year to October 1, 2022.

The AIM-listed company had told investors in November it had made a loss of £1.4 million but had to recalculate the figures due to a historical accounting error.

Another technical group to take losses this week in London was 600 grouptumble 15 percent to 7.5p.

Specializing in industrial laser systems, the group warned that it expects an operating loss for the full year due to the delivery of unprofitable customer contracts.

Shares in Physicsthe company that uses mathematical models to develop cancer treatments warned that its total income for the year will not meet the guideline.

Shares fell 25 per cent to 2 pence after telling investors it expects earnings to reach £660,000 this year, lower than previous forecasts of £750,000.