After a strong 2022 as energy prices surged in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK's contingent of UK small and mid-cap oil and gas companies has endured a much more challenging time in 2023. Windfall taxes have taken a big bite out of profits and commodity markets have fallen back as fears of recession dampen demand expectations.Facing the prospect of an unstable and more onerous...

Smaller companies are often at the sharp end of positive and negative trends in the market and wider economy.A spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation can help small caps be at the forefront of change. At the same time more modest balance sheets and less diversified revenue can leave them exposed if the backdrop turns against them.In this article we look at some of the key themes which have...

Amid all the Brexit drama and the high profile bid action around London Stock Exchange (LSEG) it would be easy to miss some of the other significant recent announcements.Supermarket Morrisons (MRW) impressed the market, managing a near 5% gain above the 200p mark, as it unveiled a big bump in its first half dividend and announced an extension to its wholesale supply partnership with online...

Travel operator TUI (TUI) allowed investors to breathe a huge sigh of relief after maintaining full year guidance despite plunging third quarter profits.The all-inclusive holidays firm reported a near-60% fall in pre-tax profit for the three months and an underlying $200m loss for the first nine months of the year. The plunging pound keeping UK holidaymakers at home, ongoing Brexit uncertainty...

Shares in oil explorers Tullow Oil (TLW) and Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas (ECO:AIM) are gushing higher on news of a big exploration success offshore Guyana. Tullow advances 16.4% to 208.5p and Eco is up 98.5% at 135p.The Jethro-1 exploration well, drilled on the Orinduik licence, has encountered 55 metres of net oil pay. This is the part of an underground reservoir containing oil which it would be...

Just as Theresa May hopes to strike it third time lucky with her Brexit deal, so oil explorer Bahamas Petroleum (BPC:AIM) will be looking for its latest effort to find a partner to stick after two previously unsuccessful farm-out attempts.For those unfamiliar with the term, in the oil industry a farm-out is when a company offers up an interest in an oil and gas asset, typically to a larger...

Small cap oil exploration firm Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas (ECO:AIM) is teaming up with the big boys for a significant drilling campaign offshore Guyana this summer.Along with its partners Tullow Oil (TLW) and French outfit Total, Eco will drill two wells on the Orinduik block.The first will go after the Jethro-Lobe prospect, estimated to potentially hold 250m barrels of oil equivalent (boe), while...

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...

Forthcoming quarterly results from the UK's two largest oil companies, BP (BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB), come at one of the most exciting times for their sector. Oil prices have started 2018 with a bang and are currently trading at levels not seen for three years at just under $70 per barrel.We think the oil and gas sector is poised for a rebound as this oil price strength helps a...

Oil exploration firm Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas (ECO:AIM) has enjoyed a storming start to 2018 with its share price up 90% year-to-date to 33.4p. The rally is thanks to US oil major ExxonMobil announcing a sixth big discovery on the Stabroek block, Guyana.This asset neighbours Eco's 40%-owned Orinduik block. French energy giant Total is currently working through seismic data with an option to...

Excitement continues to build at North Sea oil explorer Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG:AIM) after a well on its 18%-owned Verbier prospect identified up to 130m barrels of oil.Drilled with Norwegian operator Statoil, this side-track well involved re-entering a previously unsuccessful well from its surface location but then changing direction to target a different area of the sub-surface.Preliminary...

Oil explorer Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas' (ECO:AIM) Guyana licence is located a mere eight kilometres from many substantial oil discoveries made by ExxonMobil, the latest of which, Snoek, was announced 31 March.Chief executive Gil Holzman tells Shares his company will, in partnership with operator Tullow Oil (TLW), shortly commence a 3D seismic survey over the Orinduik block and should be ready...

The somewhat clumsily titled oil explorer Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (ECO:AIM) is up 12.5% on its 16p issue price at 18p as it makes its debut on AIM.OVERSUBSCRIBED PLACINGAlready listed in Toronto, the company raised £5.1m in an oversubscribed placing ahead of joining London's junior market.The funds will help meet its share of the costs of a 3D seismic survey on its 1,800 kilometre Orinduik...