2 news (von denen eine nicht mal wirklich new ist) und 12 % bei 1,5 Mio Stck in London.
FOGL scheint inzwischen auch in USA gehandelt zu werden.
Gut für diejenigejn, die schon welche haben... hier erste Meldung: http://www.londonstockexchange.com/LSECWS/...d=1018851&source=RNS
und dann noch das hier, was meiner meinung nach die ECHTE NEWS ist:
International Oil Daily, 13 June 2005
Desire In Negotiation To Obtain Rig From Brazil :
Risk Capital Pours into Exploration
Emboldened by persistently high oil prices, investors are pouring cash into new exploration companies targeting big discoveries in high-risk locales such as Africa and the Caspian.
Executives argue that this presents an important opportunity for start-ups to target exploration prospects shunned by larger companies -- but the trend has also attracted its share of controversial players.
Over the last 12 months, a raft of new exploration and production companies have been created on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), backed by retail and institutional investors willing to throw caution -- and cash -- to the wind for the chance of a big strike.
Some 17 oil and gas exploration companies floated on AIM in the second half of 2004, raising a total of £373.9 million ($680 million). By comparison, 2003 saw just two oil and gas firm float, raising a mere £27.8 million ($52 million).
This year, the trend has magnified. The five months from January to May saw another 14 issues, raising £115.77 million ($211 million). Of the top 10 largest AIM companies by market capitalization, four are now oil and gas explorers.
One surprising beneficiary of this burst of activity has been the Falkland Islands, which has attracted a number of small UK explorers to its barren shores. Three firms -- Borders and Southern, Falkland Oil & Gas (FOGL) and Desire Petroleum -- have together raised over £50 million ($91 million) from investors on AIM in recent months, specifically to find oil and gas in the rough and icy waters around this remote Southern Atlantic archipelago.
Despite previously being regarded as an exploration backwater, the area has caught the imagination of the market. FOGL shares have more than doubled since they listed in October, giving the firm a market value of around £73 million ($133 million). It plans to return to the market soon to raise more funds while interest is high (IOD Jun.1,p9).
The value of Borders and Southern stock has rise by around 40% since its listing just two weeks ago.
Desire and FOGL were among the most traded securities on AIM in recent months.
Another firm that is currently private but hopes to list on AIM in July is Rockhopper Exploration -- which typifies the entrepreneurial spirit that is the hallmark of the new breed of small explorers.
The firm was founded last year by a UK-based lawyer and property developer who had invested in some Falklands offshore acreage, and who contacted industry veteran Pierre Jungels with the view to forming an oil exploration company. In January Jungels -- who previously held a series of senior positions at Royal Dutch/Shell, Fina (since merged into Total) and British Gas before becoming chief executive of UK independent Enterprise Oil -- accepted the position of executive chairman of Rockhopper.
" I was interested in what he was trying to do because I truly believe the North Falkland Basin has huge potential," Jungels told International Oil Daily in an interview. " Fina, Lasmo, Amerada Hess and Shell had together drilled six wells back in the 1990s, five of which had various forms of oil and gas shows. So there is no doubt there is a working hydrocarbon environment, the question now is to find out how the oil has migrated through what looks like extremely large source rock, and whether it is producible."
Shell's former acreage -- licenses PLO32 and PLO33 -- were picked up 100% by Rockhopper this month, taking its North Falklands interests to six blocks (IOD Jun.8,p10). A 3-D seismic survey and a two-well drilling program were conducted on the Shell acreage during the 1990s, with gas shows at one well and oil shows at the other, but neither was tested.
" There is an old saying that a sure way to find oil is to go into old Shell acreage," Jungels quipped. " It is very likely that the Shell drillers would have wanted to stay and continue exploring, but the price of oil dropped below $10/bbl, and at that price, economic recovery from the Falklands would have been extremely difficult."
Rockover's economic analysis indicates that at $30 or $40/bbl, the story is very different, and even small finds of 40 million bbl could be profitably developed. " The Falklands administrative, legal and fiscal regimes are all very good," Jungels said, " And although the global rig market is very tight at the moment, we are in negotiations to bring a rig down from Brazil at a reasonable price." The Falkland Islands levies a 9% royalty on production and 25% corporation tax on profits.
The Northern Falkland Basin is around the same size as the central UK North Sea, with similar weather conditions and relatively shallow depths. In terms of exploration activity, Jungels views it as being the equivalent of the North Sea in the 1960s.
The much deeper southern basin is completely unexplored, and that is where FOGL and Australian partner Hardman Resources own interests in seven blocks.
With plans to carry out a new 3-D seismic survey and an exploration well on its ex-Shell blocks, plus a farm-in to three wells to be drilled soon by fellow UK explorer Desire Petroleum nearby, the financial commitments are piling up for Rockhopper. Plans to raise over £20 million ($36 million) through an AIM flotation as early as next month are now in motion. " It will be an exciting 20 months," Jungels said.
However, he remains wary of going to the market at a time when sentiment could be turning, following unsavory events at Regal Petroleum -- the most actively traded AIM stock in May -- and Sudan specialist White Nile Petroleum (IOD May23,p5).
Jungels admitted that " a bit of a bubble" had developed, with more nonspecialist investment funds moving in and investing in AIM exploration firms. " They've been a bit spooked by Regal and one or two other events, but the specialist funds and those that really know the sector are all still interested in investing in quality companies with good acreage and solid backgrounds," Jungels stated. " But they will be more discriminating now in their selection processes."
Regal's shares plummeted after the company announced in mid-May that its Kallirachi well offshore Greece -- earlier touted as a 1 billion barrel prospect -- had proved uncommercial. Negative sentiment from Regal hit other AIM-listed exploration stocks (IOD May19,p9).
Still, the widening of investor interest has created a rare window of opportunity for industry veterans to start up their own operations, raise a sizable amount of cash and take advantage of acreage opportunities that big integrated firms have either dismissed or overlooked.
" The small independents are always a bit quicker on their feet than the majors at identifying and acquiring under-explored acreage, and we have seen this in Mauritania, India, Kenya and many other places," Jungels said. " The big boys arrive late, farm in and take operatorship, but that's fine, that's the way the industry works."
greets,
|
Thread abonnieren
