The tiny Irish stock on the brink of landing 'the first' post-sanction oil deal in Iraq. Ref 'Fleet Street Letter' 12-04-04..

John: Didn't know you had met my Missus. Particularly violent when I'm dreaming about rising SPs; even more with violently oscillating ones! I see the binary bet point - the safest bet is that PET will be way up or way down; would only be at the same level in a month's time if passing through at a rate of knots! On second thoughts, I'll probably just put them under the mattress as suggested by our Jeremy.

Eric

Eric: I plan to use the Binary Bet to hedge my cash position! John

Morning Campers, looks like the wait is over, could this be the reason why PET were staying quiet about the Jordanian MOU last week?

Iraq Selects Firms For 2 Oil Devt Deals - Official

BAGHDAD -(Dow Jones)- Iraq has selected the international companies that it will sign contracts with to develop two large oil fields in north and middle of the country, an Iraq official said Saturday.

Ahmed al-Shammaa, Iraq's oil undersecretary, said that the oil ministry had recommended names of the international firms for two upstream contracts for the development of the Khormala Dome, in northern Iraq near Kirkuk, and Hemrin, northeast of Baghdad.

"We have submitted our recommendation to the government to approve it before we sign the two contracts," al-Shammaa told Dow Jones Newswires.

He said that each one of the two contracts worth between $150 million and $200 million.

Al-Shammaa who has been negotiating the two contracts, declined to name the companies that would win the two contracts.

"We will sign the contracts when we get the approval of the government," he said.

Production from these two oil fields is expected to reach around 200,000-250, 000 barrels a day.

-By Hassan Hafidh; Dow Jones Newswires; + 88 216 2115 7191; hafidh8@ hotmail.com

So you guys think Petrel is definetly one of the two companies Iraq has selected??

tokyo,
great post, you been doing a bit of overtime then!!!!!

Hi all - I use other parts of the MoneyAM site a lot, and I enjoy reading all the info on these boards, but haven't posted much so far. But these new PET developments are potentially too exciting to keep quiet about! Tokyo has beaten me to it with the first bit of news, here's another!

This is from the PET website.

"SUDAN

While the focus of our efforts is Iraq our application to obtain a concession in Sudan is on the cabinet table in Khartoum. In recent years Sudan has had a terrible press due to an ongoing civil war in the South. What has been largely ignored is the emergence of Sudan as a significant oil producer with production at 450,000 barrels a day and rising. The potential has attracted many of the world's most powerful oil companies, but none of the Seven Sisters. Petrel was invited three years ago to apply for a licence. Having reviewed the terms and the potential we applied for Block 15 in the shallow waters offshore Port Sudan. This block was surveyed and drilled in the 1970s by one of the majors but the discoveries were not large enough. We negotiated a joint venture with Sudapet the Sudanese State Oil Company and submitted a proposal. Negotiations have taken a great deal of time but we believe that a decision is imminent. Should we be successful we would expect to drill within 12 months".



This is from todays Sudan Tribune:- http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=6964

Sudan sees new oil refinery contract award soon
Sunday December 12th, 2004 00:43.


Awad Al Jaz
CAIRO, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Sudan's oil minister said on Saturday he hoped to award a contract for a new 100,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery at the country's main port in two months.

Awad Ahmed al-Jaz also told reporters in Cairo that new exploration could help boost oil output beyond the 500,000 bpd expected to be hit in August. Current oil production stands at about 300,000 bpd.

"We are going on with exploration in new blocks, like block 9, 8 and C ... and we just signed an agreement on block 11," he said, adding that an award for block 15 was expected by the start of January.

Jaz said he hoped output could hit about 1 million by the end of 2006. "That's my hope ... We hope we can hit that or more than that," he said.

Analysts have been more conservative than Sudan about the prospects for swift output growth, though they have predicted significant production increases over the coming years. Sudan is also seeking to expand its refining capacity. Jaz said a Chinese firm was expanding the capacity of a refinery in Khartoum to 100,000 bpd, from the current capacity of 70,000 bpd. Sudan also has a 20,000 bpd refinery in Port Sudan.

"Now we are negotiating on building a new refinery in Port Sudan with capacity of 100,000 bpd. We have a number of companies who are negotiating with us," he said, adding that the list included Indian, Malaysian and European firms.

Asked when he expected an award, he said: "Hopefully in two month's time we will conclude that."

He said the project was worth "$700 million plus", adding that some bidders were offering finance.

Jaz said he was not worried that plans to expand the country's oil industry would be disrupted because of threatened sanctions over Sudan's Darfur conflict. The Sudanese government felt that international pressure was diminishing, he added.

Charliedan

I have looked at PET's website and cannot find the page with the text you have copied/quoted above.

Could you please give me the page address so that I can read it on their site for myself.

Thanks

Oilywag

Oilywag:
Try Chairman's statement July 25 2003. Here's the link:

http://www.petrelresources.com/_latestNews/25_07_2003.shtml

Thanks Angelse

John Teeling refers to an "imminent decision from the Sudanese authorities. But with all projects in Arab countries there appear to be long delays before the cabinet rubber stamps the decision.

Oilywag

Oilywag:
I think that, apart from 'imminent' not having quite the ring of urgency that it has in Europe, Sudan has also been plagued by unforeseen circumstances since John Teeling's statement. I'm sure the calamitous conditions in Darfur have meant that the Sudanese Government have been plenty busy with the damage limitation required there.

Also, Darfur has caused serious ructions internationally, and with Petrel seeing Iraq as the more delicate and immediate negotiation area, they probably haven't felt it appropriate to press Sudan for an answer.

Apart from anything else, suddenly keeping all those balls in the air all at once could be a challenge. I don't doubt Petrel's capacity to handle all these commitments, financially or practically, but when growing a business, it's sensible to have a staggered time table, so that you can get good people in place to move them forward.

Guys it is 4.27 in the morning here, and having a little trouble sleeping, as my thoughts keep coming back to our little PET. Just had a quick look through the posts, and a few new names have joined our ranks. Patrick - I love your new title - "Fillyaboots Longest Topic Creator". I thought I'd put my thoughts down on this BB, as I feel we are going to have an interesting week with PET.
I'd appriecate other people's views also, especially if I've overlooked something

OK, so why I am a little excited, has to be put into 5 little sections

1. Jordanian deal

Very strange this, not he deal itself, but those who have followed PET for a while, know that DH & JT, love to issue statements via the newspapers, or via RNS, whenever they can, it is part of what attracted me to this company, as they had a fantastic investor relations section. Yet in the article last week, some Jordanian ministry had leaked it to the press that Sonoran and PET had been awarded MOU's to explore in Jordan. PET kept very quiet about this, but Sonoran were able to issue an RNS confirming this story. Why? There are several theories, perhaps to do with security, perhaps to do with possible links to block 6, etc.

My view, the leak from Jordan, actually did case a panic, as we know PET were working with Jordan on core samples, etc related to Block 6. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the Jordanian deal somehow ties into the Iraqi deal in someway, hence PET have kept quiet and even tried to down play an e-mail going around London last week.

2. Tenders 1 & 2

People from this BB will know that I like to do a bit of research, and am more than happy to share what I find out. Back in April we knew of 5 companies: Everasia, Dome, Petrom, Sonoran & PET. Through my research I've been able to eliminate Dome, Petrom & Sonoran from the 1st two tenders, couldn't find any info on Everasia anywhere. Petrom & Sonoran didn't make it past stage 2 and Dome didn't tender for the 1st two, although they have tendered for the 3rd tender.
Now there maybe other international companies (privately funded), that would not have to release information, hence no one has found it, but all the info I've gathered since April leds me to believe that PET are the favourites to win at least one of the tenders. I've made a few friends in the oil business and they have all said that the Iraqi ministry speak very highly of the PET management team, add into that their neatural stance as an Irish company, and they seem like the best bet, as the company that would least upset the Iraqis and indeed the rest of the world, as the one to receive the first oil contracts out of a post war Iraq.

3. Tender 3

If PET do indeed walk away with Tenders 1 & 2, I really do not hold much hope that they will walk away with number 3, but what it will do, is add to the Share price as the possibilty is there.

4. Sudan - Block 15

Well they say good news comes in 3's, could we be seeing - Jordan, Iraq, Sudan?
The great news here, is that in a JV with the Sudanese State Oil Company PET could be looking at a risk sharing agreement. The article today said that this could be signed in early Jan, well that is only 2-3 weeks away!!!!!

5. The real prize "Block 6"

We can all speculate on a possible price for PET, when we hear about the tenders, my position has always been that we shall see 3 pounds, but when Block 6, along with a Profit sharing agreement are thrown into the mix, all bets are off. Back in June there were a few people I thought maybe Rampers, a they were shouting about the stock being worth 10 pounds+, at the time I thought they were fools, but if and when Profit Sharing Agreements are thrown in, those people are not looking like fools anymore!!!!


Well my thoughts are down for all to read, if you think I'm off the mark, please don't be afraid to say so, these are just my thoughts and interpretations of my own research, there is no inside information here. Well that seems to have done the trick, it's now 5.04am and getting a little tired, so I'm back off to bed, see you all bright and early tomorrow morning (well 5pm for me), this shall hopefully be a week that all PET holders will remember for a long time


Tokyo

just come off my guiness weekend and it's nice to read that others out there ponder the angles and prospects that this week could/would/should bring. If two out of three ain't bad (meatloaf) then I hope Tokyo is right and the block 6 silence is due to a boarder control issue yet to be sorted by both countries.

Busy week head, :o)

watcher

johngtudor,
morning, re. post 1531, if i had 150k to spare iwould`nt put it all into pet because as things stand it is still risky, although less so. i would put 75k in PET and and the other 75k into a couple of NEW BUILD apartments in bulgaria, that way i think i would be covering myself.
as it stands at the moment, my stake in PET, small by tokyo`s and others holdings, averages out at just under 40p. so if it did all go wrong(which it won`t!) i would be able to get out quickly without taking a loss. so although it has been risky all along, when i bought in the sp was low enough to rise on the prospect of news, and i only invested what i could, at apush afford to lose.
probably at the time of you reading this there will be an rns saying PET have the lot!!, but i will still be up a huge amount %wise.
remember also, that there have been several companies that hve risen 5 to 10 fold this year, so there will be next year.
regards,
dexter

Good morning all! Well im all sorted for xmas and waiting from now til the start of jan for news of these contracts! i have a fine champagne on ice as it were and await that most anticipated moment! oh, i will be glued to my screen all day over the coming weeks, sad but true!

morning gra - hope you have a nice bit of festive tinsel around your screen then - lol

Angelse, morning!

thinking about it, when are the markets closed during the festive period?

gra: don't know for sure but think they're closed 25-28 incl. Might be closed on 3rd Jan, but not sure.

Morning Tokyo,
Ican`t get onto fyb to reply to you, i`ve updated my user profile here, could you do the same?,
Dexter

Tokyo

You must have had a good lie in as no posts from you after last night's tour de force. Fascinating that we are now up to 5 propositions. Just scanned through the posts and feel that we are moving up and down. Do you want the good news or the bad news. Lets get the, just possibly, bad news out of the way. I am becoming somewhat worried by tenders 1 or 2. It is the reference to sums of $150M and 200M for the two sites; it also mentions companies plural. PET would be happy with one site, surely, and so would we. What worries me is the reference in the Irish Independent article to $250M which appeared to be inside information. If these last bids have been sealed envelope stuff against a new spec., i.e. costs plus profit element, ot could be that PET have been outbid.

There could be two offsetting pieces of good news. The Jordan news appears to be direct from the horses mouth and that makes a great deal of sense when linked to PET obtaining a licence for Block 6. That is clearly the bigger opportunity but it is not definite revenue in the short-term. Tenders 1 and 2 are firm revenue, the only speculation being the instability of the situation. Sudan also looks a good bet as it is clear that a contract is going to be awarded, although the Teeling quote appears old; is there anything more recent from him or that links PET to the imminent award? Tender 3 probably becomes more likely if PET have not won either of Tenders 1 or 2.

Tenders 1 an 2 are clearly imminent. Many of the Iragi's are clearly westernised to an extent and it may well be that they will want all this done and dusted before Christmas.

Eric

the 250m is being backed by a japanese house i assume for an oftake aggrement if theY get 30% risk sharing for any recoverable oil