Small-cap oil & gas producers, JKX Oil & Gas (LSE: JKX) and Victoria Oil & Gas (LSE: VOG) are both falling today, down 5% and 6% respectively at time of writing, although there is little in the way of news for either company.
However, it would appear that investors are becoming concerned about the outlooks for both companies, as they await updates from the respective management teams.
Making progress 
Victoria has been riding high this past month, after revealing that the company had supplied an average of 4.2m cubic feet of gas per day, to gas-to-power customers within Cameroon during the week to the 9th of July. That’s a near 100% year on year increase in sales.
Nevertheless, management also revealed within the same update, that the construction of a major pipeline, supplying its operations within Cameroon, had been delayed until the end of July. It appears as if investors are waiting for an update on the pipelines progress, to see if there are any further delays.
Unfortunately, since this release, Victoria has seen the resignation of its executive director, Austen Titford, who resigned for personal reasons on the 17th of July. A sudden executive departure is usually considered bad news for any company.
Geopolitical troubles
JKX’s investors are also waiting for an update from management. Fresh of the back off a win against activist shareholders, JKX is now facing a serious threat to its operations within Eastern Europe.
Indeed, along with Russian backed rebels within Eastern Ukraine, recent sanctions introduced by the United States, against Russia’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, could impact JKX’s Russian operations.
Specifically, US sanctions have been put in place to stop the flow of capital to Russian companies. JKX has some Russian assets, which could be impacted by these capital controls.
As of yet, it’s unclear how these sanctions will affect JKX, although there is bound to be some fall out. Luckily however, JKX’s Ukrainian operations are now far away from the fighting in the east of the country.
For example, the company’s Elizavetovskoye exploration licence and Novo-Nikolaevskoye production complex are located around the cities of Poltava and Kremenchuck, more than 100 miles away from rebel-controlled regions.
Unfortunately, JKX’s management has not released any updates concerning the situation within Ukraine since May. Nevertheless, the company is slated to report first-half results next Monday, which should give shareholders an update on the company’s progress, along with news on how the company is coping with events unfolding within Eastern Europe.
Still, there’s no denying that both JKX and Victoria have huge potential. Victoria’s sales are surging while JKX currently trades at a forward P/E of 7.1.
