Oil price, Capricorn/Genel, Sintana. And finally…

WTI (Sep) $84.94 +44c, Brent (Oct) $91.02 +15c, Diff -$6.08 -29c.

USNG (Sep) $2.78 +9c, UKNG (Sep) 154.4p +2.95p, TTF (Sep) €63.84 +€1.365.

Oil price

Oil is up over a dollar this morning as it retraces recent highs after any settlement hopes have been dashed. President Trump has now taken an even harder economic line on Iran after they took an aggressive stance with particular regard to the Strait of Hormuz.

Also on the economic front there has been an important pivot in that respect as following continued missile attacks by Iran the UAE has cut economic ties with the country which involves a trade embargo and also a halt on all financial transactions.

It should be noted that this is particularly important as the UAE is ‘by a mile’ Iran’s largest trade partner and one would expect this to be another nail in the country’s economic coffin.

Elsewhere in the region there are still whispers about a UAE ‘dark fleet’ of tankers operating in the Gulf and if it’s true they are needed as there are no signs of anything penetrating the US blockade. 

The Times is reporting that PM Andy Burnham has pushed back the decision with regard to approval of Jackdaw and Rosebank ‘into the autumn’ but it seems that it is a decision taken with the hot dry summer in mind, climate change on his mind…

The API stats were, as is often the case, somewhat mixed with crude showing a small draw of 328/- barrels but gasoline built by 1.076m and distillates drew by 2.797m so pick something out of that. We shall see how the EIA numbers turn out later today but look out for the SPR draw as the API reported a drop of 5.3m b’s, now how low can it go as someone once said…

Capricorn Energy/Genel Energy

 Yesterday Capricorn announced the results of the two meetings regarding the Genel recommended cash offer. 

RESULTS OF THE COURT MEETING AND THE GENERAL MEETING

On 2 July 2026, the boards of directors of Capricorn, Genel and Bidco announced that they had reached agreement regarding the terms and conditions of a recommended cash offer by Bidco for Capricorn pursuant to which Bidco will acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Capricorn. The Acquisition is to be effected by means of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006.

Capricorn is pleased to announce that at the Court Meeting and General Meeting held earlier today in connection with the Acquisition:

• a majority in number of Scheme Shareholders present and voting (in person or by proxy), who together represented not less than 75 per cent. in value of the Scheme Shares held by such Scheme Shareholders, voted (in person or by proxy) to approve the Scheme at the Court Meeting; and
• the requisite majority of Capricorn Shareholders voted (in person or by proxy) to pass the Resolution to implement the Scheme, including the amendment to Capricorn’s articles of association at the General Meeting.

Full details of the resolutions passed are set out in the notices of the Court Meeting and General Meeting contained in Part 10 and Part 11 (respectively) of the scheme document in relation to the Scheme published on 21 July 2026 (the “Scheme Document“).

Capitalised terms used and not defined in this document have the meanings given to them in the Scheme Document. All references to times in this announcement are to times in London unless otherwise stated.

Voting results at the Court Meeting

The table below sets out the results of the poll at the Court Meeting. Each Scheme Shareholder present (in person or by proxy) was entitled to one vote per Scheme Share held at the Voting Record Time. In summary:

• the requisite majority of Scheme Shareholders present and voting (in person or by proxy), being a majority in number of Scheme Shareholders present and voting (either in person or by proxy) voted in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting; and
• they represented not less than 75 per cent. in value of the Scheme Shares held by such Scheme Shareholders.

Voting results at the General Meeting

The results of the votes at the General Meeting were as follows. Each Capricorn Shareholder present (in person or by proxy) was entitled to one vote per Capricorn Share held at the Voting Record Time:

The total number of Capricorn Shares in issue at the Voting Record Time was 71,403,652.

Next steps and timetable

The outcome of today’s Court Meeting and General Meeting means Conditions 2.1 and 2.2 (as set out in Part A of Part 4 of the Scheme Document) have been satisfied.

An expected timetable of principal events for the Scheme is set out in the Scheme Document. Completion of the Acquisition remains subject to the satisfaction (or, where applicable, waiver) of the remaining Conditions set out in the Scheme Document, including (i) the sanction of the Scheme by the Court at the Sanction Hearing (ii) the Egyptian Condition, and (iii) the Egyptian Merger Condition. Capricorn expects that, subject to the satisfaction (or, where applicable, waiver) of the Conditions, the Scheme will become Effective during the second half of 2026.

The dates and times given are indicative only and are based on Capricorn, Genel and Bidco’s current expectations and may be subject to change. If any of the expected dates and/or times set out in the expected timetable change, then Capricorn (or Genel and Bidco, as applicable) will give adequate notice(s) of such changes in an announcement released through a Regulatory Information Service and by making such announcement available on Capricorn’s website athttps://www.capricornenergy.com/investors/ and on Bidco’s website at https://genelenergy.com/offer/.

A copy of the Resolution passed at the General Meeting will be available for inspection on the Capricorn website at https://www.capricornenergy.com/investors/.The Resolution will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism where it will be available at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.

Sintana Energy

This was announced yesterday by Namibia Mining & Energy.

Equinor enters Namibia’s oil sector with 17.4% stake in Chevron’s PEL 90 Norwegian energy major Equinor is set to enter Namibia’s offshore oil and gas sector after reaching an agreement with Chevron to acquire a 17.4% participating interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence 90 (PEL 90) in the Orange Basin.

The agreement will see Chevron’s Namibian subsidiary, Harmattan Energy Limited, farm out the stake in PEL 90, which covers Block 2813B, to Equinor Energy International AS. The transaction remains subject to the licence partners’ pre-emption rights and regulatory approvals. Equinor’s entry comes ahead of the planned drilling of the Nabba-1X exploration well on PEL 90 before the end of 2026, giving the Norwegian company exposure to exploration in one of Namibia’s key offshore petroleum basins. Chevron Country Manager Namibia Beatrice Bienvenu said the partnership would bring together the capabilities of the two international energy companies.

This is clearly stunning news for Sintana as Norwegian giant Equinor enters Namibia’s offshore via this acquisition. Industry experts say that a well is expected to be drilled on the licence before the end of this year subject to regulatory approvals.

There have been significant moves in the Orange Basin offshore Namibia in recent months and I think that this is the first entry by Equinor into a new country since 2017, itself an interesting piece of judgement. 

I have noted it a number of times that Sintana has a very strong portfolio which includes an effective interest to them in PEL 90 of 4.9%.  My target price of 75p is by no means extravagant and indeed this action in Namibia can only add to the value of its stake.

And finally…

England has started phase 2 of its summer test matches by hosting Pakistan at Headingly this morning. England are playing with a new captain in Joe Roooot and a temporary coach in Marcus Trescothick as new coach Stephen Fleming is taking a long holiday, what a life eh?

As I write, England who won the toss and inserted the visitors have them at 23-2 when rain stopped play, after all we are in Yorkshire in the hottest summer on record…

And as surprises go, I see that Nick Kyrgios has been suspended from tennis after testing positive for cocaine….