news2

A tough day for commodity stocks so far with gold,silver,platinum,copper,and oil all down well over 1% in early trading this morning. The US added 295,000 jobs in February beating consensus and driving the USD higher sending commodity prices lower. The US dollar was also at a 12 year high against the Euro after the strong jobs report.

Oil is currently trading at the $50 level and Baker Hughes will be publishing the weekly rig count at 1 pm EST/ 10 am PST.

Here are a few Friday morning news releases that caught my attention.

Mart Resources (MMT:TSX) - Mart released a production update for the Umusadege oil field in Nigeria. Field production for the month of January averaged 17,050 barrels of oil per day (calendar days). On March 2nd, Mart received a non binding takeover offer from joint venture partner Midwestern Oil and Gas for 80 cents per share in cash. Midwestern will need to complete a financing in order to be able to complete the deal. The market is currently discounting this offer with Mart stock trading at the 60 cent level. In the news release today an update was given on the current debt situation. Mart currently has $68.5 million in debt due in 2015. In March $8.5 million is due and the company is currently working with the lender (Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) of Nigeria) on restructuring the  loan. A higher oil price quickly would definitely help the situation here. Mart sells high quality Brent crude oil which is currently trading at ~$60 per barrel. The roller coaster ride for Mart shareholders continues and I remain on board the train.

Read: Operations and January 2015 Production Update

Related: Nigerian oil play Mart Resources has turned a corner...I hope!

Legacy Oil and Gas (LEG:TSX) - Legacy stock is up 5 cents this morning after releasing updated oil reserves of 154.07 MMboe P+P for year end of 2014. The team at Legacy has done a great job of  growing reserves with total proved plus probable reserves growing by 31 per cent to 154.1 million boe (81 per cent oil and natural gas liquids) at year-end 2014. Production in 2014 also grew 23%  to 23,471 boe per day with a 99% success rate on drilling 159 (137.0 net) wells. An interesting calculation was made at the bottom of the news release stating the NAV per common share is $9.97 with shares trading at $2.05. Legacy was profitable in Q3 2014 earning $13.7 million but that was at $82 oil. Management has run sensitivity analysis and believes LEG is within its debt covenants as long as oil is above $52 per barrel in 2015.Fourth quarter year end and financial results will be out on March 25th.

Read: Legacy Oil + Gas Inc. announces over 31% increase in 2014 year-end reserves and provides operational update

Discuss in CEO.ca live chat

This is not investment advice. All facts are to be checked and verified by reader. As always please do your own due diligence