Jupiter Energy’s share price rockets on no news leaving investors scratching their heads
Speculation is rife behind Jupiter Energy’s phenomenal share price rise, with speculators suggesting a special commercial production licence announcement may be imminent.
Despite a plunging oil price, junior oil producer Jupiter Energy’s (ASX: JPR) share price has rocketed by a whopping 17,150% this week prompting an ASX speeding ticket on Wednesday and a pause in trade this morning pending a further announcement, but not before it had reached an intraday high of $0.345.
Jupiter’s response to the ASX price query left speculators with no clearer picture of the rise, with the company stating it was not aware of any reason behind the increase other than two recent operational updates made on 27 March and 14 April.
Wednesday’s ASX price query did little to dampen the company’s rocketing share price, which reached an intraday high by Thursday of $0.345 – up 475% on Wednesday’s close of $0.06.
Compared to the close of $0.002 on Tuesday 21 April, today’s rise to $0.345 is an insane increase of 17,150%.
Market spectators including those on the ASX Small Cap & Micro Cap Investors Facebook group have been left scratching their heads at such a massive movement in price this week.
Speculators have come up with various theories including the upcoming announcement will be a response to another ASX speeding ticket, with others suggesting an anticipated commercial production licence has been secured or another capital raising will be announced.
Small Caps reached out to the company, but at the time of writing, it had not received a response.
Trial production underway
Potentially providing some inkling behind the rise was Jupiter’s March quarterly activities update which was released prior to this morning’s trading pause.
As stated in the March quarter report and the mid-April operations update, Jupiter had previously decided to close down all production by the end of March due to the uneconomic oil price.
However, a finalised a prepayment contract with a local Kazakh oil trader has enabled production from Akkar North and West Zhetybai oil fields to now continue.
The March quarter update revealed 8,500 barrels of oil was produced from two wells in its Kazakhstan oil field.
This generated revenue of US$117,000, with the company achieving an average price of US$14/bbl – reflecting the global drop in oil prices.
The J-50 well in the company’s Akkar North field can now generate oil under trial production regulations until the end of December 2020, while the J-58 well in the West Zhetybai field will be able to also operate under trial production until September 2021.
During this period, Jupiter noted it would complete the final reserve reports for both oil fields to enable it to transition into commercial production.
Over at the Akkar East oil field, Jupiter has applied for a special licence to transition into commercial production despite it not having the requisite infrastructure in place.