At US$25m, is Hibiscus getting a good deal? Let's first compare the factsheets between North Sabah and Anasuria (a superb deal by all counts). Tabulation below shows key assets parameters of Anasuria and North Sabah:

Table below shows the differences between concession (Anasuria) and PSC (North Sabah). 

Not all barrels are equal. To have an apple to apple comparison, we must first normalize a concession barrel with a PSC barrel. As can be seen in the first table, Anasuria Opex per barrel has nearly halved to US$15.11 since 2014. This is comparable with 2016 Opex of US$13.94 stated for North Sabah. We could therefore fairly deduced that the cost structure is quite similar for both the Anasuria & North Sabah. For modelling purpose, assuming oil price at US$55, Opex cost US$15 and a similar Capex cost US$15, total cost is US$30/US$55 or 45%

Anasuria(Concession)

North Sabah (PSC)*

Based on the model above, each barrel oil produced in Anasuria is US$15/US$3.6 = ~4x more profitable than a barrel produced in North Sabah. The other way of putting it is to say it takes 4 barrel oil oil produced in North Sabah to earn similar profit to a barrel of oil produced in Anasuria. So, using a normalizing factor N=4 to the Purchase Price per barrel oil in North Sabah,

• North Sabah Purchase Price per 2P bbl= US$25m/31mbbls x 4= US$ 3.23
• North Sabah Purchase Price per 2P+2C bbl=US$25m/70.5mbbls x 4= US$1.42

​All in all for North Sabah, the Purchase Price per 2P bbl was at 40% premium compare with Anasuria.  Inclusive of 2C resources, North Sabah's Purchase Price per 2P+2C barrel is at 25% discount. Overall, it can be reasonably concluded that the valuation for North Sabah is equally attractive compare with the Anasuria deal but at a smaller scale. And that is even without factoring that Anasuria's purchase price was based on Opex level of US$29.87 per bbl when the deal was struck.

Final Words

​The past few years were anything but an easy ride for Hibiscus. The management shift from exploration-oriented Jackpot to production-focused slow-but-steady growth has given much comfort. Those nightmares of flushing RM 100m+ down the exploration well only to encounter dry hole are truly over. If the Anasuria deal was the deal that save Hibiscus from bankruptcy, will the North Sabah deal propel Hibiscus to new height? The low asset entry price does not guarantee profitability but certainly provide much needed safety buffer against lower oil price. Today the focus shall be on the production costs, facilities uptime and maximizing reserve recovery, something certainly Hibiscus has better control with. 

As for the status of the deal, Hibiscus announced on 29/05/2017 that Petronas Carigali has waived its pre-emption rights under a joint operating agreement. Petronas has also conditionally approved the assignment of the Shell's interest to Hibiscus, which means the deal has not closed yet and can only be closed upon fulfilment of all conditions set by Petronas. Do take note that original closure date of the end of Q22017 was already due. 

As for the share price, monster upward move of 39.7% on 20/09/2017 has exceeded the author's expectation by a wide margin. Without the benefit of hindsight, the author initially expects the RM0.56 level to be broken only upon the closure of the deal. The author believes that whatever windfall benefit from North Sabah deal should already be partially reflected in the price. With Brent oil price currently hovering at near the year high, caution is strongly advised. The author is humble and has been humbled by market numerous times to learn that investing is less about being correct than to simply make a profit out of our investment. The adage of "let the profit runs and cut the losses" can never be more apt here. Immediate support level is at RM0.61 and a much stronger level at RM0.56. Price dropping below RM0.56 flashes a big bearish signal. 

Disclaimer:

1)  The author has no access to management of Petronas, Shell or Hibiscus. The report was written purely based on the news reports, company statements and media releases together with industrial trade reports. Verificacy of the report is based on best efforts and was subject to the author's knowledge inadequacies, assumptions used and the probabilistic nature of the future events.

2)  The author has position in Hibiscus and while trying to stay as objectively as possible but may still be influenced by subconscious confirmation and memory bias.