88 Energy (LON: 88E) shares: What is propelling the surge?

Summary

• Energy company 88 Energy announced changes and additions to its board, causing its shares to surge.
• 88 Energy’s shares ended higher by over 7 per cent on Monday following the news
• The company had also recently announced its quarterly activities update, highlighting its progress across its various projects.

AIM listed and oil and gas producing company 88 Energy’s (LON:88E) shares surged over 7 per cent on Monday after the company announced changes to its board members and senior management team. In the last one week, the stock has surged around 22 per cent, led by the regular positive announcements by the company.

88 Energy’s recent quarterly activities report highlighted the drilling completion of its Merlin program and other activities, which also helped boost sentiment in the stock recently.

88 Energy’s (LON: 88E) share price performance

88 Energy’s shares ended at GBX 2.25, up by 7.14 per cent on 2 August. While the FTSE AIM All-Share index, which it is a part of, ended at 1,257.61, up by 0.52 per cent.

(Image Source: Refinitiv)

88 Energy’s market cap was at £284.44 million, and its year to date return was at 379.85 per cent as of 2 August.

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88 Energy’s board member additions

The energy company announced on Monday, that  its Non-executive Chairman Michael Evans, had retired effective immediately after over seven years of being associated with the company.

Moreover, 88 Energy bolstered its board by adding in Philip Byrne as the company’s Non-Executive Chairman and Joanne Kendrick as its Non-Executive Director. The company also appointed Robert Benkovic to the position of firm’s Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Byrne, a petroleum geologist, joins the board with over 40 years of experience in the oil and gas sector, and Ms  Kendrick, a petroleum engineer, joins the board having over 25 years of experience in the space. Mr. Benkovic is a petroleum engineer and subsurface manager, having almost 25 years of experience within the industry.

88 Energy’s quarterly activities report

In addition to making recent board changes, 88 Energy also recently announced its activities report for the quarter ended 30 June, which has further helped to boost investor sentiment.

88 Energy announced the completion of its Merlin-1 drilling program in April at its Peregrine project site. The Merlin program found the presence of hydrocarbons and, upon conducting analysis, found upside potential at the site.

The company also stated that it had identified further upside at its Umiat Oil field while it was conducting its initial well testing at Merlin.

88 Energy also announced its results from its Talitha A well at Icewine project, showing encouraging initial results, and thus it was considering reassessing its acreage potential at the site. The company also stated its plans to potentially extend its project leases at the project.

88 Energy has a 100 per cent working interest in its Peregrine and Umiat Oil projects; it holds a 75 per cent working interest in the Icewine project.

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