At $60 per barrel, ASX investors are getting excited about oil (and gas) again

Oil prices are on the rise again and that’s good news for ASX oil and gas stocks as well as some icing on the cake for a handful this morning.

For a brief period last April prices fell into negative territory but have been on the recovery ever since and overnight topped $60 per barrel.

While this is still off the highs seen in the middle of the 2010s, it is the highest price since COVID-19 broke out.

For several months now, most noteworthy gains among oil and gas stocks have been mysteriously off the back of no news.

Stockhead analysis has found that the average ASX oil and gas stock is up 81 per cent in the last 12 months – although it goes without saying there’s an enormous gap between the top winners and losers.

Code	Company	Price	%Mth	%SixMth	%Wk	%Yr	MktCap
SAN	Sagalio Energy Ltd	0.026	100	1200	4	1200	$ 5,321,163.38
ENX	Enegex Limited	0.056	-7	198	0	837	$ 7,950,936.95
BUY	Bounty Oil & Gas NL	0.03	88	114	-21	650	$ 32,892,029.46
KKO	Kinetiko Energy Ltd	0.14	-3	100	-7	600	$ 82,343,898.70
XST	Xstate Resources	0.0205	156	583	105	583	$ 39,142,573.04
JPR	Jupiter Energy	0.05	4	127	2	400	$ 7,668,884.65
PGY	Pilot Energy Ltd	0.078	123	333	66	333	$ 15,503,777.12
SXA	Strata-X Energy Ltd	0.225	162	275	18	302	$ 26,428,269.14
ICN	Icon Energy Limited	0.018	6	80	0	260	$ 10,756,924.88
EXR	Elixir Energy Ltd	0.165	-6	101	-3	259	$ 133,649,681.55
OXX	Octanex Ltd	0.025	56	92	14	257	$ 6,070,596.00
SGC	Sacgasco Ltd	0.115	60	297	49	238	$ 37,744,617.11
RLE	Real Energy Corp	0.094	203	370	29	236	$ 37,485,388.98
IVZ	Invictus Energy Ltd	0.079	46	163	7	204	$ 37,477,586.33
TNP	Triple Energy Ltd	0.025	0	317	0	178	$ 1,799,901.35
NGY	Nuenergy Gas Ltd	0.05	317	400	163	178	$ 88,857,329.82
GGX	Gas2Grid Limited	0.008	220	300	100	167	$ 8,015,981.91
GGE	Grand Gulf Energy	0.015	36	200	7	150	$ 5,756,242.17
ANA	Ansila Energy	0.029	-19	38	-19	123	$ 49,916,847.40
GLV	Global Oil & Gas	0.021	75	127	31	108	$ 15,826,120.93
PKO	Peako Limited	0.029	7	83	0	107	$ 5,185,462.78
ODY	Odyssey Gold Ltd	0.078	81	81	4	81	$ 34,844,845.04
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.003	50	140	20	80	$ 13,804,266.59
LIO	Lion Energy Limited	0.033	-18	136	14	74	$ 6,844,259.07
STX	Strike Energy Ltd	0.3	-8	35	-2	70	$ 516,451,105.20
RMP	Red Emperor Resource	0.017	-15	42	0	70	$ 8,929,977.19
TPD	Talon Petroleum Ltd	0.005	25	67	11	67	$ 21,758,947.63
CE1	Calima Energy	0.009	29	80	29	50	$ 19,864,117.01
TMK	Tamaska Oil Gas Ltd	0.013	44	160	18	44	$ 11,635,000.00
IPB	IPB Petroleum Ltd	0.039	-5	255	8	44	$ 10,326,775.25
MAY	Melbana Energy Ltd	0.014	17	75	0	40	$ 32,435,919.77
BRK	Brookside Energy Ltd	0.009	0	80	13	29	$ 10,800,000.00
NWE	Norwest Energy NL	0.006	-25	100	0	20	$ 30,440,660.46
SXY	Senex Energy Limited	0.355	8	31	3	13	$ 519,782,216.24
WGO	Warrego Energy Ltd	0.225	-4	29	0	13	$ 217,167,191.56
DOR	Doriemus PLC	0.046	-23	48	-10	10	$ 2,667,223.75
GLL	Galilee Energy Ltd	0.63	-2	9	-1	9	$ 186,014,150.28
CTP	Central Petroleum	0.14	8	56	8	4	$ 101,281,934.46
NZO	New Zealand Oil&Gas	0.46	-5	2	-7	2	$ 75,638,130.28
KAR	Karoon Energy Ltd	1.11	-1	49	5	0	$ 600,706,368.96
NSE	New Standard Energy	0.004	0	0	0	0	$ 3,554,995.46
MPO	Molopo Energy Ltd	0.14	0	0	0	0	$ 34,865,690.72
LKO	Lakes Oil NL	0.0015	0	0	0	0	$ 50,515,629.72
FDM	Freedom Oil Gas	0.011	0	0	0	0	$ 11,847,248.07
GAS	State GAS Limited	0.595	7	32	3	-1	$ 102,954,221.48
BRU	Buru Energy	0.155	29	65	3	-3	$ 66,971,507.36
MEL	Metgasco Ltd	0.031	19	37	-3	-12	$ 17,037,641.79
HPR	High Peak Royalties	0.079	0	20	4	-12	$ 14,927,555.52
ADX	ADX Energy Ltd	0.007	17	0	0	-13	$ 17,208,105.60
EEG	Empire Energy Ltd	0.34	-4	10	-3	-13	$ 113,379,694.40
STO	Santos Ltd	7.02	1	23	4	-15	$ 14,623,123,607.82
CVN	Carnarvon Petroleum	0.28	-10	51	6	-15	$ 430,479,477.18
TOU	Tlou Energy Ltd	0.06	9	62	-10	-16	$ 32,562,340.42
TEG	Triangle Energy Ltd	0.037	37	28	23	-18	$ 21,726,721.84
ATS	Australis Oil & Gas	0.06	0	114	5	-19	$ 61,129,748.04
KEY	KEY Petroleum	0.004	-33	0	0	-20	$ 7,871,712.50
BPT	Beach Energy Limited	1.87	-2	30	11	-22	$ 4,163,433,922.20
PRM	Prominence Energy NL	0.012	71	157	9	-23	$ 7,258,293.43
AJQ	Armour Energy Ltd	0.04	-29	90	-25	-24	$ 52,306,284.64
WPL	Woodside Petroleum	25.53	3	25	2	-25	$ 24,440,535,675.60
PCL	Pancontinental Oil	0.0015	0	50	0	-25	$ 10,813,430.97
BAS	Bass Oil Ltd	0.0015	0	0	0	-25	$ 3,342,140.10
HZN	Horizon Oil Limited	0.086	34	51	23	-28	$ 109,366,426.26
FPL	Fremont Petroleum	0.0035	-13	17	17	-30	$ 16,374,793.82
OSH	Oil Search Ltd	4.21	-1	38	6	-32	$ 8,581,523,242.32
TDO	3D Oil Limited	0.054	-5	-10	-2	-33	$ 14,320,172.09
CUE	CUE Energy Resource	0.078	3	-40	1	-42	$ 53,755,218.44
PVE	Po Valley Energy Ltd	0.034	13	-11	0	-43	$ 22,007,727.50
HCD	Hydrocarbon Dynamic	0.024	-20	-11	4	-44	$ 10,566,962.54
COE	Cooper Energy Ltd	0.31	-22	-18	-9	-45	$ 497,462,962.03
WEL	Winchester Energy	0.026	13	4	8	-46	$ 15,177,790.06
BYE	Byron Energy Ltd	0.16	0	-14	0	-47	$ 166,447,216.32
COI	Comet Ridge Limited	0.076	-6	-4	1	-49	$ 60,923,302.36
OEX	Oilex Ltd	0.0015	-25	-25	-25	-50	$ 6,243,195.00
ABL	Abilene Oil & Gas	0.001	0	0	0	-50	$ 397,614.35
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.011	22	120	0	-50	$ 117,277,494.74
OEL	Otto Energy Limited	0.01	0	43	11	-56	$ 47,950,097.73
VEN	Vintage Energy	0.064	0	-23	-12	-57	$ 38,633,238.21
WBE	Whitebark Energy	0.0035	0	17	-13	-59	$ 14,220,939.43
PSA	Petsec Energy	0.021	0	0	0	-63	$ 8,580,346.40
E2E	Eon Nrg Ltd	0.001	0	0	0	-67	$ 769,888.93
FAR	FAR Ltd	0.011	0	-8	0	-71	$ 109,767,132.17
KPE	Kina Petroleum Corp	0.115	-30	-89	-30	-91	$ 1,460,156.73

But now, ASX oil and gas investors are responding to positive company news.

One company with news was California focused Sacgasco (ASX:SGC) which rose 20 per cent today along with its joint venture partner Xstate Resources (ASX:XST).

Today it told shareholders a drilling contract had been signed to drill its Borba gas well in the Northern Sacramento Basin.

The rig is now mobilising to the site and drilling will get underway in the next week.

‘The best ASX-listed company leveraged to a very big gas play’

Sacgasco managing director Gary Jeffery admitted it had taken a while to get to this point but the wait for shareholders would be worth it.

The Golden State imports over 90 per cent of its natural gas from Canada and other US states but Sacgasco said finding it locally will be more cost-effective.

“My view is that Sacgasco is without doubt the best ASX-listed company leveraged to a very big gas play,” he said.

“Borba is a most technically compelling, low risk, onshore prospect, located in the massively under-supplied and premium priced natural gas market that is California.”

Xstate also welcomed the news, noting that global oil and gas markets were bullish once more.

“The timing of the drilling of Borba coincides with a sustained increase in the price of oil and gas and complements the recent corporate strategy of the company of increasing its asset base through a growing portfolio interest in attractive production assets,” said Xstate boss David McArthur.

Sacgasco shares rose by over 20 per cent while XState shares rose by 11 per cent.

Sacgasco (ASX:SGC) and XState Resources (ASX:XST) share price chart

Other oil and gas winners

Another ASX oil and gas stock with news today was Brookside Energy (ASX:BRK) which is also US-focused.

It completed an $8.25 million capital raising to help it fund its Jewell Well. The company said it welcomed “several new high net worth investors looking for exposure to the oil and gas sector” and the Jewell Well was the first well in a potential five-year, 20-plus well development drilling program.

“This is a very exciting time for the company and the team at Black Mesa Energy and we are looking forward to breaking ground on the Jewell Well location very shortly,” declared managing director David Prentice.

Rounding out the list of ASX oil and gas stocks with news was European focused Ansila Energy (ASX:ANA).

Last week Ansila snapped up British explorer Hartshead Resources and today it told shareholders it had begun activities on a number of workstreams to deliver a field development plan for Phase I assets and the subsurface analysis of Phase II assets.

Both shares saw gains as well.