What a chart, further to go, or not
Comments please

As I've said many times, these oilers will only be around after huge dilution but after reading ST then maybe not anymore. Private equity/institutions seem unwilling to chuck anymore in these indebted oilers. It's going to take 2/3 years imo for overcapacity to be taken out via producers falling over. Sad :-(((

Suspended this am.

sad demise of what only a couple of years ago was a very promising company

At the request of the Company, Premier's ordinary shares have been suspended
from trading on the London Stock Exchange with effect from 7.30am this morning
pending an announcement of a potential acquisition of assets by Premier which
may be classified as a reverse takeover under the FCA Listing Rules.
Therefore, the Company has requested the temporary suspension of trading in
its ordinary shares whilst clarification is sought from the UKLA.

Very sad for shareholders of course but many of these companies have been ruined by poor financial management. Ultimately poor financial decisions has meant $100 oil was required merely to keep things ticking along. This comment just made me chuckle on another forum..

"If you take away the debt worry then Premier is clearly undervalued at the current price."

I thought something was going on yesterday by the sudden drop ,i wonder if this will be another Afren ?

Apparently rumours buying EON North Sea assets .reuters .

Try this VIC

Premier Oil is in advanced talks to acquire the UK North Sea assets owned by German utility Eon, the Financial Times understands.

Eon is the operator of the Huntington field and has production interests in the Elgin, Franklin, Glenelg, West Franklin, Scoter and Merganser fields, write Kiran Stacey and Christopher Adams.

It also operates the Babbage, Johnston, Hunter and Rita producing fields, and holds interests in the Caister, Minke and Ravenspurn North fields, as well as the ETS and CMS pipeline systems. It has exploration licences west of the Shetlands.

The deal, should it go ahead, could be structured as a “reverse takeover” because the purchase price may be close to Premier’s £100m market value. The company’s share price has more than halved since the start of the year, from 46p to 19p amid a renewed plunge in oil prices.

Industry insiders suggested that CalEnergy Resources, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, had been involved in the discussions as a possible joint investor, though is no longer thought to be part of the discussions. A deal could be announced within days.

A sale of some or all of Eon’s UK offshore assets would follow the disposal, announced in October, of stakes in several Norwegian oil and gas fields.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne Group, through its Dea subsidiary, beat off competition to acquire interests in three producing North Sea fields for $1.6bn.

Maybe thinking long term as it should be with energy .

StockMarketWire.com
Premier Oil's shares remain suspended on LSE pending clarification from the UK Listing Authority on the status of the proposed acquisition of E.ON's UK North Sea assets.

Discussions with the UKLA remain on-going and there can be no certainty over the period that the shares will remain suspended.

StockMarketWire.com
Premier Oil had its shares reinstated to trading on London Stock Exchange following announcement on Jan. 13 of a deal for it to acquire the whole of E.ON's UK North Sea assets for a net consideration of USD120m, plus completion adjustments.

The deal would be funded from existing cash resources, adds immediate cash generative production to Premier Oil, realises tax synergies on Premier's current c.USD3.5bn UK tax loss position and is accretive to lending covenants.

On announcement of the transaction, Premier's ordinary shares and public bonds were suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange at the Company's request. The aggregate of the consideration and the expected completion adjustment was, at that time, sufficient to classify the transaction as a reverse takeover under the Listing Rules.

Premier and E.ON have now agreed to reduce the completion adjustment to $15 million and the aggregate consideration for the transaction payable by Premier to $135 million. This is a result of an increase of the dividend paid to E.ON prior to completion. The sale and purchase agreement has been amended to reflect the revised agreement.

On the basis of this lower aggregate consideration, the acquisition has been classified as a Class 1 transaction. We have requested that Premier's ordinary shares and 5% listed bonds resume trading on the London Stock Exchange from 7.30am on Monday 1 February 2016.

As a Class 1 transaction, the proposed acquisition will be subject to approval by Premier's shareholders. Premier intends to publish a shareholder circular and notice of meeting in due course, with a shareholder vote to follow during March/April. The proposed acquisition is also subject to the approval of Premier's US Private Placement noteholders and lending banks.

Nomura today upgrades its investment rating on Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) to buy (from neutral) and raised its price target to 80p (from 75p).

i guess the implication is that PMO will now not go belly-up

Nomura comment today:
"We outline three reasons to turn buyers: 1) our analysis of the data for the pending EON deal suggests it is value accretive and positive to PMO's debt covenants; 2) the re-negotiation of partner capex carry in Falklands reduces the future debt; and 3) the above two factors increase the duration and value of the call option that PMO shares offer investors to higher oil prices. The downside case is an equity valuation that is negligible if the forward curve materialises, which should be well known. However, we also see an option with a payoff of greater than 5x in the event of higher prices (NMRe NAV of c200p/sh assuming USD 70/bbl and 45p/therm). With increasing capacity to survive current prices for at least 12 months, we think the risk-reward from a broader portfolio basis (either as a hedge to UW Energy position or as an outright bull on oil prices), is worth taking. Short-term, our base case is the UKLA lifts the existing trading suspension (either when PMO/EON can either produce the relevant financial information or the authority decides this transaction is not a reverse takeover) and we anticipate the shares should trade materially higher, beyond pre-suspension levels of 40p (last close price of 19p/sh).

We view the USD 120m E.On UK acquisition as positive as: 1) the predominately gas assets reduces the stock’s NPV sensitivity (using a 10% discount rate) to weaker oil prices; 2) the assets increase our risked NAV by c35p/share on the forward curve, including c25p from higher utilisation of historic UK tax losses; and 3) it increases the company’s 2016 covenant headroom by cUSD 500m.

A USD 30-40/bbl outlook through 2016/17 leaves debt covenants precariously poised with ND/EBITDAX above 6x (covenant is currently 4.75x). Whilst we believe lending banks will be flexible during 2016, management remains under pressure to deliver on cost reduction and portfolio restructuring into 2017."

StockMarketWire.com
Premier Oil has extended its FY pretax loss to USD829.6m, from a year-ago loss of USD362.5m. Sales revenue was USD1.07bn, from USD1.63bn.

Production averaged 57.6 kboepd (2014: 63.6 kboepd), exceeding Premier's market guidance despite disposals of non-core assets.

CEO Tony Durrant commented:
"Despite the significant reduction in oil and gas prices, reflected in our results today, 2015 was a year in which we exceeded production guidance, added to reserves, achieved notable exploration success and reached agreement on a value-adding acquisition.

"We also reduced operating costs by over 25 per cent, significantly cut back on current and future development spend and disposed of negative cash flow assets.

"Our forward plan includes further actions to reduce debt, positioning ourselves for a prolonged period of lower oil prices, whilst continuing to take actions to build longer-term value for a recovering commodity environment."

HIGHLIGHTS
* Proposed acquisition of E.ON's UK assets: strongly value accretive, adds c.15 kboepd of 2016 net production and captures a valuable hedging programme; good progress on approvals with the lending group

* Solan first oil is expected shortly; plans for second oil and ramp up to full production progressing in line with previous guidance

* The Catcher project is under budget and BW Offshore, our FPSO provider, maintain a delivery schedule for first oil in 2017; ongoing development drilling results are encouraging

* Sea Lion Phase 1 project scope modified with lower break-even oil price; new contractual arrangements agreed with Sea Lion partner, and FEED contracts now in place; significant exploration successes at Zebedee and Isobel Deep

* Continued portfolio rationalization with the sale of the Norwegian business for US$120 million; Pakistan sales process ongoing.

Looks an interesting investment now and slightly safer than some of the other minnows which are bouncing on the strength of oil.

TLW hasn't been too shabby either

From the FT:
"North Sea oil producers are in talks to put aside their commercial rivalries and collaborate on an unprecedented scale as they look to slash costs amid some of the toughest market conditions the sector has ever faced.

Premier Oil, one of the biggest independent producers in the North Sea, is leading talks with a handful of other oil companies to merge substantial parts of their operations, including procurement, logistics and finance departments.

The move would be the most significant co-operation ever seen in what is normally a hyper-competitive industry, where companies fight for the smallest advantage over their rivals. The fact that such measures are even being discussed is a sign of how difficult conditions are in the North Sea, where high costs leave companies particularly exposed to the slumping oil price.

Tony Durrant, Premier’s chief executive, said: “We are talking about shared rigs, shared logistics, shared back offices. We are at an early stage, the talks are quite complicated and there are lots of parts involved, but this could be quite radical for our industry.”

Under the plans being discussed, companies could set up a central procurement unit that would buy parts such as valves or piping, which could then be purchased or leased by individual operators.They could also create other joint back offices, dealing with everything from finance to human resources and logistics.

Such a move would end the practice of increasing differentiation in the equipment that companies use, which has helped drive up costs across the industry. Operators use 28 different shades of yellow paint, for example, to paint their subsea equipment, as well as 250 types of valve stem, each 1/1000th of an inch different in size.

Ministers and regulators have been urging companies for months to collaborate more to try and extend the lifespan of the UK North Sea. Oil and Gas UK, the industry body, warned last month that if oil stays at about $30 a barrel for the rest of 2016, nearly half of all fields will be loss making.
Last year the government set up a new regulator, called the Oil and Gas Authority, with a remit to encourage companies to work together to cut costs."

Pushing gently higher on the back of $40pb for crude and the commercial collaboration.

Credit Suisse today reaffirms its underperform investment rating on Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) and raised its price target to 30p (from 20p).

Nomura today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) and raised its price target to 85p (from 80p)