Shares in Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL) and Chariot (CHAR:AIM) gained 36% to 27.75p and 37% to 10.2p respectively as both announced major discoveries.Chariot's Anchios-2 well offshore Morocco discovered significant natural gas accumulations, a result which acting chief executive Adonis Pouroulis said 'materially exceeds' internal expectations.The Stena Don rig will now move to drill the...

Today's big sell-off in Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR:AIM) is the latest in the litany of examples of resource exploration stocks which have crashed and burned on disappointing drilling results.In wild cat oil exploration (drilling in areas previously unproven to have delivered oil or gas) investors often face a binary outcome. Either a well finds oil or gas in commercial quantities and the shares...

Market attention is likely to fall on several large and smaller oil and gas operators off the coast of Namibia in West Africa as a drilling effort kicks off this September.The likes of ExxonMobil, GALP, ONGC, Total and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) are involved, along with small and mid-cap firms like Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR:AIM), Eco-Atlantic Oil & Gas (ECO:AIM) and Tullow Oil (TLW).Most of these...

Weekend news of a merger between Sainsbury's (SBRY) and Walmart-owned Asda is sending shockwaves through the groceries sector this morning.The tie-up between the number two and three supermarket brands in the UK will see the combined entity become the market leader ahead of Tesco (TSCO) - assuming it is cleared. This explains a 17.4% surge in Sainsbury's shares to 316.7p. You can read about...

Vodafone (VOD) has confirmed discussions regarding a potential all-share merger of its Indian business with Idea Cellular.The FTSE 100 telecoms group has been struggling in India due to a price war after new market entrant Jio started offering free calls and data to grab market share.Investors like the news that Vodafone is taking action to strengthen its position in India, sending its share...

A mining company offering near-term production, low capital expenditure requirements and a fully permitted project is set to join the UK stock market on 30 January.Rainbow Rare Earths (RBW) is backed by investor and developer Pella Resources, best known for helping to build Petra Diamonds (PDL) from a small exploration business to become a FTSE 250 multi-project, £840m market cap miner.We...

Few oil exploration and production companies could be cash generative down to an oil price of $15 per barrel but AIM newcomer SDX Energy (SDX:AIM) says it can as a result of low-cost production onshore Egypt.Debt-free and with some clear catalysts over the coming 12 months, SDX could be a winner for investors.The company, already listed in Toronto, raised $11 million alongside its admission to...

An uptick in the oil price is helping support a modest recovery in the exploration and production (E&P) sub-sector. Out of a universe of around 60 E&P companies with market caps of £10 million or more, 17 have managed double-digit advances since the beginning of March 2016.Investors need to decide if this is a dead cat bounce or if valuations really have begun to bottom out. Our view is that...

Dubbed 'micro caps' by investors, the London stock market's smallest quoted company fry can be binary bets, as likely to 'turn turtle' as morph into a 'ten-bagger', the latter the holy grail of growth company investing. Yet despite their inherent risks, micro caps should form at least a portion of a well-diversified portfolio, since they offer potential for rapid-paced growth and abundant...

Chariot pay cut cheeredFirst published on our website: Tuesday 5 May 2015Tom Sieber on victory for investors over board payOil explorer Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR:AIM) makes itself popular with investors by cutting directors pay in half. The shares are up 5.6% to 10.15p. Remuneration for all board members is reduced 50% and chief financial officer (CFO) Mark Reid steps down with Julian...

Oil explorer Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR:AIM) makes itself popular with investors bycutting directors pay in half. The shares are up 5.6% to 10.15pRemuneration for all board members is reduced 50% and chief financial officer (CFO) Mark Reid steps down with Julian Maurice-Williams promoted to acting CFO from his role as financial controller. Although the saving in pure monetary terms is pretty...

London shares open on the up in early trade on Tuesday as markets track gains in Europe and the US in the previous session. However, mining stocks act as a drag on gains after a surprise interest rate cut in Australia. The benchamrk FTSE 100 index is trading around 60 points higher, or 0.8%, at 7,045, with midcaps matching the Footsie rally, the FTSE 250 up to 17,614.Banking giant HSBC (HSBA)...

Third party drilling over the next two years across the main geographies targeted by Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR:AIM) could help revive a depressed share price.Chariot - currently valued by the market at a 40% discount to reported net cash of £36.2 million - has no pressing drilling commitments of its own. It is currently in the process of farming out interests in its assets in Namibia, Brazil,...

London's FTSE 100 holds on to modest gains, up 11.28 points to 6609.46 amid thin volumes in a shortened Christmas Eve trading session. One of the morning's star turns is Smith & Nephew (SN.), the knee and hip replacement company, up 7.4% to £11.69 on revived speculation US orthopaedics devices peer Stryker (SYK:NYSE) is planning a takeover bid at a significant premium.Commercial passenger...

London's FTSE 100 falls 28 points to 6,751.3 on Wednesday, running into some profit taking after a recent rally and seemingly rattled by news that earlier this month, two Bank of England policymakers unexpectedly voted to start raising interest rates.Balfour Beatty (BBY) takes another pounding after the construction group rejects a third offer from rival Carillion (CLLN) just a day before the...

Oil exploration play Chariot Oil & Gas (CHAR:AIM) is in demand - moving ahead 5.4% to 19.9p -as it secures a farm-out dealwith Australian major Woodside Petroleum (WPL:ASX) for its Rabat Deep block offshore Morocco.The agreement will see Woodside pay back costs associated with the project, fund a 3D seismic survey and further data acquisition in return for a 25% interest (leaving Chariot at...

Troubled outsourcing business Serco (SRP) continues its run of bad luck, down 0.7% to 360.5p as it fails to keep the Docklands Light Railway management contract. It has run the shuttle service in London since 1997 but has now failed to snag the franchise for a third time. The activity represents 2% of its group revenues.It's acquisitions for the second day in a row for Xchanging (XCH) as the...

In the eight months since the Ogo well offshore Nigeria was declared a discovery the asset's 30% owner Lekoil (LEK:AIM) has advanced 74% to 69p. The small cap may have helped unearth one of the biggest West African resource finds for many years.Lekoil's stellar run is at odds with the performance of the wider sector, with the FTSE Aim Oil & Gas segment falling 19% in the last 12 months. We...

Mobile phone giant Vodafone (VOD) is attempting to woo Kabel Deutschland (KD8Gn:DE) shareholders ahead of its Wednesday deadline for fear of the ?7.7 billion takeover collapsing. Failure could hurt the UK group's quad-play attempts in Europe, but the shares stay flat at 210.75p with its own investors firmly focused on the 45% Verizon Wireless stake sale, which Shares looked at online last...

The events in Syria are a good prompt to revisit the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) sector, whose mainly Aim-quoted contingent remains in the doldrums following a laggard performance since 2012.Tight supply conditions in the global crude market resulting from militia activity in Libya, which has forced the closure of oil terminals and oilfields in what is a major energy exporter,...