History
CoJax, a small Mississippi and Alabama oil and gas operator, grew by issuing shares for assets from a few counterparties, restating its accounts along the way.
2020-2021: The Barrister deal
CoJax Oil & Gas Corp set out in 2020 to buy Barrister Energy, LLC for shares. In July 2020 it corrected its June filing: the shares to be issued to Barrister's members were 3,650,000, not the 7,500,000 first stated, and closing was expected on or before August 7, 2020. The deal closed in November 2020. Barrister's members received the 3.65 million shares and so took voting control of CoJax, which also assumed Barrister's $2.7 million debt. In return CoJax gained its first real assets: oil drilling and production leases in Alabama.
The debt was cleared in November 2021, when lender Central Operating exchanged it for 1.35 million shares at $2.00 each and became a major shareholder.
2022: A restatement and new asset deals
In May 2022 CoJax restated its 2020 and 2021 accounts. It concluded the Barrister purchase, which had handed Barrister's members control, should have been treated as a common-control transaction rather than a normal business combination. That cut the reported value of its oil and gas properties from $10 million to $2.7 million, with an equal reduction to stockholders' equity but no effect on net loss.
The company then turned to a new counterparty, Taxodium Energy. In November 2022 it issued 1.6 million shares, about $3.4 million worth, for mineral and royalty interests in Mississippi and Alabama, placed in its Barrister subsidiary. In December a second deal added wells, facilities and property interests for another 1.5 million shares. Shares on issue stood at 9,114,446 at the end of 2022.
2024: The Liberty Operating deals
The record is quiet through 2023, when shares on issue were 9,315,902. In June 2024 CoJax struck a similar deal with a new counterparty, Liberty Operating, issuing about 1.32 million shares for Mississippi mineral and oil and gas interests assigned into Barrister. In September 2024 it bought more such interests from Liberty, paying about 2.21 million shares. Shares on issue reached 13,998,639 by the end of 2024.
As of its latest story event, in September 2024, CoJax was a small oil and gas company in Mississippi and Alabama that had grown mainly by issuing shares for assets, and its auditors had flagged going-concern doubt at each change of auditor.
Written from the 8 story beats below (2020 to 3 Sept 2024), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.