Energy prices remain volatile as tensions rise in the Middle East and demand concerns linked to slowing global growth persist.In the background several AIM companies with material exposure to natural gas have issued significant announcements in the last week.On 17 June shares in Reabold Resources (RBD:AIM) and Union Jack Oil (UJO:AIM) gushed higher after drilling on their West Newton site in...

MARKET CAP: £1BN & ABOVE IQE +318%To call IQE's (IQE:AIM) share price run this year remarkable still understates the performance. At one stage last month the stock closed at 178.75p. The share price began the year trading at 37.75p.So why has it had an amazing run? Unconfirmed rumours that IQE's vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology is being used in Apple's latest iPhone...

After an unsuccessful result from its Badile well (3 Jul), oil and gas focused company Sound Energy (SOU:AIM) is spinning its Italian assets into Saffron Energy (SRON:AIM).Sound Energy will now focus on its Moroccan portfolio while Saffron is combining with its main shareholder Po Valley Energy to create Coro Energy. Coro will be chaired by Sound CEO James Parsons and Coro shares will be...

One of AIM's 2016 success stories, Sound Energy (SOU:AIM) is in recovery mode after a big sell-off in response to a disappointing result from the Badile well in Italy. We think the shares are attractive at the current 53p level.Badlie was a highly anticipated gas exploration well onshore Italy which had been in the works for several years, so it is unsurprising the market reacted badly to the...

James Parsons is looking to revive another moribund oil stock in the form of Echo Energy (ECHO:AIM). He has form, turning Sound Energy (SOU:AIM) from a micro-cap with a messy portfolio of assets and legacy of failure in South East Asia into a major force in the Mediterranean.Now he's intent on transforming Echo (formerly Independent Resources). First announced in March, his plans for the...

The FTSE 100 is slightly lower in early trading at 7,500.11 as sterling stabilises and Prime Minister Theresa May prepares for a crunch meeting with her own MPs.Negotiations with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) continue as May looks to secure a so-called 'confidence and supply' arrangement to allow her to govern despite failing to secure an outright majority last week.New chief executive...

On 1 December mobile apps platform business Mobile Streams (MOS:AIM) launched a fund raising exercise, looking for £1.6m.What it got, as the company confirms today, was £2.2m. That investors are willing to back the business at the 4p per share placing price is not terribly surprising given the massive 50% discount the new stock was offered at.You can see what the cheap stock sale has done to...

The FTSE 100 is down 0.4% to 6,887.01, taking its cue from weak Asian and US markets, as wildcard presidential candidate Donald Trump's chances of winning appear to have increased.High street retailer Next (NXT) slips 0.7% to £47.75 as it trims full year guidance for sales growth from -2.5% to 2.5% to -1.75% to +1.25%.Housebuilder Persimmon (PSN) gains 0.8% to £17.51 as it reports private...

AIM-quoted Sound Energy (SOU:AIM), one of the big junior market success stories of 2016, gains 7.6% to 84.75p as it agrees revised terms to its acquisition of the Sidi Moktar licence in Morocco.The new terms effectively allow Sound to benefit from the surge in its own share price and secure a cash injection which can be put towards the cost of future operations.In March, Sound entered into an...

Shares is coming to ScotlandWe've just confirmed the line-up for the next Shares investor evening to be held in Scotland. Appearing on stage on 5 October 2016 at the Edinburgh Radisson Blu Hotel will be financial services giant Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN), gold miners Caledonia Mining (CMCL:AIM) and Scotgold Resources (SGZ:AIM), oil and gas specialists Solo Oil (SOLO:AIM) and Sound Energy...

Gas focused exploration and production (E&P) outfit Sound Energy (SOU:AIM) could maintain the momentum it has shown in recent weeks as it gears up for further drilling across its portfolio in Morocco and Italy.On 8 August the company announced it had made a substantial gas discovery on its Tendrara block onshore Morocco. A flow rate of 17 million cubic feet per day (mmcfpd) from the TE-6 well...

This author can still remember being a very green reporter and asking the founder and then chief executive of the ultimately ill-fated Gulfsands Petroleum (GPX:AIM), John Dorrier, what direction he thought the oil price would take in the months ahead. A pretty forbidding Texan, Dorrier told me bluntly he had no idea and that anyone who claimed different was, in slightly less polite terms, a...

Gas-focused E&P Sound Energy (SOU:AIM) is up 3.2% to 61.7p, giving up earlier gains of more than 12%, as it reports extremely encouraging results from a well on its Tendrara block in Morocco.The modest rise on the announcement of a significant find probably reflects some profit taking after a very strong run.The company drilled the TE-6 well in partnership with Schlumberger (SLB:NYSE). The...

Disappointing Chinese trade figures were not sufficient to dim investors' sunny outlook with the FTSE 100 up 0.4% to 6,823.21. It is now up nearly 3% since governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney announced an rate cut to 0.25% and a significant stimulus package.Among the blue chips, drugs firm Shire (SHP) is down 0.4% to £51.25 as it posts in-line interims with total reported product...

Investors are waking up to Sound Energy's (SOU:AIM) potential as the small cap oil and gas firm extends its successful collaboration with US oil services giant Schlumberger (SLB:NYSE) from assets in Morocco to its Badile exploration prospect in Italy.This news and a well-received investor day on 29 July have helped extended a share price rally prompted by excellent results from drilling on...

Mining stocks are in focus on Monday as iron ore prices hit their highest level in 2016 - pushing the FTSE 100 index up marginally to 6,733, a gain of 0.1%.Moves in the miners are being driven by overnight trading in China and Singapore, where September futures contracts for the industrial metal enjoyed gains in excess of 5% to between $60 and $70 a tonne (£45-£53 per tonne).Western...

Markets worldwide start the week with strong gains as the re-election of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prompts expectations of further stimulus in the world's third-largest economy.Blue chip shares in London hit an 11-month high, adding 0.4% to 6,617, alongside similar gains across the rest of Europe.Stronger-than-anticipated US job numbers late on Friday and the Japan election result...

Mediterranean oil exploration and production (E&P) play Sound Energy (SOU:AIM) gains 9.3% to 22.12p as it moves towards a deal to add key infrastructure for its Tendrara field onshore Morocco.The company has a non-binding expression of interest from its partner Oil & Gas Investment Fund on building a pipeline at an estimated cost of $50 million which would allow Tendrara to tap into a key...

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...

Italy-focused Sound Energy (SOU:AIM) could interest investors concerned by the oil price slide given its bias towards natural gas. The imminent start-up of production from its Nervesa field and drilling onshore Morocco offer near-term catalysts for the stock.In sympathy with the wider sector, Sound Energy is down more than 10% year-to-date to 16.1p. Expected on stream in the first week of...