Equity Research On Energy Companies & One Pick For Analysis

Hello everyone

It has been a while since I posted on here. Was wondering if I could get some thoughts on a nano cap stock I have been watching. Below is their last financial results and management discussion which can be found on Sedar.

East West Petroleum Corp Q1 2022 Results. All Information Is Available On Sedar.
Symbols: EW (Canada) – EWPMF (USA) – 37A (Frankfurt)
Prices (August 29, 2022): $0.10CAD - $0.075USD - €0.06EUR
Shares Outstanding: 89,585,665
Options: 2.79 Million (Between $0.06 and $0.135)
Warrants: Nil
Allowable Capital Losses: $8,440,000
Non-Capital Losses Available For Future Periods: $28,550,000
Canada: $17,329,000 from 2026-2042 & New Zealand: $11,221,000 No Expiry Date
See Audited Results For More Details
Financials
ASSETS
Cash: $5,044,036
GST Receivable: $5,129
Amounts Receivable: $592,173
Oil Inventory: $145,663
Prepaid Expenses: $25,260
Property, Plant & Equipment: $269,156
Total Assets: $6,081,417
LIABILITIES
Accounts Payables: $540,255
Decommissioning Liabilities: $1,102,282
Total Liabilities: $1,642,537
Q1 2022 Performance
Revenue: $1,016,787
Net Income: $250,011
Q1 2022 MD&A Highlights
New Zealand
The Company has operations in the Taranaki Basin of New Zealand. All licenses were previously operated by the Company’s original partner, TAG Oil Ltd. (“TAG”), and all wells are targeted shallow Miocene targets in the Urenui and Mt. Messenger formations which have been shown to be productive for oil and gas throughout the Basin, including the Cheal field. The Company holds a 30% working interest in the Petroleum Exploration Permit (“PEP”) 54877 and the Petroleum Mining Permit PMP 60291 (“Cheal East”) and TAG held the remaining 70%. In September 2019 TAG completed the sale of substantially all of its Taranaki Basin assets and operations which included their interest in PEP 54877 and PMP 60291 to Tamarind Resources Pte. Ltd. (“Tamarind”). In light of TAG’s decision to sell the majority of its interest in the Taranaki Basin assets the Company assessed its options with respect to its 30% interest in Cheal East and, on June 24, 2019, the Company signed a heads of agreement pursuant to which the Company had agreed to sell its 30% interest in PEP 54877 and PMP 60291. On August 1, 2020 the Company terminated the Definitive Agreement. The Company continues to assess its go-forward plans, which includes the possible sale of its New Zealand concessions to other buyers.
During fiscal 2022 Cheal conducted a detailed prospectivity review of PEP 54877 and advised the Company that the forecasted economic prospects of PEP 54877 does not meet Cheal’s internal risk criteria. Although no final decision has been made to relinquish the permit in December 2022, the Company determined to record an impairment of $1,627,056 for costs incurred to March 31, 2022.
During Q1/2023 the Company produced 18.1 Mbbl oil and 15.7 Mmcf gas compared to 18.3 Mbbl oil and 11.6 Mmcf gas during Q4/2022. The Cheal-E5 was offline for all of Q4/2022 and Q1/2023. The Cheal-E5 went down due to a downhole related issue which appears to be parted rods. A full workover of the Cheal-E5 well was completed during Q1/2023 and the Cheal-E5 came back on line on June 30, 2022. Approximately 385 bbls of kill fluid needed to be recovered after the workover and oil production started again on July 7, 2022. The Cheal-E6 went offline during Q3/2022 due to downhole related issues which appears to be a wax plug. The operator carried out rod work and installed a new pump while the well was off line. The Cheal-E6 started back on-line near the end of Q4/2022 and was fully producing for all of Q1/2023.
Romania
During fiscal 2010 the Company was informed by the government of Romania that it had been awarded four exploration blocks located in the Pannonian Basin, in western Romania. In May 2011 the Company signed petroleum concession agreements with the National Agency for Minerals and Hydrocarbons (“NAMR”) the government agency in Romania which regulates the oil and gas industry. The four concessions have specific mandatory work programs (the “Romania Work Programs”), which were estimated at US $63,000,000 for all four programs. Production from the concessions is also subject to royalties of between 3.5% to 13.5% based on quarterly gross production payable to the government.
Without a joint declaration of a commercial discovery it is the Company’s position that commercial development of the field cannot proceed, NIS did not share this opinion. Rather than litigating this issue the discussions continued with NIS in an attempt to find a way forward. Given the consequences of a commercial discovery decision and significant funding obligations the Company and NIS continued negotiations on all available options including a monetization event. Negotiations were progressing well and the parties were moving towards final documentation with essential terms of a monetization event agreed, being some limited cash and a royalty interest. The outbreak of war between Ukraine and Russian brought all attempts to implement the agreed terms to a halt, with the issue being that NIS is owned, in part, by a Russian entity which is subject to sanctions. The Company is considering what steps could be implemented to allow the transaction to proceed.
Total sales revenues increased from $290,042 in Q1/2022 to $1,016,787 in Q1/2023. The increase is attributable to a an increase in total sales volumes due to significantly higher production during Q1/2023 compared to Q1/2022. During Q1/2022 the Cheal-E1 well, which is the Company’s biggest producing well, and the Cheal-E2 well were offline due to blockages.
Commitments
The Company’s share of expected exploration and development permit obligations and/or commitments as at June 30, 2022 are approximately $620,000 to be incurred during fiscal 2023. The Company may choose to alter the program, request extensions, reject development costs, relinquish certain permits or farm-out its interest in permits where practical.
Outstanding Share Data
The Company’s authorized share capital is unlimited common shares with no par value. As at August 29, 2022 there were 89,585,665 outstanding common shares and 2,790,000 share options outstanding with exercise prices ranging from $0.06 to $0.135 per share.