Amities . l have been discreetly buying this stock since it was 39p . And the more i learn the bolder are the positions i take . .....Floated in Dec 2004 it was oversubscribed and before costs the required $15 million was raised. At the helm is ex BP head of Global exploration and Resavoir management . Furthermore a success story at Global Expo . Now Nick Johnstone wants to set up on his own . And after speaking to him l am not at all surprised . He is like a "Who s Who " of the hydrocarbon world ...He has ALL the prerequisites for success so why work for some other lackey ! .. namely connections from his ertwhistle employers . He has assembled a first class management team from ex colleauges at BP ; and is his business model is simple . AFR farms in on "Big Oils " inception upstream ; and with its scale of economy it works closely with "Big oils" fields on the look out for excellent workovers oppertunities .... Already lt has via a complicated j/v a percentage of the Sao Tome and Principe acreage -Located between the oil rich waters of Nigeria and those of Sao Tome and operated by Texaco / Chevron and Esso; and believed by many to be the new North sea . . 3D Seismic testing and magnetic graphic imagery and satellite imaging has located a labyrinth of channels leading to a main resavoir which is believed to14-15 mmbbls of oil and which would leave AFR with its share of 120/140 million barrels for NO cash outlay .To ensure early cash generation Afren has entered into a production sharing agreement in the developed Ogedeh field { adjacent to the BP operated Olowi marin field which is believed to yield 180 mmbbloe. Furthernore AFR has agreed to drill the lbekelia project for Ascent resources which is expected to produce 2,500 b/pdoe to satisfy AFR percentile share ,ln addition it is a believed resouce of several years . .. , .Not a bad start for a company with little more than six months in the making . ....and well worthy of investigation !! .....@+ J

Afren FY pretax loss widens, sees drilling at Okoro Setu project in Q3 07 UPDATE
AFX

LONDON (AFX) - Afren PLC posted a wider full-year pretax loss, and said development drilling at the Okoro Setu project in Africa will begin in the third quarter of 2007.

The company reported a pretax loss of 8.5 mln stg for the year ended Dec 31, compared with 4.6 mln stg last year. Afren also said it is well capitalised with net cash of 35.7 mln usd at the year-end.

Always err on the side of caution SW but i do not think your optimism is misplaced . Not in the least ! Woods & Mckenzie dubbed this area the " New North sea" and with good reason . Look at the board -what with ex leading lights from OPEC with thier collective encyclopedic knowlege of the oil industry - among their number ;coupled with the very bullish attitide of both Standard Bank & BNP Paribas-especially the latter in buying both equity and debt . Now thats confidence for you - i do not think these boys are prepared to stake their reputations on backing loosing horses ....@+ J . ...

TFC;
Totally agree, i increased my holding's on the strength S/Banks and BNP
getting involved.Although i bought prior to the drop, not to worried. Just think
we will see the real value later, once more drilling news arrives?
cyril

Amities / That is about the sum of it all Cyril . Let the herd fuck about with crap like CHP whose board/snr management are inept, vaccillitating, snotty oil virgins and simply fuck up one business {GSM} and start another -CHP - based simply on the back of the hike in the oil price this past few years . As for us @ AFR -as for buying at the top end NOC i dont think that will be relavent in 3 months time,{ driving season in USA} my good man, let alone 12 months when drilling updates enter the public domain and esp. production nears fruition: where my own investment house has a forecast of 300p/330p with oil @ $50 p/b .....and at $80 - a nice price tag of 460/500p ,,,,,the geopolics of oil WILL never go away.Never ! Only excerbated by the 1930s giant Saudi fields reaching the end of their life span ,civil war, natural disasters /disturbances and by political terrorism . The oil we need exists...Not for more than another decade !! But it exists . BUT never again will we see cheap oil,,,,Those days are long gone ..,,,,,, and if you remove lrans contributions to opec qouters oil will hit $120 overnight. ......and,,,err Quit sait ? .

Afren PLC
29 March 2007

Afren plc ('Afren' or 'the Company')

Award of Share Options



The Company announces that on Wednesday 28 March 2007 the Board of Directors
approved the following share option award over ordinary shares of 1p each ('
Ordinary Shares') in the Company for nil consideration under the Afren plc Share
Option Scheme:


Director Number of Share Options Total Number of
Awarded Wednesday 28 Director's Options
March following this
notification

Osman Shahenshah 1,250,000 4,400,000
Evert Jan Mulder 3,000,000 3,000,000
Egbert Imomoh 750,000 2,750,000



The newly awarded share options are split equally with exercise prices of 80p,
120p and 180p. The options are exercisable from the date of award for 10 years.





Enquiries



Osman Shahenshah

Chief Executive Officer

Afren plc

+ 44 20 7182 1800






This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Okoro Setu Project Development Plan receives Government Approval

Afren plc (AIM: AFR)

Okoro Setu Project Development Plan receives Government Approval

London, 3 April 2007 - Afren plc ('Afren' or 'the Company') and its partner Amni
International Petroleum Development Company ('AMNI') announce approval of the
Field Development Plan for the Okoro Setu Project.

The Boards of Afren and AMNI are delighted to announce that the Field
Development Plan ('FDP') for the development of the Okoro Setu Project has been
approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria. The approved FDP
features:

Development drilling of up to 6 deviated or horizontal gravel packed
oil production wells from a single field location and supported by a minimum
facilities well head platform.

Optimisation of the drilling and completion sequence, commencing in Q3
2007.

The transportation of oil by pipeline to a leased Floating Production
Storage and Offloading vessel ('FPSO'), moored 1 km south of the field, for
processing.

Total well fluids processing, producing stabilised crude for storage
in the FPSO, with subsequent regular off-take by tanker. Associated gas
production will be utilised as fuel for the vessel's power generation and as
lift gas to assist well productivity.

Most major contracts and materials purchase orders are in place to support the
overall target for first oil by early 2008 and the Company is in advanced stage
negotiations on its preferred FPSO.

Osman Shahenshah, Chief Executive of Afren, commented:

'It is a real accomplishment to have achieved Field Development Plan approval
within four months of appraisal drilling. Together with the recently secured
US$200 million debt facility, Field Development Plan approval marks another
important milestone in achieving our target of 15,000 - 20,000 bopd by early
2008'

http://www.oilbarrel.com/home.html

Conference April 3rd 2007.

The following companies will present:

Afren Plc

Aminex Plc

Burren Energy Plc

Gulf Shores Resources / Monarch Energy (one presentation)

Northern Petroleum Plc

Jura Energy Corporation

All together happy to be in this company, a little more patience might be required
before we see any real upward movement, but imo it will be very well rewarded.
Early 2008 will give us the answer?
cyril

Amities / Some great threads SW for which your dilligence is gratefully acknowledged and accepted. Thank you . ..This is one of my biggest smallcap junior oilees holding . 2008 is our year . Too much big clever money in this one to be a flop @+ J

From HBs Market & Broker Roundup today:

Bridgewell ....says buy Afren (AFR.L).

AFR also mentioned in the FT today: Exploration group Afren rose 1 per cent to 54p on talk it was close to securing government approval to begin exploration at the Okoro field off the coast of Nigeria

IC dated 5 Apr 07

Afren took a further step towards production from its Okoro Setu project in Nigeria after it announced the securing of a $200m debt facility with BNP Paribas. That deal followed on from the successful appraisal of Okoro in the third quarter of last year, in which independent consultant Netherland & Sewell estimated that it contained a proven reserve of 25m barrels, with a further 32m barrels in the probable category.

The plan now is to start development drilling in the third quarter of this year, with peak production of between 15,000 and 20,000 barrels of oil per day expected by early 2008. And with Standard Bank joining BNP Paribas in subscribing for $15m in new equity - at 57p a share - alongside the new debt facility, investors can draw comfort from the presence of some big hitters on the share register.

Broker Jeffries forecasts revenues of 57.5m for 2008 and EPS of 44p, which puts the company on a forward PE ratio of just 1.2


Ord price: 53p Market value: 109m
Touch: 53-54p 12-month High: 87p Low: 41p
Dividend yield: nil PE ratio: na
Net asset value: 14p* Net debt: 60%**
*Includes intangible assets of 44.9m, or 22p a share
**Prior to equity fund-raising in Mar 2007 (see text)


Year to Turnover Pre-tax Earnings Dividend
31 Dec (m) profit (m) per share(p) per share (p)

2005 nil -4.56 -3.6 nil
2006 nil -8.46 -4.4 nil
% change - - - -


Last IC view: Buy, 59.75p, 28 Feb 2007


At their current 53p, the shares are slightly below the level at which we last recommended buying them (59.75p, 28 February 2007). Still, there should be plenty of progress this year, so we continue to rate them a BUY.

kkeith, are you sure that EPS isnt something like 4.4p per share? Evolution only has an EPS of 1.4p pencilled-in for 2008, and on revenues of 57 million earnings of 44p per share is impossible??? Put me right if there's something ive got wrong here!

Chad
This is taken from IC so can only go with these figures but there is some confusion on the EPS with brokers forecasts .
Maybe someone else will be able to shed more light on this

Thanks Keith

Malaysias Bumi Armada is set to land a breakthrough FPSO contract in West Africa.

Nigeria will hold a bidding round for 45 exploration blocks on the 3rd of May

From chevron's website now hold 45.9% down from 51%.


Nigeria S Tome Prcipe Joint
Development Zone (JDZ)
Chevron is the operator of JDZ Block 1 and holds a 45.9 percent
interest following the sale of a 5 percent interest in 2006.
In March 2006, the first exploration well, Obo-1 in JDZ
Block 1, was completed and found hydrocarbons. In 2007,
technical studies are scheduled for continuation to determine
the possible need for additional drilling.

i have a question about the upcoming developments....

they only get about 50% of the profit don't they ?

belisce6 at the moment i can only give figures from Afrens website which you may have seen for the Okoro and Setu Fields.
Hope this helps
Afren signed a Financing and Production Sharing and Technical Services Agreement with Amni for participation in the development of the Okoro Field ("Okoro") and Setu Field ("Setu"), offshore Nigeria.

Under the terms of the Financing and Production Sharing Agreement with Amni, Afren is responsible for all costs incurred in the development of the field and recovers these costs from 90% of production with an 11% uplift on capital. Pre and post cost recovery, Afren receives 50% of profit oil. Afren's Effective Interest is therefore >60%. The fiscal regime is a flat Petroleum Profits Tax of 60% and a sliding scale Royalty from 2.5% to 18.5%.

Thanks Keith

thanks mate.... that is the sort of thing that i saw as well... (obviously cos it's in their announcements).... so effectively they will be getting their capital back first, and then it will go into the 50% of profit stage... looks like a decent ''whack'' of taxes ! 50% of 40% would give them about 20% max. of the pre-tax proftis (??)
Sure hope that the pre-tax profits will be high.......

A nice little rise today some more drilling to start soon so hopefully see a steady climb from here

Todays RNS illustrates that things are begining to get exiting