Portland Gas plc the gas storage project development company today announces the commencement of dealings in its shares on AIM following completion of the demerger from New Egdon (renamed Egdon Resources plc) which is also admitted to trading on AIM today.

Seymour Pierce Limited is the Nominated Adviser and Broker and NM Rothschild and Sons are financial advisors to Portland Gas.

Overview of Portland

Portland's business focuses on the development of gas storage projects in the United Kingdom and internationally. It currently has two projects in its portfolio, the first an advanced Project at the Isle of Portland which has been under development for over 3 years, and the second the Larne Lough project in Northern Ireland which was announced in July 2007.

The Isle of Portland project is seeking to develop a major gas storage facility, with the creation of 14 underground storage caverns totaling 1000 mcm (35 bcf) of natural gas - equating to 1% of the UK's annual demand.

Portland Gas has drilled and successfully appraised the salt sequence at Portland and is currently progressing through the planning, financing and tendering for construction processes. The planning application decision is expected to be made during the first quarter of 2008.

The Company is currently evaluating the potential of a Permian salt sequence in the Larne area of Northern Ireland to create salt gas storage caverns. The Company has commenced an Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed project and has also acquired a 3D seismic programme during October and November 2007 to define the distribution and thickness of the salt within the area of interest. It is anticipated that the results of the seismic programme will be known later in the first quarter 2008.

Portland Gas plc will be led by Andrew Hindle as Chief Executive Officer with Craig Gouws (Chief Financial Officer), Walter Roberts (Legal and Commercial Director), Kenneth Ratcliff (Non-Executive Chairman), Mark Abbott (Non-Executive Director), and Maurice Hazzard (Non-Executive Director) comprising the Board.

Upon admission there will be 67,801,840 ordinary shares in issue.

Commenting on the listing of Portland Gas on AIM, Andrew Hindle, Chief Executive Officer of Portland said: 'Portland Gas has developed a significant presence in the UK energy industry over the past 3 years, and our strategy to develop the Portland project has led to significant shareholder value creation in this time.

'The Company is delighted to be admitted to AIM, following our demerger from Egdon, and we look forward to developing our portfolio of projects in the UK and internationally over the coming years in a sector that is rapidly becoming an important element of UK energy security.'

As a personal note, if the Isle of Portland project is given the go-ahead I wouldn't be surprised to see this rise by at least 50%.

It does appear to be an all or nothing play in terms of the Portland gas store but as the posting above suggests they have more than one iron in the fire.

Well queen1... I've decided to give this one another go....until the awaited RNS....there also could be a delay....with the planning authorities needing more time to decide or they might want certain alterations to the planning application !...so a punt it is !

I think it's a decent punt required field. The SP has been up the last two days on the anticipated news. As the company itself says, a decision is imminent so now could be a very good time to climb on board.

D-Day is confirmed:

Portland Gas said its proposal for a gas storage scheme to Dorset County Council will be considered by the Council at its next meeting on May 16. The company also expects the application for hazardous substances consent for the storage site will also come up at the meeting.

Crunch day is coming....I have a small punt on these....no doubt that some people will have a fortune on this one....could go either way....heavens help those that have massive spreads or cfd's and we then have a negative result, but it does look promising....though there could be a further delay in planning and a postponement of the approval until the autumn or next year (that is what is worrying me), I'm surprised that there aren't more bloggers here !, "what's hot" tip this one to have a positive outcome.

Indeed it is. And I can't believe more people haven't got on board this thread. This is now a 10-bagger for me from when I bought the original Egdon Resources shares and if the vote goes the right way that multiple will keep rising :-)

Any idea what time the meeting is and when an announcement is likely anybody ?

Ladies and Gents...starting to moooove....! oh boy ! hope goodddy news is commmming !, otherwise ...a bad punt !.

Bingo !

Control tower to Porland Gas : you have permission to take off....!

All seven permits granted....congratulations to Portland Gas management....tremendous result !

Well worth the wait!!!!!

The Directors of Portland Gas plc (AIM: PTG) ('the Company' or 'Portland Gas') are pleased to announce that today's planning committee meeting of Dorset County Council ('DCC') resolved to grant planning permission to Portland Gas' wholly owned subsidiary, Portland Gas Storage Limited, to build a deep underground salt cavern gas storage facility at Portland, Dorset.

Portland Gas submitted a total of seven applications, one to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR, formerly the DTI) for the necessary pipeline and a further six to DCC for the permanent facilities and the temporary storage areas for the pipeline during construction. These six applications all received individual approval at the meeting of the planning committee of DCC and a separate application for Hazardous Substances Consent was also granted. BERR is expected to announce its decision in the near future.

The estimated cost of construction of the project is 500 million. The Company's financial advisers, NM Rothschild & Sons, will now commence a formal process with potential joint venture partners who have already expressed interest in participating in the project. This process will be targeted at introducing one or more partners as shareholders of up to 50% of the project in consideration for funding the construction costs.

Portland expects this process to complete by late summer 2008. In the meantime some long-lead design work will be undertaken to keep the project timing on track for completion in 2015.

Commenting on the planning approval, Andrew Hindle, the CEO of Portland Gas, said:

'We're naturally very happy with this decision, especially as it was made in Dorset by local representatives who know and care for this special part of the world.

'The decision is good news for Dorset, and for the nation as a whole today. In national terms, the need for gas storage is urgent and our Portland project will be very important in safeguarding our energy security in the future. Construction will commence this summer and when completed in 2015 will provide a facility to store 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas, approximately 1% of UK annual demand.

'In local terms, the scheme brings many benefits, including the 2 million plus investment in community projects over the next two years including the creation of the Old Engine Shed visitor centre on Portland, for which there was also a resolution to grant permission.'

Yes...fantastic....we might by next week see 5 !

Or by this afternoon...by golly !

It's dropped back down now, I'm guessing a result of short-term profit taking. But I think there's a lot left in the tank for PTG :-)

A bit of profit taking today but still comfortably above 4. Good times at Portland Gas :-)

Yes....., I would say a bit of a market shake here, I'm still in...more good news to come...!.

This is extremely encouraging as the Directors obviously feel there's a lot more to come from PTG:

The Company announces that the Directors below chose to accept the issue to them, or their nominees, of fully paid ordinary shares in the Company in lieu of cash bonuses that otherwise fell due for payment on 24 May 2008. The number of shares so issued and the resultant new beneficial holdings held by the Directors are as follows:

Director
Shares Issued
New Total Beneficial Holding
Percentage of Issued Share Capital

Mark Abbott
2,860
6,687,666
9.86%

Maurice Hazzard
1,144
1,144
<0.01%

Andrew Hindle
22,885
6,617,117
9.75%

Kenneth Ratcliff
4,577
53,000
0.08%

Walter Roberts
16,210
1,042,960
1.54%

The issue price of these shares was 409p (being the middle-market closing price on 23 May 2008, the last trading day before the bonuses were otherwise payable). Application has been made for the new shares to be admitted to trading on AIM with dealings expected to commence on 2 June 2008.

Immediately following the issue of these shares, the total issued ordinary share capital of the Company will be 67,849,516 Ordinary 10p shares.

Anyone got an idea of what this company is worth? Cushion gas appears to be increasing in price making previous valuations of around 5.5 conservative, but I am no expert. My broker is talking it up to a takeover price of 8.50. Anyone else share this view?

Well there was an article in Shares a couple of weeks ago which quoted an analyst who had slapped a sell rating on PTG with a target price of 2. Personally I think that's ludicrous with today's energy market, especially as approval for the Portland project was given. But then I don't earn a large 6-figure sum so what do I know?