Another newcomer to the main market...anybody any idea what the production figures are ?

Business Financial Newswire
"Heritage Oil has raised 132m gross via a placing of 25.4m shares -representing 9.8% of the existing share capital - at 520p each.
The placing price represents a premium of 2.9% to the closing price on 12 June 2009. "

From the New Zealand Herald.
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Iraqi oil minister accused of mother of all sell-outs
9:09AM Thursday Jun 18, 2009
By Patrick Cockburn
Furious protests threaten to undermine the Iraqi government's controversial plan to give international oil companies a stake in its giant oilfields in a desperate effort to raise declining oil production and revenues.

In less than two weeks, on 29 and 30 June, the Iraqi Oil Minister, Hussain Shahristani, will award service contracts to the world's largest oil companies to develop six of Iraq's largest oil-producing fields over 20 to 25 years.

Senior figures within the Iraqi oil industry have denounced the deal. Fayad al-Nema, the director of the South Oil Company, which comes under the Oil Ministry and produces most of Iraq's crude, said on the weekend: "The service contracts will put the Iraqi economy in chains and shackle its independence for the next 20 years. They squander Iraq's revenues."

Mr Nema is reported to have since been fired because of his opposition to the contracts, which he says is shared by many other officials in Iraq's state-owned oil industry.

The government maintains that it is not compromising the ownership of Iraq's oil reserves - the third largest in the world at 115 billion barrels - on which the country is wholly dependent to fund its recovery from 30 years of war, sanctions and occupation.

But the fall in the oil price over the past year has left the government facing a financial crisis; 80 per cent of its revenues go to pay for salaries, food rations and recurrent costs.

Little is left for reconstruction and the government is finding it hard to pay even for much-needed items such as an electrical plant from GE and Siemens.

The development of Iraq's oil reserves is of great importance to the world's energy supply in the 21st century. They may be even larger than Saudi Arabia's, as there was little exploration while Iraq was ruled by Saddam Hussein. International oil companies are desperate to get their foot in the door.

"Everyone wants to be in Iraq," says Ruba Husari, an expert on Iraqi oil. "Together with Iran, this is the only oil province in the world that has great potential. It is a great opportunity for oil companies because nobody knows the size of Iraq's reserves. Iraq itself needs to know what is under its soil."

But Iraqis are wary of the involvement of foreign oil companies in raising production in super giant fields like Kirkuk and Bai Hassan in the north and Rumaila, Zubair and West Qurna in the south.

They suspect the 2003 US invasion was ultimately aimed at securing Western control of their oil wealth. The nationalisation of the Iraqi oil industry by Saddam Hussein in 1972 remains popular and the rebellion against the service contracts has been gathering pace all this week.

Parliament is demanding that bidding be delayed. MPs summoned Mr Shahristani, pictured left, a nuclear scientist imprisoned and tortured under Saddam Hussein, to answer questions about the service contracts and the fall in Iraq's oil production and exports.

Jabir Khalifa Kabir, the secretary of parliament's oil and gas committee, says the contracts will "chain the government with complex contractual terms" and will abort South Oil Company's own plans to raise production. The government says the bidding must go ahead.

The contracts are not particularly favourable to the international oil companies. They are rather the outcome of the companies' extreme eagerness to get into Iraq and the government's attempt to obtain expertise and investment without ceding control.

The companies will be paid a fee linked to first restoring and then increasing oil output. They will, however, have greater control when there is a second round of bidding for oilfields which have been discovered but not yet developed. Separate again is the question of exploration for as yet undiscovered oil reserves.

Critics of the deal in parliament say that Iraq has already invested US$8bn in developing its super giant fields. But Mr Shahristani needs $50bn over the next five or six years to raise current production levels from 2.5 million barrels a day of crude and knows the money and expertise can only come from outside Iraq.

The government in Baghdad may be near broke but Iraqis ask whose fault that is. The Oil Ministry, like much of the government, is dysfunctional when it comes to carrying out long-term projects. Mr Shahristani is blamed for poor management skills, though he eloquently defends himself by saying that when he took over the ministry in 2006, he had to cope with attacks by guerrillas who once were blowing up a pipeline every day.

This explains Mr Shahristani's problems in northern Iraq, where the Sunni Arab insurgency of 2003-08 was strong, but not in the far south, where the Shia community is dominant and there was no uprising.

Jabbar al-Luaibi, the former head of the South Oil Company, who battled to maintain oil production in these years, gave a devastating interview detailing the failings of the Oil Ministry to provide the most basic equipment needed to monitor the oil reservoirs.

"It's like driving your car without any indicators on the dashboard," he said, adding that if mismanagement continued in the same way as in the past "who knows, we might have to start importing crude oil".

The Iraqi government made two other mistakes for which it is now paying. It optimistically believed the price of oil would stay high at $140 a barrel. Instead of investing extra revenues by paying for outside expertise and equipment to raise production in the oilfields, it spent the money on raising the pay of government employees and increasing their number.

This increased Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's popularity in the provincial elections in January but left the government short of cash when oil prices collapsed. Prices have risen since then, but not nearly enough to solve the government's problems.

In June 2008 the Iraqi oil industry seemed poised to receive foreign help by signing two-year technical support contracts with oil companies. Control would have remained with Iraq. However, at the last minute, the contracts were cancelled despite being supported by Mr Shahristani and the council of ministers. The reason why this happened explains much about why the state machine is unable to carry out long-term policies. Jobs are allocated to members of political parties regardless of their experience or abilities. After 2003 the Oil Ministry had been the fief of the Fadhila, a Shia Islamic party strong in Basra, and, though it left the government, it never wholly accepted Mr Shahristani as minister.

Showing a certain cheek, Fadhila members n having sabotaged the plan to acquire foreign expertise when money was available to buy it last year n now criticise the government for being forced to accept worse terms because it cannot invest itself.

Many Iraqis will be angered to see their historic oilfields being partially run by foreign companies. But the government believes it has no choice.

(Corporation Mark) THE INDEPENDENT

Lukoil chief meets Iraqi PM ahead of oil announcement
14 hours ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) The head of Russian energy giant Lukoil, which is bidding for contracts to develop Iraqi oil and gas fields, met Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Wednesday.

Their meeting comes a week after Maliki met the chief of French energy group Total, and less than two weeks before Baghdad is to unveil which foreign firms have won coveted contracts to work in Iraq.

"We would gladly welcome Lukoil to Iraq, because it has a great deal of experience," Maliki said, according to a statement released by his office, during a meeting with Lukoil chief Vagit Alekperov.

"Iraq is trying to open its doors to investment from international oil companies to raise oil production, which is the principal source of our revenues," he added.

Alekperov, meanwhile, said Lukoil was "trying to train Iraqi engineers at Russian institutions."

Two executives from US energy firm Chevron also visited Iraq on Wednesday to discuss the terms of contracts that oil companies will be awarded, when the oil ministry reveals, on June 29 and 30, which companies will work in Iraq.

Lukoil and Chevron are among 31 energy firms pre-selected by Iraq, a list made up of major foreign oil companies and state-owned enterprises, to develop six major oil fields and two major gas fields.

Four companies have withdrawn from consideration for the contracts.

According to the website iraqoilforum.com, the pre-selected firms comprise 11 Asian firms, nine European, seven North American, two Australian and two Russian.

Although only eight contracts will be awarded, energy firms could join forces to develop some fields.

The new contracts are to increase Iraq's oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day, on top of the 2.4 bpd that Iraq now produces.

Kurd oil official, S.Oil Co., slam Iraq oil auction

Reuters, Thursday June 18 2009 *

Kurdish oil official says Oil Ministry in "disarray"
* Head of main Iraqi oil unit rejects oil contract auction
* Iraq government defiant, says auction going ahead
* Kurdish oil official says foreign firms likely hamstrung
By Mohammed Abbas
BAGHDAD, June 18 (Reuters) - Iraq's Oil Ministry is in "disarray" as oil officials revolt against its plan to hold the country's first major auction of oil field contracts since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a Kurdish official said on Thursday.
Ashti Hawrami, natural resource minister for Iraq's oil-producing Kurdish region, said firms taking part in the auction this month will find it difficult or impossible to actually work in Iraq because of the dispute. [ID:nLE419256]
The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and the Shi'ite Arab-led Baghdad government have long feuded over how best to exploit Iraq's vast oil reserves, the world's third largest.
"The oil industry seems to be falling apart. We have the Oil Ministry in disarray, we have the national oil companies coming out and saying loudly this is not right," Hawrami said of the oil contracts to be offered over two days at the end of June.
On Sunday the head of Iraq's South Oil Co., which produces most of the country's crude, said he opposed the auction of contracts to develop Iraq's six largest oil producing fields -- and engineers said they had started a petition against the move.
Two undeveloped gas fields are also on offer.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani was also under fire from parliament, which has reservations about the contracts and summoned him to answer questions on Tuesday.
South Oil Co. chief Fayad al-Nema on Thursday renewed his criticism of the contracts.
"The first bidding round is useless and won't serve the Iraqi economy. It will harm the South Oil Company," he said.
The strong criticism has raised concerns that the auction -- for which 32 of the world's biggest energy companies have qualified and paid to take part -- would be cancelled, but the government has repeatedly said they would take place as planned.
"The cabinet discussed the preparations which are ongoing for the first bidding round to develop the gas and oil fields and confirms its importance ... and the commitment to move on the dates specified, the 29th and 30th of June," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement on Thursday.
FOREIGN FIRMS HAMSTRUNG?
Nema and other critics say they do not oppose a planned second round of tenders for service contracts in undeveloped oil fields, the results of which are due to be announced at the end of the year.
One of the contracts on offer in the first round is for oil fields close to the northern city of Kirkuk, disputed by Kurds, Arabs and ethnic Turkmen.
Hawrami said the KRG had not been consulted about the tender, and therefore foreign firms would not have the KRG support he said was required before developers could start work.
"They will be on shaky ground. Speaking about fields in the disputed territories, the contractors will not actually have a chance to work on the ground. I cannot see how they will have the security and support they need in these disputed territories without the KRG being party in providing that help."
Iraq produces 2.3-2.4 million barrels per day of crude, slightly lower than the rate under Saddam Hussein, stoking criticism of Shahristani. A fall in oil prices since last year's record highs has depleted Iraq's budget, adding to pressure on the Oil Minister to boost production.
(Additional reporting by Aref Mohammed in Nassiriya and Aseel Kami in Baghdad: Editing by Michael Christie)

Grim isn't it !

Tentative chart support at........400p???

The whole market is dropping.....what a pain in the neck it is...job to guess which way anything is going !.

106 ftse points down ! how are you supposed to invest when you've got movements like that in one day.....if you are like me with a very busy working schedule ...things become very difficult...if not impossible to keep track...grrrrr !.

Trailing stops probably the best bet.
Crude also down which doesn't help the pumpers' share price.

Might have to try those in future !.

I really don't know why you bother rf.

You usually get it wrong. Wouldn't it be better for you to stick it somewhere safe (under the mattress?) until the market improves ..

just a suggestion ....

ouch, what a comment..... just think if he did that then a friend did a surprise spring clean for him ...... lol

Dealerdear ; you tell me what the market or a specific share is going to do : I'm all ears !, I still think that the main market oilies have further to climb but in the short term this is a nasty pullback !.

Talking of ups and downs..HOIL taking a knock here..

indeed ..... sold most of mine a few days ago but will continue to hold rump ...... had hoped they were going to be taken over, but of course they just merged with another in the end - hey ho

Still in...that's the way it seems to be going for me...anticipated the TLW pullback but not the HOIL...

topped up this morning at 440, and that has proved a good move - at the moment ...... also, apparent heavy volume .... if true .... hmm!

is perceived demand triggering demand or is there truly something of interest afoot? ...... sp +45 or thereabouts and very heavy volume at 2.25m

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Shares in UK-based oil explorer Heritage Oil Ltd jumped more than 7 percent on Tuesday on market talk of a potential bid interest from Royal Dutch Shell , traders said.
Both Royal Dutch Shell and Heritage declined to comment on the market talk.
A trader said the talk was for a potential bid of 700 pence per share.

prob a load of bollocks!

Although, of course you hope it isn't! ;o)