Tethys Petroleum (LSE: TPL), the Central Asia focused oil and gas explorer, said it is still waiting on the Kazakh government to waive its pre-emption rights for an investment in the region dating to last November. The Kazakh government’s energy ministry has recently been restructured meaning additional time may be required to make a decision. Tethys shares slumped by 7% to 17.5p.
Work is continuing on the gas project in Kazakhstan, with additional field pipelines installed, and Tethys expects to meet its production target of three times current gas production at the beginning of 2015.
Tethys is looking east to the Chinese market for its “huge” upside potential and work on the Tajikistan-China gas pipeline — a potential export route from Bokhtar to China — is ongoing.
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In Georgia, limited capital expenditure is required for Tethys to fund its commitments on a number of oil plays, and it is working on the best way to optimise costs going forward.
The board is carrying out a comprehensive review of costs, efficiencies and strategy in response to issues raised by shareholders at the AGM. Russ Hammond is retiring in October, to be replaced by a new non-executive director, who will help the chairman to push through a number of changes to better focus the company.
“We are firmly of the opinion that the potential of the Company’s assets, geopolitical presence and operating team, is not reflected in the current share price,” the chief executive, Dr David Robson, commented.
I’ll leave you to decide whether or not the change agenda can redress the slump in the shares.
