Enteq trading in line as SABER development continues

Energy services technology company Enteq updated the market on its operations, and the progress of the ‘SABER’ technology development, on Thursday.

The AIM-traded firm said sales and orders since 30 September had continued in line with its update in November, with the strength primarily put down to to the increase in active drilling rigs and the tightening of surplus capacity in North America, amid rising oil and gas prices, making up for a delayed recovery in China.

Year-to-date trading, together with the current order book, provided the board with “confidence” in its expectations for the full financial year.

“Revenues have included third-party products sold under the new distribution agreements as also announced in November,” the directors said in their statement.

On the SABER development, Enteq said the field-testing and development programme was progressing and developing since its last update with its interim results.

It said a lease had been signed to establish a SABER technology centre in the Cheltenham and Gloucester area, which was recognised in the industry as a “global centre of excellence” for rotary steerable system (RSS) technology development.

“Recent downhole testing performed with an international customer and field-test partner has confirmed the ability of the SABER control system to perform in a dynamic downhole environment,” Enteq said.

“Further surface testing at a third party facility has proven that ample steering forces can be generated by SABER, as well as providing valuable information to optimise the continuing downhole test programme.

“A technical webinar series is scheduled to start in March to further strengthen customer engagement.”

The company said its current medium term cash flow forecast showed sufficient internal funds to continue the development through to building up a significant SABER rental fleet.

Should an accelerated introduction to the market of SABER be required, Enteq's relationship bank HSBC had granted the company an overdraft facility of $1m to provide additional growth-related working capital.

“The RSS market has a global size of over $2bn, and the SABER technology is targeted at a range of applications across the energy sector; geothermal drilling, methane capture and oil and gas operations.”

At 1402 GMT, shares in Enteq Technologies were up 1.82% at 14p.