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

A large number of 10,000 buy trades gone through today, interesting!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-1422074,00.html

The Sunday Times - Business



January 02, 2005

Petrel still upbeat on Iraqi oil prospects



PETREL RESOURCES, the Dublin-based oil exploration minnow whose share price has taken a hammering since it lost out on a lucrative development contract in Iraq, believes it has been a victim of misinformation, writes Douglas Dalby.
John Teeling, the chairman, conceded the company had probably been unsuccessful in winning the first of three imminent contracts from the Iraq administration but said that, contrary to media reports, the company remained in the running for the other two.



We are awaiting notification but this is most likely to come from the government rather than the oil ministry, said Teeling. There have been leaks from the oil ministry but there has been nothing official from the government itself despite recommendations on which companies are to be awarded the contracts.

Teeling said there was genuine confusion about the status of the latter contracts because of the political decision-making process in Iraq.

Shareholders are giving us dogs abuse but there is nothing I can do because I am totally in the dark about this, he said. One analyst said our shares were either 20p or 2 depending on how you looked at things but right now I just dont know.

The share price, which soared last year on speculation of a successful breakthrough in Iraq, ended 2004 at 48p (68c). The shares reached a high of 1.34 last October, a 500% increase on their 24p value in February.

Teeling said that apart from the two imminent contracts down for a decision, a further 66 fields were awaiting development. This would happen, he believed, regardless of the outcome of the elections scheduled for next month, and Petrel had built up the expertise to bid on many of them.

Anybody else running with an open short on this!

Good morning and Happy New Year to one and all!

Now lets get down to business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha Ha, here we go again!

dave - not on your life...........

I have just read an unsubsatiated report on advfn saying shareholders are getting together to boot out the management.

Personnally I doubt it, but I thought it worth relaying just in case Tokyo and dexter01 are looking for a job!

Morning sw i mite have a chance on my 46 buy,,,,easy money,,i love my pet !!

seawalker - where did you read this? the management, or atleast David Horgan and his relationships & vigor within Iraq are what makes PET worth investing in, This is taking alot longer than i previously thought, but 2005 is going to be very exciting for PET if you can't see that than best to stay out!!!

SW
I thing they where talking about another Teeling co, AFD, they are not happy about the amount he is being paid.

As I said, a poster on advfn, you know as I do that is full of rumour and rubbish and occassionaly a worthwhile item. I will get the poster for you and put it here.

Here it is.........

Unsubstatiated as I said.

manis - 3 Jan'05 - 18:54 - 10176 of 10210


Guys,

I suggest to those of you who has spare time, take a look at AFD thread in last couple of days. The shareholders are getting together to boot out current management at AGM because they have lost faith in them.

on other side guysIraq Oil Ministry Tenders Northern Gas Field Development
by Hassan Hafidh
Mon, Jan 3, 2005 21:37 GMT


BAGHDAD - Iraq's oil ministry has issued a tender inviting international firms to bid for the development of a natural gas field near Kirkuk, northern Iraq, Dow Jones Newswires has learned.

The State Company for Oil Projects, or SCOP, called for bids to develop Kormor gas field, 80 kilometers east of Kirkuk, which is expected to produce around 220 million cubic feet of gas a day.

The tender is the fifth oil ministry contract for major work in Iraq's energy sector and the first to focus on natural gas, an area of development that the oil minister has previously singled out.

The ministry has already named the winners of the Khormala Dome oil field development and will soon award the Hemrin oil contract. The Suba-Luhais contract is also due to be issued, along with two studies into the country's northern and southern oil fields.

The Kormor tender announcement, a copy of which was obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, said the project includes building processing facilities, such as dehydration and condensate separation units and a sweetening unit.

"Bidders shall give their offers based on carrying complete basic and detailed design works, supply of equipment and materials needed for the works with an option of carrying out construction works separately," the announcement said.

SCOP said the closing date for buying the tender documents from its headquarters in Baghdad is Jan. 31 and the closing date for receiving bids is by 0900 GMT March 1.

The oil ministry has been announcing tenders over the last few months to upgrade oil installations and oil fields hit by three wars and 13 years of U.N. trade sanctions, lifted in May 2003.

Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadhban has said he will focus on developing the country's natural gas reserves, which are estimated at 110 trillion cubic feet. Two other gas fields that the minister has previously slated for development are Akkaz and Mansuria.

"It is unfortunate that in the past the value of gas was not recognized and during oil exploration and production activities gas was considered to be an inconvenience and was flared off," Ghadhban said in the October issue of Shell's Middle East magazine.

"We believe that Iraq could be one of the region's big gas exporting countries and that Iraq might be able to contribute to the supply of gas to southern Europe in the future," he said.

Royal Dutch/Shell is formulating a master gas plan, aimed at allowing Iraq to use gas more efficiently.

Last week, the oil ministry awarded the country's first postwar oil-field development contract for Khormala Dome to a consortium of the UK's DPS, Turkey's Avrasya Technology Engineering and Construction Inc., and Iraq KAR Group.

2004 Dow Jones Newswires.

Morning all, and a belated happy new year,
Thanks for the confidence SWW !, well Tokyo, do you fancy running AFD?!!.It looks like we could be on the up again today, the ST article is probably helping although it did`nt say anything new, it just keeps PET on the radar screen as it were.

regards,
Dexter

Fill your boots, but not at this price.

Just found this in my Reuters e-mail, the way PET reacts to any news this could knock it a bit, especially if the contracts need government approval.


Baghdad governor assassinated
Tue Jan 4, 2005 08:38 AM GMT
Printer Friendly | Email Article | RSS
By Matt Spetalnick
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed Baghdad's governor in Iraq's highest-profile assassination in eight months and a suicide bomber has killed 10 people near the Green Zone in an escalating campaign to wreck a January 30 election.

The targeting of Governor Ali al-Haidri showed insurgents' power to strike at the heart of Iraq's governing class, raising fresh doubts whether Iraqi security forces can protect politicians and voters as the national ballot draws near.

The assassination on Tuesday took place just hours after a suicide bomber rammed a fuel truck into a checkpoint near Baghdad's Green Zone, a sprawling complex housing the Iraqi government and the U.S. and British embassies. It created a giant fireball that rocked the capital, police and hospital sources said.

The bombing, which also wounded 58 people, brought fresh scenes of bloodshed and destruction to Baghdad a day after 17 security men were killed in a string of ambushes and explosions across the country.

The attacks were the latest in a drive by Sunni insurgents trying to force out U.S.-led forces, cripple the American-backed interim government and scare voters away from the polls. Iraqi leaders say guerrillas also want to provoke sectarian civil war.

Details of Haidri's death remained sketchy. He was the most senior Iraqi official to be assassinated in Baghdad since the head of the Governing Council was killed by a suicide bomb in May last year.

Haidri, the head of Baghdad province, had survived a previous assassination attempt in September.

Insurgents have repeatedly targeted Iraqi officials as well as the country's fledgling security forces as part of a fierce effort to destabilise the government.

Tuesday's powerful explosion hit a roadblock manned by police and National Guards on the outskirts of the Green Zone, police and witnesses said.

SECURITY FORCES VULNERABLE

The choice of targets again showed the vulnerability of Iraq's security forces.

Suicide bombers have struck the entrances to the complex, the site of palaces that once belonged to former dictator Saddam Hussein, several times since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The latest attacks, concentrated in Baghdad and the restive Sunni heartland of northern Iraq, have come in rapid succession.

The Foreign Office in London said overnight that three British nationals were killed in an explosion in Baghdad on Monday, but gave no further details.

In west Baghdad on Monday, an explosives-laden car tried to ram through a checkpoint on a road leading to interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's party offices but hit a police pick-up truck and blew up, killing two officers and a civilian.

Police commanders said the bomber had been driving a taxi, a method used before by insurgents to avoid raising suspicion.

The Iraqi militant group Army of Ansar al-Sunna, which last week mounted the deadliest suicide attack on Americans since the start of the war with an attack on a U.S. base in Mosul, claimed responsibility for the bombing.

"One of the lions of Islam launched a heroic martyrdom operation on a huge congregation of agent policemen protecting the party headquarters of the apostate Iyad Allawi," the group said in a statement posted on its website.

Osama bin Laden and Islamist groups have pledged to wreck the elections as part of a holy war.

Bloodshed has been heaviest in areas dominated by Saddam's once-privileged Sunni minority which now faces the prospect of elections cementing the newfound political power of the long- oppressed Shi'ite majority.

U.S. and Iraqi officials ushered in the New Year warning they expected a spike in pre-election assaults by insurgents but pledging to do everything possible to safeguard what they say will be the country's first free elections since the 1950s.

Also on Tuesday, a U.S. Marine was killed in action in al- Anbar province west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Anbar province includes the restive cities of Falluja, where U.S. forces launched a major assault in November to drive out insurgents, and Ramadi.

Since the invasion to oust Saddam in March last year, at least 1,049 U.S. military and Pentagon personnel have been killed in action in Iraq. Including non-combat deaths, the toll is at least 1,334.

Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Must be happy with that +7.

I`ve just been reading the annual report again. I don`t know if this has been posted before(apologies if it has).

Most of us are fairly confident that PET will get Block 6 rubber-stamped, me included, if this happens then the sp could go into orbit. PET have a chap called Mahmoud Ahmed as their Irqai representative, who is ( according to PET) is highly regarded throughout the industry. He formaly ran the North Oil Company of the Iraqistate-owned petroleum industry and is one of the most SUCCESSFUL DRILLERS WORLDWIDE, with some of the world`s premier fields among his discoveries.

Also it will do PET no harm, IMO, to have someone like him onboard when it come to negoiating these contracts on offer now.

Just a thought, but when i got a reply from Ivanhoe saying they are only after service contracts on these oilfields, could it be they are going in as a sub-contractor, like Haliburton and GE are hoping for with PET ?

regards,
Dexter

dexter01,

Do you know when the result of the block-6 bid will be announced? A recent snippet I read said PET are awaiting 2 further bid results some time soon - with a further 18 sites as possible bid targets?

Personally, I have been sceptical about PET, but I'm interested to find out what all the hype is about. Are there any concrete dates for bid results announced?

rgds,
skids

skids, the general concensus of opinion from what i have read is that Block 6 won`t be ratified until after the elections on 30th Jan.

It might be worth keeping an eye on Norwegian companies in Iraq, because at the end of the day we don`t know who is competing against PET for these contracts,i got the peice below from Iraq procurement.The article is from the middle of 2004, but could still be relevant IMO
Dexter

The tiny Norwegian oil company DNO ASA on Tuesday announced plans to extend its operations into the potentially volatile Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Iraq. In a statement, Oslo-based DNO said it had signed an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government to search for petroleum and develop possible finds in northern Iraq.

"DNO is very pleased with this new and encouraging opportunity and is looking forward to develop a long-term cooperation with Kurdistan Regional Government to exploit hydrocarbon resources in Northern Iraq," the company said.


The regional government has controlled Kurdish areas natural resources since 1991. DNO noted that political, regional and constitutional developments in Iraq could, however affect the agreement and operations. The United States on Monday transferred political power to a transitional government, with elections and constitution reforms expected in the future.

DNO was founded in 1971 as the first Norwegian oil company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. It specialized in extending the life of mature oil fields through enhanced recovery and cost-cutting measures. However, it has begun to expand into other areas and currently produces approximately 14,000 barrels of oil a day.

Pipelines passing oil to and from the refineries

Since 1998, the company has been active in Yemen, where it operates the Tasour field, which is already producing, and made a new find of oil in the Nabrajah field. It also has interests in Norwegian and British offshore sectors in Mozambique and Equatorial Guinea.

Source: Forbes

Dexter01,

So its a waiting game. Think I will hold off until concrete news is here.
Thanks for the post.

cheers,
skids