Australia
Proactive weekly oil & gas highlights: 88 Energy, Block, Union Jack Oil, Touchstone Exploration, Mosman, Chariot, Eco Atlantic, ADM Energy …
88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E) (ASX:88E) this week declared its takeover bid for XCD Energy unconditional and said the offer wont be increased.
Earlier this week, 88 Energy reported that it had received acceptances representing 37.58% of XCDs shares and it now confirms it has passed 59.27%. The company also noted that XCD shareholders which accepted the offer before it became unconditional will receive accelerated payment, before June 26, whilst subsequent acceptances will be paid within seven days of their acceptance being processed.
It added that once it has received 90% or more, it intends to proceed with compulsory acquisition of outstanding minority shareholdings and options.
On Thursday, Block Energy Plc (LON:BLOE) chief executive Paul Haywood said the company remains “enthusiastically active on many fronts” as the firm updated on developments at the West Rustavi field in Georgia.
The group noted that key equipment is arriving at the West Rustavi field and a new contractor is being ..

88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E) (ASX:88E) this week declared its takeover bid for XCD Energy unconditional and said the offer wont be increased.
Earlier this week, 88 Energy reported that it had received acceptances representing 37.58% of XCDs shares and it now confirms it has passed 59.27%. The company also noted that XCD shareholders which accepted the offer before it became unconditional will receive accelerated payment, before June 26, whilst subsequent acceptances will be paid within seven days of their acceptance being processed.
It added that once it has received 90% or more, it intends to proceed with compulsory acquisition of outstanding minority shareholdings and options.
On Thursday, Block Energy Plc (LON:BLOE) chief executive Paul Haywood said the company remains “enthusiastically active on many fronts” as the firm updated on developments at the West Rustavi field in Georgia.
The group noted that key equipment is arriving at the West Rustavi field and a new contractor is being brought on board to help advance projects.
Block pointed out, however, that production remains shut-in due to the coronavirus pandemic although the Republic of Georgia is presently at the beginning of a phased approach to restart businesses following lockdown. Restrictive measures have been relaxed for Georgias citizens and a re-opening of borders to foreign travellers is due in July.
Union Jack Oil Plc (LON:UJO) revealed the highlights of a GaffneyCline authored Carbon Intensity Study on the West Newton project, onshore East Yorkshire.
The group said the study had positive conclusions including an AA rating for carbon intensity for its potential upstream crude oil production, confirming it is significantly lower than the UK average and also when compared to other onshore analogues.
According to the GaffneyCline report, West Newton could produce the equivalent of just 5 grams of CO2 per megajoule of energy created and that could be reduced further, to 3.5, with the application of gas-to-grid technologies.
Touchstone Exploration Inc (LON:TXP, CVE:TXP) completed the final phase of testing on the Cascadura well in Trinidad, with two intervals both flowing above 5,000 barrels oil equivalent per day (boepd). A 24-hour test, limited by the capacity of surface test equipment, saw the upper section flow at an average of 5,472 boepd while the lower flowed at 5,157 boepd.
Findings of flow and build-up testing suggested that the upper would have absolute open flow (AOF) of 390mln cubic feet per day, while the same test suggested an AOF of 92mln cubic feet per day from the lower.
Touchstone pointed out that analysis of the AOF suggests that it is reasonable to design for an initial production rate between 7,750 to 9,700 boepd, comprising 40 to 50 mln cubic feet of gas and 1,100 to 1,400 of condensate.
US-focused Mosman Oil And Gas Ltd (LON:MSMN) saw shares strengthened on Friday as the company announced it has granted an extension to the buyer of its Welch asset in Texas.
The company previously entered into a contract with Eagle Natural Resources LLC for US$300,000 (A$460,000) to buy the Welch project in May, with a non-refundable deposit of US$30,000 paid.
In a statement, Mosman said that the purchaser had asked for a 14-day extension to complete the transaction and said it would increase the deposit amount to US$60,000.
Explorer Chariot Oil & Gas PLC (LON:CHAR) highlighted its continuing work to advance the Anchois gas field, offshore Morocco, to define the project and unlock debt financing.
Posting its full-year 2019 results, the company confirmed that completion of pre-FEED work for the gas field is the key strategic focus for the group through the remainder of 2020. It is working to progress concept testing, selection and definition, along with engineering modelling and design. Meanwhile, commercially, it is aiming to secure heads Read More – Source
Australia
Saudi women in Sydney: Sisters’ bodies lay undiscovered for a month

Australian police are baffled after the bodies of two Saudi women, believed to have lain undiscovered for a month, were found in a Sydney apartment.
Sisters Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead on 7 June in separate beds at home in the suburb of Canterbury.
Police, who were called to the property for a welfare check, said the women are believed to have died in early May.
But despite “extensive inquiries”, they still do not know how or why.
The sisters moved to Australia from Saudi Arabia in 2017 and may have sought asylum, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Police refused to confirm this, saying they do not comment on residential status.
A human rights organisation said it should be established whether the women fled Saudi Arabia because of domestic violence or harsh laws governing women. However, there is no evidence this is the case.
Police said they had been in contact with the women’s family, which is assisting them with inquiries.
Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and communications at Saudi human rights organisation ALQST, said it “would not be the first case” of Saudi women who were killed abroad after fleeing domestic violence.
“There are no protections for women who are victims of domestic violence in Saudi Arabia, so they flee abroad,” she told the BBC.
She added: “I’m not saying that is the case here, just that we need a thorough investigation. It is frustrating not to have any information.”
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there had been signs that something was wrong.
Last year, the women told their building manager they thought someone was tampering with their food deliveries, the paper reported.
A plumber who visited the apartment also said he believed there was “something mysterious” going on, and that police had been called in the past over concerns for the women.
New South Wales Police issued a renewed plea to the public on Wednesday, saying “any piece of information” could be the key to solving this case.
The local community is close-knit, police said in a statement, asking anyone who may have known or seen the women to come forward.
A report from Australian current affairs programme Four Corners in 2019 found 80 Saudi women had tried to seek asylum in Australia in recent years. Many of them were fleeing male guardianship laws.
Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62331116
Australia
Australia election: Why is Australia’s parliament so white?

Australia
Scott Morrison effectively ditches his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption commission

Scott Morrison has effectively abandoned his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog, confirming he would only proceed with legislation in the new parliament if Labor agreed to pass the Coalition’s heavily criticised proposal without amendments.
Morrison pledged before the 2019 election to legislate a federal integrity body in the parliamentary term that has just ended. The prime minister broke that promise, failing to introduce his own proposal before the 46th parliament was prorogued.
On the hustings on Wednesday, Morrison was asked – given his previous undertaking to create the body – whether he would promise to put his proposal to a vote in the next parliament in the event the Coalition won the 21 May election.
Morrison declined to make that promise. “Our position on this hasn’t changed,” the prime minister said. “Our view has been the same – when the Labor party is prepared to support that legislation in that form, then we will proceed with it.”
The prime minister has attempted to inoculate himself from criticism about breaking an election promise by saying he tabled the integrity commission proposal in the parliament.
Tabling an exposure draft, which is what the prime minister did, is not the same as introducing finished legislation to the House of Representatives or the Senate that is then debated and voted on.
As well as repeatedly fudging what happened in parliament, Morrison has also created the impression the proposal can only proceed if Labor agrees to its passage without amendments.
All governments routinely introduce legislation for debate without any undertaking that it will be passed by the opposition. Labor favours a stronger model than the Coalition’s proposal.
Morrison’s lack of urgency on the issue created tensions within government ranks. Late last year, the Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to support independent MP Helen Haines’ bill to establish a federal integrity commission. Archer accused the government of “inertia” over the issue.
At that time, Archer said she was “perplexed” at her own government’s failure to release a revised bill almost three years after it was promised before the last election.
While Morrison clearly wants to move on from the issue, he will face renewed pressure from crossbench independents if the coming election is close enough to deliver a hung parliament.
A number of independents running against Liberals in metropolitan seats have made it clear that establishing a credible national integrity commission will be a key demand in the event any new government – Liberal or Labor – is seeking agreements for confidence and supply.
Haines blasted Morrison’s comments on Wednesday. “Mr Morrison broke an election promise to introduce an anti-corruption commission and his pathway to creating one is still as vague as it was in the last parliament,” she said.
The crossbench independent said it was “nonsense” for the prime minister to claim that he could not proceed unless Labor agreed with the Coalition’s proposal without seeking any amendments. “It would appear we are in the same void as we were before,” Haines said.
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