Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
ROK Resources was drilling near Oxbow on Sept. 29, 2023. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
REGINA – ROK Resources, the Regina-based oil company that ventured into the lithium industry, is going private and spinning out the company’s lithium ownership (via EMP Metals) into a private corp.
In a press release on Sept. 23, the company announced a rather complex series of transactions. Pipeline Online spoke to ROK’s president and CEO Bryden Wright on Sept 25 to explain it more simply.
To set the stage: Hub City Lithium had originally been a joint venture between EMP Metals (75 per cent) and ROK Resources (25 per cent), with ROK looking after the field operations, principally drilling, as it had experience with oil drilling. In 2024 that structure was shaken up, with EMP taking over the lithium venture and ROK taking an equity ownership stake in EMP, currently sitting at 16.5%. The name Hub City Lithium disappeared.
As Hub City, the joint venture drilled several lithium exploration wells in the Stoughton/Viewfield area, and announced the highest lithium brine concentrations in Canada to date, right beside the Viewfield crater, an astrobleme buried a kilometre deep and 2.4 kilometres wide. That crater is between the Viewfield Gas Plants and Fleet Energy’s Viewfield facility. In more recent months, EMP has begun construction of its demonstration plant at Viewfield, just southwest of the crater.
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
Out of the Blue, so to speak
As for the changes for ROK, Wright explained that a private group submitted an offer earlier in 2025, after several companies had expressed interest over the last year, but were “kind of poking around.”
The group was unsolicited, he noted. “We weren’t familiar with them, but structurally, they’re buying all of the shares of ROK Resources. So, it’s a corporate acquisition of ROK and taking the company private. At the same time, the lithium assets, which we now own just equity of EMP … will spin out into a private SpinCo which will just hold those shares until we can monetize them.”
He explained there was a share exchange agreement with EMP, with an escrow period on those shares. That doesn’t change, and those shares aren’t tradable anyway.
“So basically what we’ll do is all the ROK shareholders will receive approximately 24 cents per share of cash on the oil and gas assets, plus a share of SpinCo, which holds those EMP shares. Then the moment in time we’re able to monetize that through whatever mechanism, then those proceeds will be distribute out to shareholders.”
The SpinCo is a temporary entity for the escrow period until monetization can take place.
Wright said, “In a perfect world, we would distribute out those shares, those public shares in EMP, to shareholders. But because of the share exchange agreement and the escrow provisions,this isn’t feasible. We have to just hold those until such time of a monetization event or the escrow period terminates or expires. And that’s our hope. But again, if not, a year from now, we’ll be able to monetize half and then, two years from now, the remaining half. So we’re planning for a life cycle of two years, on the SpinCo.”
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
Not a management privatization
One key thing here is that ROK is being sold to a different ownership group, while simultaneously being privatized. Wright said, “I know there’s been some murmurs in the market that it’s a management privatization, and that’s not the case. We’re not involved in this. This is a completely separate third party that’s come in and offered an attractive premium to shareholders in a super challenging, public equity space for micro caps like ROK.
He noted they had other “inbounds” and looked at a variety of different options. Going forward, “This was the best choice for shareholders in both management’s and the board of directors’ opinions.”
The junior oil producer sector in Saskatchewan has been largely bereft of “liquidity events” since the oil downturn hit in late 2014, 11 years ago. But this could be categorized as a liquidity event.
As for the new owner, Blue Alaska Oil Trading LLC, Michael Bobrov is the principal behind it. The press release noted, “Blue Alaska is a dynamic and strategically positioned oil trading company focusing on acquiring upstream oil and gas producing assets to widen its energy portfolio. Mr. Michael Bobrov, the principle of Blue Alaska, carries many years of expertise in the upstream and downstream oil and gas sector.”
Wright said, “He’s a former Trafigura executive. It’s actually an Israeli-backed group, and they’ve been looking at getting into the Canadian oil space for a while.”
That’s the first time in 17 years Pipeline Online has heard of any Israeli investment in the Saskatchewan oilpatch.
Wright added that Bobrov is involved in multiple refineries worldwide and recently did a deal on some US upstream assets. But ROK was not familiar with him before. Bobrov came to ROK through a broker the company has used in the past.
“It was an unsolicited bid by a by a private group looking to gain a Canadian presence and grow quite quickly. And you know, the unique opportunity for us is that, we’re that first group and a team they’re looking to retain. Us executives will be severed, but our employees will move forward with this group. Executives may or may not enter into new employment contracts post-closing, but that’s to be negotiated at a later date.”
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
Wright said in late September the process was expected to take likely 2.5 to three months, and required a shareholder vote with two-thirds majority support.
ROK has ~30 employees, including both part and full time. Its production is about 3,500 Boepd, 65 per cent of which is located in SE Saskatchewan. .
Wright noted they’ve had a pretty quiet year, drilling just one new well and two re-entries. They introduced a normal course issuer bid, and had started doing share buybacks.
The bulk of their staff works out of their Calgary office, with headquarters, and the executive team, located in Regina. Notably, ROK has been one of the few remaining junior oil producers with headquarters in Regina. Wright said it would be the new ownership’s decision whether to have headquarters in Regina or Calgary. He noted, “I would say the bulk of our field staff is all local Saskatchewan people. That won’t change. And you know, our staff itself, the make-up of our staff is not going to change either, so that makes me happy.”
Stampede Drilling Rig 8, drilling for Hub City Lithium on Aug. 13, 2024. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
“The nice thing is the people, boots on the ground people, that are dealing with all of the landowners and all of the local communities, that’s not going to change, and my hope is, that the new ownership group will continue to operate in the way ROK has historically. So, we’ll see what happens going forward. I think the intent of this group is to grow quite, quite aggressively through acquisition. That’s what they’ve articulated to us. So it’ll be interesting to see how they navigate that.”
He noted one of challenges of being a public company in a time of US$60 oil has been competing with the bigger players.
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
Junior producers
Asked if that executive team had plans for after the sale, he said right now the focus was to close the deal. He said there will be employment conversations with the new group, but as it sits right now, the executive will be severed.
Small, publicly traded junior producers, fueled much of the activity in southeast Saskatchewan during the boom days. Management teams would fire up a new company, build up its production, sell it, start up again and repeat the cycle. But the days of dozens of junior companies being bought up are long gone. Wright said, “It’s super challenging to actually reach a deal, and consummate a deal in the M&A space right now. You’re seeing a lot of failed processes out there and yeah, it’s just really challenging. We’re very pleased we’re able to reach a deal with these guys.”
Asked if he would be leading the executive team to start up a new company, Wright said, “Yeah, there’s nothing like that in the works currently. Obviously, that’s my history, and that’s Jared’s history. And, I think, looking forward, there will be opportunities. If I was to do something again in the future, a new E&P, I might lean back to the private space. I think the reality is, being a small micro cap, E& P company in the public space, is extremely challenging. Access to capital and a broad investor base, is really hard to come by for us small guys. We have really seen investor dollars move to the large caps over the past few years.”
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0093 Estevan OTS 20250093 Estevan OTS 2025
- 0101 VP Energy Road to adventure0101 VP Energy Road to adventure
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001