The Smallcap Oil & Gas round-up.

It’s here again the weekly Oil & Gas round-up. It’s quite a feature!  

It’s been a tough few months for holders of Xcite Energy with the companys dramatic fall this year from a high of 400p+ to a lowly 75p!  The knives are out online with recriminations aplenty!  It’s a funny old world. But I’ll leave you with a pearl of Dan’s wisdom. “When showing huge profit always DERISK!” Regardless of what online idiots spout! It is your responsibility. Some investors were sat on 200%,300%,400% It is madness NOT to take these kinds of profit. A £1 profit is ten thousand times better than a 10k loss! Here endeth the lesson!

Altona Energy;

It was a good day yesterday for holders of Altona the AIM quoted processed fuels and energy developer, announced key approvals for Bankable Feasibility

Aminex;

Announced progress on preparations to drill the Ntorya-1 exploration well in the Ruvuma Production Sharing Agreement Area in southern Tanzania. The Ntorya-1 drill site was completed at the end of October and the rig camp is now fully installed.  The Caroil-6 rig contracted for the well has been barged from its previous location on Nyuni Island to the southern port of Mtwara and is currently being trucked 30 kilometres to the drill site.  The well is expected to spud in the second half of December and to reach the main target around 30 days from spud. Aminex Partners are: Ndovu Resources Ltd. (Aminex), operator, 56.25%, Tullow Tanzania B.V., 25%, Solo Oil PLC, 18.75%.

Borders & Southern;

Have received notification from Ocean Rig UDW Inc. that the Leiv Eiriksson has commenced mobilisation from Greenland for its two well drilling programme in the Falkland Islands.  It is anticipated that the rig will begin operations in late January 2012.  A further update will be made nearer the time regarding the start of drilling. Following the completion of the Company’s two wells the rig will be assigned to Falkland Oil and Gas.  The fixed mobilisation fee will be shared between the two companies.

an operational update on the Caza McMillan #1 well in Wharton County, Texas.

Caza Oil & Gas;

Announced that re-entry operations on the Caza McMillan #1 well to test the Yegua 9,650 sand have been successful.  The well was perforated at intervals between 9,692-9,704 feet and 9,714-9,716 feet, then fracture stimulated, resulting in gross, initial production rates of 1.375 million cubic feet of natural gas, 57 barrels of oil and 29 barrels of water per day on a 16/64ths inch choke on November 20, 2011.  The well is still recovering frac fluid and is expected to be online at the sales point within the next ten days. Caza currently has a 42.53% working interest and a 31.05% net revenue interest in the Caza McMillan #1 well.

Dominion Petroleum;

Released a corporate update yesterday. Dominion has been given the ok by Tanzanian authorities to farm-out a 20% working interest in deepwater Block 7 to Mubadala Oil & Gas. The farm-out agreement means that Mubadala is due to pay US$20 million by 15 Dec’ 2011. The company also said that its takeover by Ophir Energy was on track to complete in January 2012, subject to various conditions being met. Dominion announced that it plans to begin the acquisition of 2D seismic data on Block 7 in early 2012. At least 1,000 sq km of data will be acquired further offshore than last year’s 3D survey. The purpose of the survey is to define additional prospects in the deeper water portion of Block 7. The 2D survey is also intended to aid refinement of the partial relinquishment pattern for Block 7 that is required at the end of the first period of the licence.

Egdon Resources;

Appointed Jerry Field as Exploration Director with immediate effect.  Jerry has been employed as Exploration Manager at Egdon since February 2011. Jeremy James Field, 56, graduated from Leeds University in 1977 and has since gained over 30 years’ oil industry experience working in small-to-medium sized independent Exploration and Production companies (including Weeks Petroleum, Triton, Ranger, Canadian Natural Resources, Toreador and Northern Petroleum). Jerry has a breadth of experience of exploration in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent and has spent a good proportion of his career working in Egdon’s core areas of the UK Onshore and France.  As a result of his far-reaching experience, Jerry has developed a wide range of contacts throughout the industry, and has significant experience in managing exploration projects at all levels. Jerry currently has no other directorships and there is no further information to be disclosed under Rule 17 or paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules for Companies. Jerry Field does not hold any Ordinary Shares in the Company.

Enegi Oil;

Further to the announcement by the Company on 20 November 2009 in connection with the interest swap on Exploration Licence 1070  in Western Newfoundland entered into by the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, PDI Production Inc, with Shoal Point Energy  and Canadian Imperial Venture Inc, the Company notes the announcement issued by SPE on 1^st December 2011 that SPE is fully funded and has mobilized a work-over rig for deepening, testing and completion of the 3K-39 well.  As reported, the work-over rig is expected to be on site by 9^th December 2001.  The 3K-39 well is targeting an unconventional shale play in the Middle Cambrian to Lower Ordovician Green Point Formation (“Green Point Shale”) covered in the shallower portion of  EL1070.

Exillion Energy;

Good news cam this week from Exillion. The ETP III – 76 well which was designed to test the southern part of the ETP III field and is the first well drilled in Timan-Pechora since the Company went public in December 2009, flowed water-free oil naturally to the surface with a flow rate of 470 bbl/day on an 18 mm choke. The well encountered the Lower Silurian reservoir at 3,306 meters, confirming 15 meters of effective net oil pay within the reservoir. Based on the coring and logging results, the reservoir is represented by fractured and cavernous porosity, clay-carbonate sediments with permeable cracks in several intervals. Well testing results support the company’s geological understanding of the ETP III field. On completion of testing, the well will be connected up to existing production facilities. The rig will mobilize to drill well 7601 on the same structure with target completion in Q1 2012.

Faroe Petroleum;

Informed the market that it has completed a successful initial side-track well on the Butch oil discovery in the Norwegian North Sea. In October Faroe reported that the Butch exploration well (8/10-4 S), where it has a 15% interest, had encountered net oil pay of approx’ 50 metres in the Upper Jurassic reservoir of the Ula formation. An initial side-track (8/10-4 A) was drilled to appraise for additional volumes of oil further down-dip but was water-bearing due to technical issues. A subsequent technical side-track (8/10-4 T2) was then drilled with the main objective of acquiring pressure data to establish the oil-water contact. The technical side-track has now been completed successfully and Centrica, the operator, has calculated a preliminary resource estimate of 30 – 60 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Hardy Oil & Gas;

Released their Interim management statement. Copy’s of which can be viewed by clicking this link. http://www.investor-hardyoil.com/hardyoil/rns/rns_item?id=5043850

Ithaca Energy;

Released a progress report on the BW Athena Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel. The FPSO conversion scope, which is the responsibility of BW Offshore, has proved to be more extensive than was envisaged at the start of the project. In spite of the increase in the amount of work required, BW Offshore and Dubai Dry Docks have completed a fast track engineering project to deliver the vessel very close to the original schedule. After consultation on health and safety requirements, additional redundancy is being introduced in the vessel power and heading control systems in response to the North Sea incident in 2011 when the Gryphon FPSO suffered a mooring system failure. The additional work now being undertaken is aimed at ensuring that production startup is not delayed once the vessel has arrived at the Athena field. Payments for the vessel by the Athena Joint Venture remain unchanged and will commence, by way of a day rate to BW Offshore, only once the FPSO is moored over the Athena field and produced oil is transferred into the vessel’s storage tanks. Once the vessel leaves Dubai, it will sail to the North Sea and hook up to the pre-installed production buoy. In-field commissioning will be minimized by the comprehensive dockside commissioning being undertaken in Dubai. The journey to the UK and in-field pre-startup works will take approximately 5 weeks. Accordingly, the FPSO will remain in Dubai docks to complete all commissioning work and some minor modifications to the vessel power and heading control systems. It is now anticipated that the vessel will sail from Dubai in early 2012. The installation of sub sea equipment at the Athena field location has progressed well and remains within schedule. Meanwhile, all Athena development wells are now ready for production and the Sedco 704 drilling unit is off contract.

Max Petroleum;

Announced today that the ASK-2 well has been drilled to a total depth of 3,412 metres without encountering any viable reservoirs in the deeper Triassic section, which was the primary objective. The well will now be completed as a production well in the shallower Jurassic reservoir at depths between 1,281 and 1,287 metres and the PM Lucas ZJ-50 rig will be released. Earlier this week Max released a  drilling update & a notification of interest. The company said that  drilling has commenced drilling the SAGW-2 appraisal  well on the Sagiz West Field in Block E. Total depth of the well will be approximately 1,400 metres, targeting Triassic reservoirs. Whilst on 7 December 2011, the Company received notification that, as at 5 December 2011 Macquarie Bank Limited held directly a beneficial interest in 212,149,148 ordinary shares in the Company, consisting of 211,174,123 Ordinary Shares and a warrant entitling it to acquire a further 975,025 Ordinary Shares at an exercise price of 13.83-19.22p per share. If these warrants were exercised (and assuming no other warrants or options in the Company were exercised) the resulting holding of Macquarie would represent 20.9% of the then issued ordinary share capital of the Company.

The Niche Group;

Released their Preliminary Results for the Twelve Months Ended 30 June 2011

Northern Petroleum;

Struggling Northern has sold its interest in the Vinkega gas field in the Netherlands for approximately €3.2 million to Canadian oil & gas group Vermilion. The Vinkega gas field was discovered when Vermilion drilled the Vinkega-1 well in November 2009 on its Gorredijk Licence. The field has been mapped as underlying both part of the Gorredijk Licence & part of the Drenthe III Licence, which is held by Northern Petroleum, Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij and Dyas. All the Drenthe III licence interest holders have agreed to the sale of their respective Drenthe III interests in the Vinkega field to Vermilion, with Northern’s pro-rata share of the consideration being €3.1875 million. 70% of the purchase price has already been paid on the signing of the sale & purchase agreement, with the remaining thirty percent being payable following completion, which is subject to governmental & other consents.

Oilex;

Advises that operations on the Cambay-76H horizontal well in the onshore Cambay Field, Gujarat State, India, resumed at 02:30 hours (WST) on 6 December 2011. The operations had been suspended since the end of August 2011, when the coiled tubing milling assembly, which was being used to mill out the fracture stimulation stage seat components, became stuck in the wellbore.

Petroceltic International;

Issued an update on operations at the Ain Tsila field in Algeria.  Petroceltic operates the permit with a 56.625% interest, Sonatrach holds a 25% interest, and Enel holds an 18.375% interest, pending final ratification by the Algerian authorities. Highlights…AT-9 well flows at 43.9 MMscf/d from the Upper Zone and 8.9 mmscf/d from the Lower Zone without fracture stimulation…Substantial condensate yields from both zones – 1,005 bpd from the Upper Zone and 205 bpd from the Lower Zone….Highest pre-fracture stimulation flow rates achieved to date on the Ain Tsila field….The well will not be fracture stimulated at this time as current test rates are already limited by surface facility capacity….2011 Algerian appraisal drilling and testing programme now complete – all 6 wells successfully tested gas columns….3 of the total of 9 wells drilled have flowed gas at rates in excess of 33 mmscf/d.

PetroNeft Resources;

The owner and operator of Licences 61 and 67, Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation, announced an update on its operations. Highlights:…10 well hydraulic fracturing programme completed….Wells now being brought back online and cleaning-up…. Initial results encouraging….Additional five well hydraulic fracturing programme planned on Pads 1 and 2 in January / February 2012….Cheremshanskaya No. 3 well testing progressing successfully… Lower Jurassic J14 interval achieves natural flow….Primary Upper Jurassic J1-3 interval may contain 7.0 metres of net oil pay….Arbuzovskoye Development Programme Approved by Russian Government…. Ledovoye exploration well spudded on 5 December

Providence Resources;

Announced that it has begun drilling a new well at the UK onshore Singleton field as part of a plan to boost production levels. The field is located in the Weald Basin and currently produces up to around 900 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Providence holds a 99.125% stake in the field, with partner Noble Energy holding 0.8725%. It is aiming to increase production to around 1,500 boepd through a series of field development initiatives. The drilling programme, using the KCA Deutag T49 drilling rig, comprises the drilling of a new multi-lateral horizontal production well to the south-west, potentially providing up to 500 boepd of additional cumulative production.

Rockhopper Exploration;

Released their half-yearly report. Copys of which can yes that’s correct be viewed by clicking this link!  http://www.rockhopperexploration.co.uk/pdf/Rockhopper_interims_2011_Final.pdf

Roxi Petroleum;

Shined briefly this week as the company announced that it has been advised by the Ministry of Oil & Gas of the Republic of Kazakhstan that its operating Company, BNG Ltd LLP,  has received approval for gas flaring for the period 2012 to 2014, which is the final regulatory consent needed before pilot production can commence on its South Yelemes field (Airshagyl Area).  Roxi now expects Well 54 and Well 805 will be put into pilot production in the second quarter 2012. After pilot production commences, BNG will test and evaluate Well 806 as part of its ongoing development of the South Yelemes field. David Wilkes, CEO commented “This is the final approval that BNG needs to commence pilot production on South Yelemes and to generate much-needed cash flows for one of Roxi’s core assets.”

Sefton Resources;

Shot themselves in the foot this week as the company announced a share placing of 47,619,047 new common shares of no par value in the capital of the Company at a price of 2.1p per share. The shares were trading as high as 3p at the beginning of the week but began to tumble as news leaked, suffice it to say that (yes you’ve guessed it) they now trade just off 2.2p.

Silvermere;

An independent oil and gas company focusing principally on exploration, appraisal and production opportunities in the US, confirmed that preparations for production from the I-1 well on its Mustang Island asset located in Kleberg County, Texas waters in the Gulf of Mexico are on schedule for production to commence at the end of 2011. The operator, Dominion Production Company  reported to the Company that platform construction is in its final stages with load-out operations about to get underway in Galveston. Load-out is scheduled to be completed by the 13th December. Once load-out is completed, the loaded work barges will be mobilised to the designated platform location and made ready for installation. The installation programme is expected to take 14 days and will be completed by the tie-in of the well to the pipeline.

Solo Oil;

See Aminex listing.

Xcite Energy;

Continued its dramatic fall from grace as the Company announced the Rowan Norway jack-up rig has been made available to Xcite Energy Resources Limited and is now on hire, subject to a satisfactory audit and inspection prior to acceptance. Following acceptance and in accordance with the originally scheduled work programme in Dundee, the rig will be modified to accept drilling and processing equipment, before being appropriately equipped and prepared by XER prior to deployment to the Bentley field as soon as practicable. This is expected to be early February 2012, subject to suitable weather conditions prevailing and all expected permits and consents having been obtained, after which the Company expects to commence drilling for Phase 1A of the First Phase Development of Bentley.