Shares in BEE investment company HCI extended gains on Thursday with the price surging as much as 44% — its second-biggest one-day gain since listing.
The share price reached an intraday high of R179.69, a new record, beating the one set in 2014. The price began to rise late on Tuesday on news that an oilfield offshore from Namibia, in which it holds a 10% stake, could contain as many as 13-billion barrels.
By the JSE’s close, HCI’s share price was up 34.19% to R167.11, giving it a market cap of just more than R14.308bn. With Tuesday and Thursday’s gains combined, the market cap has risen by a whopping 4.3bn since Monday’s close.
The scope of the field was reported by Norwegian publication Upstream, which suggested that the source, located 290km off the coast, was the biggest discovery of its kind to date. It is believed to also contain more than 10-trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
HCI’s share price closed 6.55% higher at R124.53 on Tuesday, and with the market closed for Freedom Day in SA on Wednesday, they resumed their surge from the opening on Thursday.
HCI, run by Johnny Copelyn the former general secretary of the SA Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu), owns 49% of Impact Oil, a private company that explores large deep-sea oil and natural gas opportunities primarily off the African coast.
Impact owns a 20% stake in the field, named Venus.
Impact refused to comment on the Norwegian report, which cited insiders suggesting that the oilfield was much larger than the 3-billion barrels first announced by Upstream.
The finding of the oilfield, also known as block 2913B, was announced in February by majority owner French oil firm TotalEnergies. Namibian state company Namcor and Qatar Energy (30%) also hold a stake in the field.
HCI, which has investments in gambling, eMedia television, transport, properties, coal and hospitality, has previously faced off with environmentalists on its energy and oil interests.
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