UK Oil & Gas’s ambitious hydrogen plans have set a fire under the AIM-listed small cap’s valuation.
News broke of UKOG subsidiary UKEn’s project to create large hydrogen storage caverns under Britain’s former naval base in Portland Harbour, Dorset in early July.
Under the plans, UKOG intends to excavate 19 caverns, each around the size of St Paul’s Cathedral, to store hydrogen for emergency use during energy shortages from wind and solar sources.
UKOG intends to excavate 19 caverns, each around the size of St Paul’s Cathedral, to store hydrogen for emergency use during energy shortages
The idea received a letter of support this week from ‘big five’ UK energy supplier, the Germany-based RWE.
‘In support of this proposal, we have committed to working with UKEn to ensure that the design and delivery of the storage facility meets the needs of RWE and other potential industry users,’ wrote RWE’s head of hydrogen Jeremy Smith.
RWE gave UKEn permission to use its namepower as a ‘supporting party’ in negotiations with the government to make the plans a reality.
The project will ‘allow us to optimise electricity cost and electrolyser operating regime in response to renewable generation capacity and wholesale market price signals,’ said Smith.
UKOG’s valuation proceeded to triple in the space of a week, bringing shares up to 0.087p each with a £9million market capitalisation.
The AIM All-Share Index was less vibrant, having dipped 0.25 per cent over the week come Friday morning.
There was an inevitable market rally on Thursday given the Bank of England’s first interest rate cut in 16 years which brought the base rate down to a flat 5 per cent after holding at 5.25 per cent for the past 12 months.
It was a cautious cut though, with a 5-4 vote split and a warning from the BoE that ‘monetary policy will need to continue to remain restrictive for sufficiently long’ to keep inflation in check.
This, plus a sell off across the pond, knocked UK markets down to size on Friday, with the FTSE 100 trading 0.6 per cent lower from Monday’s open.
In the tech space, semiconductor product developer IQE rallied 10 per cent to 31.75p on Wednesday after it revealed plans to IPO its Taiwan business.
Updating shareholders, the tech group said it plans to list the Asian operating subsidiary on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, selling a minority stake through a public offering. Shares fell back below 30p on Friday.
Also on Wednesday, genedrive rallied 16 per cent after netting a recommendation from the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for its CYP2C19-ID Kit.
NICE agreed that CYP2C19 should be used to guide clopidogrel use after Ischaemic Stroke or Transient Ischaemic Attack and that the Genedrive CYP2C19-ID test should be used as the test of choice for point-of-care strategies.
Journeo rallied more than 20 per cent over the five-day trading period after the information technology group posted its latest set of results.
In the first half of 2024, Journeo increased group revenues by 17 per cent to £25.6million on a year-on-year basis, with Full-year revenue tipped to come in at approximately £50million.
Keras Resources plc shares flew 45 per cent higher across the week after the miner confirmed fertiliser production had kicked off at its jointly owned site in Utah.
Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas shot up more than 8% in mid-week trades following a promising operational update that highlighted the first tranche of US$8.3 million from the farm-out of Block 3B/4B offshore South Africa next month. Shares fell back in the second half of the week.
Mkango Resources Ltd was well bid after confirming the Government of Malawi had signed a mining development agreement (MDA) for its Songwe Hill rare earths project. Shares remained 7.4% higher come Friday.
Despite housing some of the week’s best performers, the energy and mining sectors also contributed some of the biggest fallers.
Cash-strapped minnow Chaarat Gold fell by nearly 50% as its AIM delisted approaches later this month; Jersey Oil & Gas was off 30% after saying it will assess its North Sea developments when the full extent of tax changes and allowances proposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves are published in the October budget; and Europe-based energy investor Prospex Energy fell by a quarter.
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