I have recently made a small investment in Ophir Energy (LON:OPHR) , thanks to @WShak1 alerting me to the price drop following the placing by early investors Och-Ziff and Mittal. As it turned out, this was shortly followed by a large rights issue, which I shall be happy to take up.

Ophir has been on my radar for a while, as a highly successful explorer, with some interesting assets. That price drop presented an opportunity to enter at what appeared to me to be an attractive price.

The rights issue prospectus (341pp) has provided me with an excellent source of information on the company, so I've been ploughing through that. Key information on Ophir's assets is presented on pp96-129.

I have digested this into a spreadsheet that investors may find useful (click for a readable version!):

 

The spreadsheet shows "official" 2C contingent recoverable resources for each block or group of blocks, and unrisked in-place management estimates of block potential (both on a net to Ophir basis). It also shows when drilling or other activity is expected for each.

With over 4.5tcf of discovered recoverable resource already; a massive lead inventory (totalling over 18bn boe), as the spreadsheet shows; and around a $1bn of cash following the rights issue, Ophir looks like an interesting company to follow - though speculative.

There should be short-term interest, with DST results on two wells due shortly and two new wells due in Tanzania's Blocks 1, 3 and/or 4 in the coming quarter (Apr-Jun). Ophir's fund raising and resulting strong balance sheet strengthens its negotiating position for the many farm-downs that the prospectus indicates Ophir is aiming for.

I look forward to newsflow with interest.

Mark

 

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