Smallcap Oil & Gas Round-up with a sprinkling of Miners!

17.June.2011

Aminex;

Released some much needed news today as they announced the spudding of the Nyuni-2 well, offshore Tanzania. Nyuni-2 is being drilled from a surface location on the small Nyuni Island, approximately 30 kilometres off the mainland of Tanzania, to the south of the Rufiji River delta, using the Caroil-6 land rig.  The well will target the same Neocomian sandstones which form the reservoirs in the nearby Songo-Songo gas field and in the Company’s own Kiliwani North gas field reservoir.  An additional target is an Aptian/Albian sandstone reservoir which was logged as gas-bearing in the Nyuni-1 well, which was drilled but not tested in 2004. Nyuni-2 will be deviated to the south-east at an angle of 29 degrees from vertical to target a bottom-hole location approximately 1.200 metres away from the island.  Total measured depth is likely to be 3,325 metres and total vertical depth 2,964 metres subsea.  It is estimated that drilling to target depth will take 9-10 weeks. Nyuni-2 will be the fourth exploration well drilled in the Nyuni area by Aminex as operator, and two of the previous wells discovered gas in commercial quantities.  Significant drilling events at Nyuni-2 will be reported to shareholders when appropriate.Partners in the well are: Ndovu Resources (Aminex) 65% (operator)..RAK Gas 25%.Bounty Oil 5%.Key Petroleum5%.

Amur Minerals;

Announced that exploration has been resumed on its Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide project located in the far east of Russia.  Presently, crews are working in the areas of Maly Krumkon, Kubuk and Ikenskoe deposits.  Geochemical sampling, ground based geophysical surveys, trenching and drill road construction have all been initiated.

Aurelian Oil & Gas;

Released an operational update. Highlights included…Second Siekierki Multi Fracced Horizontal Well Trzek-3 successfully drilled and completed with a cemented liner…Fraccing expected to commence early July taking up to six weeks to complete…14 – 21 day stabilised flow test expected to commence mid-August…First Siekierki South-West well, Krzesinki-1, to be spudded following rig move from Trzek-3.. Acquisition of 200km of 2D seismic in Block 208 adjacent to Siekierki Tight Gas Projec… First Bieszczady well produces gas and oil from fourth drill stem test in secondary target. Casing set to protect well against over pressure…Rowen Bainbridge, Chief Executive commented:“Our second MFHW, Trzek-3, is making good progress. We are pleased to have successfully set the cemented liner and the well will now be fracced and tested during July and August. Further updates will be provided to the market throughout this period. The Krzesinki-1 well is an exciting prospect which, if successful, could add significant volumes to the existing overall Greater Siekierki potential which at present equates to 346 bcf (net to Aurelian) in the Siekierki Tight Gas Project. The first well in our Biesczcady concession is now drilling ahead after the Operator, PGNIG, over-came some pressure related well integrity problems.  The well continues to provide encouraging signs in the short term flow tests carried out in the secondary targets. We look forward to providing further updates as the well moves towards the primary target between 4,000 to 4,800 metres.”

Cadogan Petroleum;

The General Meeting of Cadogan Petroleum PLC was held on 16 June 2011 at 2.30 pm. At the meeting the following ordinary resolution was put to shareholders: THAT the proposed disposal of up to 60% of Pokrovskoe Petroleum B.V. and 60% of Zagoryanska Petroleum B.V. by Cadogan Petroleum Holdings B.V. (the Disposal) pursuant to and on the terms and subject to the conditions of an agreement dated 12 April 2011 between Cadogan Petroleum Holdings B.V. and Eni Ukraine Holdings B.V. (the Disposal Agreement) as more particularly described in the circular to the Company’s shareholders dated 27 May 2011 of which this notice forms part (the Circular), be and is hereby approved, and that the directors of
the Company (the Directors) (or any duly constituted committee thereof) be and are hereby authorised to make such non-material amendments, waivers or variations to the terms and conditions of the Disposal or to the Disposal Agreement and any agreements incidental to or forming part of the Disposal Agreement which the Directors (or any duly constituted committee thereof) consider necessary, expedient or desirable to complete or give effect to or otherwise in connection with the Disposal and/or any agreement executed to give effect thereto and to do all such other things as they may consider necessary, desirable or expedient in connection with the Disposal…The resolution was carried.

Chariot Oil & Gas;

AnnounceD that it was notified on 15 June 2011 of certain share transfers in the Company’s ordinary shares of 1 pence each that were made on 15 June 2011 by Westward Investments Limited, and Robert Sinclair, Non-Executive Director. A transfer was made by Westward Investments Limited, a company connected with Adonis Pouroulis Non-Executive Chairman of 400,000 Ordinary Shares, of which 200,000 were transferred to Robert Sinclair for a consideration of £2.00 per share. The balance of 200,000 Ordinary Shares were transferred for nil consideration.Following the transfer, Westward holds 21,565,971 Ordinary Shares, representing 11.91% per cent of the total issued share capital of the Company and Mr Sinclair has a beneficial interest in 200,000 Ordinary Shares representing 0.11% per cent of the total issued share capital of the Company.

Empyrean Energy;

Provided an update on operations at the Sugarloaf Project within the Sugarkane Gas & Condensate Field, Texas.Production Data

Copys of which can be found on the company web-site by clicking this link… http://www.empyreanenergy.com/news/2011/110614_blockb.pdf

Global Petroleum;

Texon Petroleum has advised that the latest Leighton Olmos vertical production well, Peeler #3, commenced drilling on 15 June 2011.  This is the ninth well targeting the Olmos reservoir in which Global has a 15% working interest (11.25% net revenue interest). The well has a planned total depth of 2,743 metres (9,000 feet) and will take some 15 days to drill and run production casing.  Fracture stimulation and testing of the well are scheduled for August. Global has a 15% working interest in approximately 873 acres from the surface down to the stratigraphic equivalent of the Olmos formation.  Global currently has an interest in 8 producing Olmos wells.  Global also has a 7.939% working interest in approximately 1,651 acres beneath the Olmos formation including the Eagle Ford Shale.  Global currently has an interest in 1 producing Eagle Ford well and one Eagle Ford well that commenced drilling on 12 June 2011.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum;

It’s been a very busy week for Gulf Keystone Petroleum. Eyebrows were raised in the city when the company announced that after examining changes in the Company’s share register for the month of May 2011 and making subsequent inquiries that Gulf Keystone Petroleum Co.LLC had transferred legal title to 11,600,000 common shares of US$0.01 each in the Company to Todd Kozel, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and 4,000,000 Common Shares to Ali Al-Qabandi, Business Development Director at nil cost. A further 20,400,000 Common Shares were transferred to Gibca Ltd and 4,000,000 Common Shares to Ibrahim Al-Khaldi. Kozel has informed the Company that the shares transferred to him by GKP LLC are beneficially owned by his brothers and father  and he is obliged to transfer the shares to his Family as soon as he is able to. Under the terms of his ongoing divorce proceedings he is not currently able to do so but will keep the Company updated of any transfer. Pending transfer Mr. Kozel has the authority to vote the shares. 24 Hours later the company announced the Commissioning Phase of Oil Export Operations  involving final preparations and customary checks and tests on all elements of the process, including loading and transportation logistics, as well as metering and receiving facilities, is underway in order to enable the Company to steadily ramp up export volumes to 5,000 barrels of oil per day with an eight month target of over 10,000 bopd. To date just over 3,700 barrels of oil have been delivered to the storage tank facilities at the export pipeline injection point. Then yesterday the market was given a further operational update wrapped up with the AGM. Copys of which can be found on the companys web-site by clicking this link..http://ir2.bestex-quotes.co.uk/ir/gulfkeystone/newsArticle.php?id=465907&ST=GKP

Kea Petroleum;

At long last some news from Kea who announced that the Hoadleys-1 well in the recently acquired ATP837P licence area of Australia’s onshore Surat Basin is  scheduled to  spud by the end of June. On that basis, it is anticipated that the well will be drilled to a target depth of approximately 2200m by late July.  Hoadleys-1 Australia..Hoadleys-1 is a test of Lower Evergreen and Precipice Sands, which are established producer formations at the Moonie oil field, approximately 20km to the south of the ATP837P licence area. It is situated on a discovery trend, with the Cabawin gas field approx. 20km to the north and the Bennett oil field and Leichhardt gas field approximately 20km further north again. Hoadleys-1 is the first well on this discovery trend outside of Moonie to be located on 3D seismic. Elsewhere in the basin, a number of discoveries in recent years have demonstrated that 3D seismic is essential to identification of the low relief structures which form the oil and gas traps. In the event of discovery, the company’s internal estimated gross median resource potential is approximately one million barrels, with upside of several million barrels. In the event of discovery, it may be decided to drill deviated producers from the Hoadleys-1 site to fully develop the field. Kea is operator of ATP837P and holds 50% of the permit, with 25% of the permit each being held by Energetica and Rawson Resources respectively. Wingrove-2 New Zealand..At the Wingrove-2 site, electrical certification of downhole heating equipment to conform with New Zealand Standards has delayed start-up. Commissioning of the plant and commencement of flow testing is now scheduled to take place at the end of the current week. Although first oil into tank is expected to follow quickly upon commencement of testing giving an indication of initial flow rates, it is likely to be several weeks before a reasonable understanding of the stable, long term production rate is likely to be achieved, due to the requirement to optimise flow from the several isolated pay zones in the production interval between 1150m and 1300m depth. In the event that long term flow in excess of 100 barrels per day is achieved, several more wells are planned to fully develop the field, which is mapped over an area of several square kilometres. This drilling programme is expected to start later this year. Kea has also identified several other similar shallow oil targets which may be included in the proposed drilling programme.

Kefi Minerals;

Informed the market that their “First Exploration Licence In Saudi Arabia had been granted“. The stock rocketed on the news up at time of writing approx’ 40%  Kefi also stated that they had Approval for Two Further Licences. The Licence has been granted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources. In addition the Company has received approval from the DMMR for two further licences and these have been sent for final approval from the Supreme Committee of Concessions in Riyadh. The Company looks forward to updating the market asand when these licences are granted. KEFI Minerals has a 40% interest in the G&M Joint Venture and is the operating partner. To date the Company has lodged a total of 21 Exploration Licence Applications  in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that cover an area of approximately 1,419km2. This inaugural Licence – for the Selib North Project, covers favourable fault structures and quartz-carbonate veined alteration zones and contains evidence of ancient hard rock and alluvial workings for gold.

Matra Petroleum;

Held their AGM yesterday and duly announced that the resolutions proposed at the Company’s Annual General Meeting held today were duly passed by shareholders. No surprises there!

Max Petroleum;

The oil and gas exploration and development company focused on Kazakhstan, announced that it has commenced drilling the BOR-3 appraisal well in the Borkyldakty Field. The total depth of the well will be approximately 1,800 metres, targeting Triassic reservoirs.

Nighthawk Energy;

The US focused oil development and production company announced that Richard Swindells has been appointed to the board of directors of Nighthawk as Chief Financial Officer.

Oilex;

Released an update on the Cambay Eocene Tight Reservoirs. The Company is making progress in unlocking the potential of the Cambay “tight”
Eocene reservoirs that extend across the 161 km2 Cambay Production Sharing Contract (“PSC”) area in onshore Gujarat, India. The Company intends to evaluate and exploit these reservoirs using horizontal drilling and fracture stimulation technology that has been developed and proven in North America. The Cambay-76H “proof of concept” horizontal well will evaluate the production potential of the Y Zone interval of these “tight” reservoirs. An 8 stage fracture stimulation program will be conducted and after well clean-up, it is anticipated that a long term production test will be performed to determine flow rates, quality of hydrocarbons and commercial viability.

Solo Oil;

The AIM listed International Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Company, announceD the commencement of testing at the Ausable#5 well in South Western Ontario by its Joint Venture partner Reef Resources.  The contracted service rig is now on the Ausable # 5 well in preparation for the testing and completion.  The completion program comprises drilling out cement and a bridge plug in the production casing, swab testing of the lower Goat Island zone and completion of the Guelph formation using a multi-stage selective acid treatment.  After acidization the well will be flow tested over a period of several days to ensure clean up. These operations are expected to take between 15 to 25 days to complete. Reef previously announced the log analysis on the Ausable # 5 well, with log analysis indicating 72 metres net pay of oil and NGL’s in the Guelph and A2 formations.

Serica Energy;

Announces that the Trustees of the Serica Energy Share Incentive Plan have made purchases of Serica shares under the terms of the plan on behalf of employees and officers of the Company as a result of which certain directors increased their beneficial shareholdings in the Company by a total of 2,808 shares on 13 June 2011, as follows: Christopher Hearne (Finance Director) acquired 1,404 ordinary shares at a price of 26.75 pence per share taking his total beneficial shareholding to 754,381 shares representing 0.43% of the voting rights; Peter Sadler (Business Development Director) acquired 1,404 ordinary shares at a price of 26.75 pence per share taking his total beneficial shareholding to 95,921 shares representing 0.05% of the voting rights. The Company has 176,660,311 shares issued and outstanding.

Sterling Energy;

It’s not been a happy time for holders of SEY stock as the company yet again flattered to deceive. Announcing yet more misery for holders of the stock. A flow test has been completed across the open hole section of the Sangaw North-1 well between 3,338 metres and 4,190 metres. This interval contains target horizons in the Jurassic Mus and Butmah formations and the Triassic Kurra Chine formation. The well flowed at a stabilised rate of approximately 4.6 million standard cubic feet of A wireline logging operation was attempted to identify the contribution from individual zones within the open hole section but was unsuccessful due to mechanical restrictions within the flow testing equipment. No further flow testing is planned in the open hole section of the well and this section is being isolated with cement plugs. The joint venture partnership has elected, based on gas shows while drilling, to conduct two cased hole flow tests; the first across a 100 metre interval within the Jurassic aged Sargelu formation and the second across a 100 metre interval within the Cretaceous aged Kometan formation. Each flow test, including preparatory operations, is expected to take approximately three weeks to complete. Angus MacAskill, Sterling’s Chief Executive said: “We are disappointed that the open hole flow test has not demonstrated commercial hydrocarbon flow rates within the deeper horizons of the Sangaw North-1 well. The data acquired during this test will be integrated with all the other data acquired in well operations to determine the potential of these horizons. We look forward to the outcome of the two cased hole flow tests to be conducted in shallower formations.” Not to worry Angus you still get to draw your pay!

Victoria Oil & Gas:

Announces that, following the award of an Exploitation Authorisation by Presidential Decree on the 29 April 2011, the Company has executed a contract with a Cameroon civil engineering contractor, Austin Maritime, for the site civil works and the pipeline trenching, jointing and installation.

The contractor mobilised on 31 May and its offices, containers and equipment have been moved to site where excavation commenced on 11 June.

The Company has also mobilised horizontal drilling and high density polyethylene pipe,  jointing experts and a pipeline engineer from the UK.  These personnel will supervise and train staff from Austin Maritime in HDPE pipeline jointing, installation, testing and commissioning procedures.

Pipeline installation is scheduled to commence before the end of June and involves three construction teams and a horizontal drilling team to complete fourteen horizontal sections. The project schedule envisages completion of 100 metres of pipeline per day although rates of up to 200 metres per day are achievable in certain circumstances. All the equipment required to deliver first gas to customers is now in Douala, either at the EXPRO site, (operators of the processing plant,) at the Douala Port or at VOG’s site at Logbaba.