Chinese gas

China-based Green Dragon Gas (LSE: GCG) released interim results on Monday, and pleased the punters by reporting increased revenues and a reduced first-half loss. Revenue was up 8% to $16.8m, while the firm’s net loss from continuing operations was slashed by 98%, from $69.3m in the first half of 2014 to just $1.4m.

Capital expenditure was up, from $7.8m to $19.4m, but the company stressed that was in line with its “focus on infrastructure investment and drilling to deliver increased production“.

The share price had fallen 38% over the past 12 months, but it picked up 2.75p (1%) on the day to take the thinly-traded shares to 295p. And looking forward, Green Dragon is forecast to produce its first profit this year, with earnings of around 30 per share expected, rising to 9.5p in 2016 — that would give us a two-year-out P/E of 30, but at this stage such valuations don’t mean a lot.

Falklands riches

Over in the Atlantic, Falkland Oil and Gas (LSE: FOGL) has been delivering good news over the past few months with expectation-busting oil finds at Isobel Deep in the North Falkland Basin — the company has a share in a resource that could extend to a billion barrels of recoverable oil.

The problem is that it will still be some years between discovery and actual production from these fields, and there’s a lot more money needing to be invested before the profits start to flow. But with the partnership of Falkland Oil and Gas, Rockhopper and Premier Oil attracting positive sentiment, and the short-term price of oil not being representative of eventual revenues, the share price ticked up 3% on Monday to 24.75p.

Rocky ride

Range Resources (LSE: RR) has had a troubled year, with its share price suspended for some of it for technical reasons. When trading resumed in June the price shot up, but it’s since slumped back again to around the suspension price after a trading update on 7 August revealed an 8% fall in production from the firm’s Trinidad operations.

But the fallout from that looks like it might have subsided, and on Monday we saw a modest rise of 2.3%, to 0.53p per share. Range Resources is well funded for its planned drilling, but one problem for investors is that there are no forecasts available for this year, and forecasts for a very small profit for 2016 are a little out of date. It’s risky, but if it comes good the rewards could be significant.

The post Why Are Green Dragon Gas Ltd, Falkland Oil and Gas Limited & Range Resources Ltd Rising While Oil Falls? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

News of an 8% fall in production from its Trinidad operations didn’t do Range Resources (LSE: RRL) much good, and the shares are down 8.5% to 0.6p as I write. Over the last 12 months we’re looking at a 62% fall, although for some of that period the shares were suspended for technical reasons.

Fall in production

The firm said it is disappointed by the production drop, from 620 barrels per day to 570 in the past two months, but reckons it’s still cashflow positive. And with four new development wells lined up for drilling in the third quarter, Range “believes that the next six months will show substantial improvements in operational performance“.

Analysts were forecasting a very tiny profit for 2016, though the further deterioration in the oil price casts surely doubt on that for now — but on the other hand, there’s little point in trying to work out a 2016 valuation based on today’s oil price. And with its recent funding package in place, Range looks safe enough for now, though certainly not an investment without risk.

A safer bet?

An oily I have liked the look of for a while is Falkland Oil & Gas (LSE: FOGL), which is sitting on some very nice sounding discoveries around the Falkland Islands — the firm’s find at Isobel Deep in the North Falkland Basin, which it shares with Premier Oil and Rockhopper, beat all expectations and could indicate up to 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the whole region.

The share price brightened up in the first couple of months of the year, but since March it’s slipped back from around 37p to 24p today as the uptick in the price of oil has reversed itself — it was fetching more than $60 back then. But the firm has plenty of cash to fund its 2015 drilling programme, and its assets make it look attractive.

A five-bagger

Amur Minerals (LSE: AMC) is one of those rare miners whose share prices have risen this year. In fact, at 16.3p it’s up more then fivefold in 12 months — but its success was all contingent on gaining a licence for its Kun-Manie prospect in Russia. It got that in June, and the price spiked much higher and even reached 44p before settling down to today’s levels, so there’s plenty of volatility.

The finance for developing the project is not settled yet, and the mere fact that it is in Russia adds risk. But the company’s “operational blueprint” published in late June sounded provisionally optimistic, and there could be nice gains for those willing to take on a potentially exciting ride.

The post Is It Time To Buy Range Resources Ltd, Falkland Oil & Gas Limited And Amur Minerals Corporation? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Part of the road back to health has been a new funding package from Beijing Sibo Investment Management, which has already handed over £5.2m ($7.9m) in return for 650m news shares at 0.8p each, in an investment that could eventually be worth up to $35m.

This comes on top of the news that Range’s production in Trinidad reached 620 barrels of oil per day and that “For the first time in Range’s history and despite the challenging oil price environment, the Company has positive operating cashflows…“.

Is Range good value today? Sibo seems to think so, and is putting its money where its mouth is.

Falling oily

Sound Oil (LSE: SOU) shares soared to 24.4p on 5 May, but since then we’ve seen a fall of nearly 25% to 18.2p. The latest update on the firm’s second Nervesa appraisal well in Italy confirmed it had found gas shows in multiple intervals, but went on to tell us that the perforated intervals it had tested are “of relatively low permeability“. The firm must now decide whether to “initiate a well test directly or to utilize stimulation techniques beforehand“.

The company has also entered into a farm-in agreement at the Tendrara licence in Morocco, with the Moroccan Oil and Gas Investment Fund, so things look to be developing nicely.

But the recent uncertainty at a time when Sound Oil is extending its current open offer seems to have unnerved investors — but if things come good, the latest dip could turn out to have been a nice buying opportunity.

Cheap gold?

Gold miner Pan African Resources (LSE: PAF) has seen its shares lose 21% over the past 12 months, to 10.9p as I write, so is there are bargain to be had here? Well, the firm released a profit warning on 8 June telling us that its EPS and Headline EPS for the year ending June 2015 are “expected to be between 40 per cent and 60 per cent lower” than the previous year.

But there’s a fairly healthy Buy consensus out there from brokers right now, and with an increasing number of commentators suggesting stock markets are getting a bit toppy and the gold price stabilising over the past quarter, could we see interest in gold pushing Pan African shares back up?

The post Do Price Falls Make Range Resources Ltd, Sound Oil plc And Pan African Resources plc Good Value? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

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Alan Oscroft has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.