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

AFX


TEHRAN (AFX) - The Iranian government said today that US oil group Halliburton Co has won a major contract to drill for gas, despite US sanctions against foreign investment in the country's energy industry.

'Halliburton and Oriental Kish (an Iranian company) are the final winners of the tender for drilling South Pars phases 9 and 10,' the head of Pars Oil Gas Company, Akbar Torkan, was quoted as saying by state television.

An unnamed company official quoted by the reformist Shargh newspaper said the deal for the gas fields in the Gulf off the south coast of Iran was worth about 310 mln usd.

He said Halliburton had not directly signed the contract but that it had offered its services via Oriential Kish.

Under a law introduced in 1996, the US threatens sanctions on both American and foreign companies investing more than 40 mln usd in Iran's petroleum industry.

Halliburton, once chaired by US vice president Dick Cheney, has come under investigation in the US for its dealings with Iran through a Cayman Islands subsidiary.

Iran, which is OPEC's second largest oil exporter, also has the world's second largest gas reserves.

aet-sgh/fpn/txw/cw

Whats to stop Halliburton getting contracts in Iraq if the Iranians don't mind dealing with them.

Hey Wilbs - Yes I'm still in PET, but just a bit busy at the moment, today's RNS was certainly a welcome one, but you'll all have to agree it will be one of the tenders that send the SP back upto 150-2 pound-ish, and then Block 6 that will make most of our PET dreams come true, so PEt has become a long term hold for me. I have a bit of time tomorrow, so I'll post some results of my latest research tomorrow

tokyo

Toyko,
good to see your still around. Have you got back into NBR yet? I sold out to get into jrvs, turned out to be a good move.

wilbs

Hi all, just got this in my inbox.



Petrel Resources Signs Jordanian Oil & Gas Memorandum

By Stephen Clayson
10 Jan 2005 at 12:15 PM EST


VANCOUVER (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Oil & gas explorer Petrel Resources [AIM/ISE: PET] has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jordanian government first announced last month. The memorandum relates to the 8,750sqkm East Safawi block, situated in the Jordanian pan handle region close to the Arabian Desert borders with Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

The memorandum grants Petrel exclusive access to the block for the next six months, after which it can be converted to an exploration and development licence and possibly a production sharing agreement established, assuming that the results are encouraging and drill targets can be identified.




The companys focus has hitherto been on Iraq, where it has applied to the post war authorities for contracts to redevelop three existing oil fields and to re-secure exploration rights that had been in place previous to the regime change for Block 6 the Western Desert.

According to Petrel Managing Director David Horgan, the companys interests in Jordan derive from its exploration work in the Iraqi Western Desert before the fall of Saddam Husseins regime. The results of this work have fundamentally changed the companys perception of Jordan and other neighbouring countries regarding oil & gas, although the company has been considering Jordan as an operable region on and off several years.

Petrel feels that Jordan as a nation is under explored, and reinterpretation of existing seismic data will continue in tandem with analysis of existing data from the Iraqi Western Desert, which is currently inaccessible due to the negative security situation. Ground work will resume there when possible. In contrast, Jordan is a place in which the company feels safe doing business, and a place where it can be done on good fiscal terms.

Oil & gas plays in the East Safawi block will be based on what the company has learned from Iraq, and the near term focus will be on constructing a region wide model of the Western Desert. This will achieved through analysis of satellite imagery and reprocessing followed by reinterpreting of seismic data.

Petrel was hit hard last month by a Reuters report that two of the three Iraqi oil development contracts for which it had been bidding, namely for the Khurmala and Hamrin fields had been awarded to a Turkish company and Canadian company respectively. However the Managing Director states that negotiations are still ongoing, but feels that it would be imprudent to speak of them at any length at the present time, though he offers his assurances that as soon as Petrel knows the outcome of the bidding they will inform the market. The stock has fallen precipitously since October last year on the back of concerns and uncertainty over Iraq.

The details of the three oil field development tenders are as follows:

At the Kirkuk/Khurmala field in Kurdistan the company proposes a 120,000bpd operation, with potential for greater output in time. The reserves are proven and the geology well understood, but no surface infrastructure is yet in place.

It is a similar story at the Hamrin field northwest of Baghdad, where reserves are proven and existing shallow wells have been capped and left, but the field is also devoid of any surface facilities.

The Subba and Luhais joint field northwest of Basra once produced in excess of 100,000bpd, but the surface facilities in place sustained substantial damage during the Iraqi-Iranian war of the 1980s and at the point in time just before the last war production had fallen to a trickle. Petrel proposes to restore production to around 120,000bpd, and has completed a $350,000 feasibility study on the fields.

All three contracts are for cash, but Petrel is hopeful that they could be converted into more lucrative risk sharing agreements in the future.



wilbs

Afternoon all,
where is everyone today?.Try this site.
www.nra.gov.jo/opportunities.htm

I sent PET an e-mail and got this reply;

The samples were mostly from the Risha area - but some were more widespread.
Our interest in East Safawi emerged from the model that we developed in the Iraqi side of the western desert.
DH

--- On Tue 01/11, Jacqui Gallagher < jacqui@CooleyWhiskey.com > wrote:


From: Jacqui Gallagher [mailto: jacqui@CooleyWhiskey.com]
To: daithiohargain@excite.com
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 12:58:25 -0000
Subject: FW: Contact Petrel Resources : Jordan


-----Original Message-----
From: petrel@hub04.mail.esat.net [mailto:petrel@hub04.mail.esat.net] On
Behalf Of ******.*****r@btopenworld.com
Sent: 11 January 2005 12:49
To: petrel@iol.ie; ******.*****@btopenworld.com
Subject: Contact Petrel Resources : Jordan

Name - roger *******
Message :
Dear David,
The East Safawi block you have just signed the MOU with, is
this the same area that you were taking samples from last year when
Block
6 in Iraq became too much of a security problem. Only when you said that
you were taking samples from the Jordanian side of the border i assumed
that it was right on the border, but on a map the Risha gas field
directly borders Iraq, with the East Safawi block some 60-80km inside
Jordan.
Please could you clarify this point.
Many thanks, and keep up the good work,
Roger *******

This is Lemming Investors recent take on yesterdays announcement


Elric Lloyd-Langton
January 11 2005

Petrel Resources announce yesterday that they had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jordanian government first announced last month. The memorandum relates to the 8,750sqkm East Safawi block, situated in the Jordanian pan handle region close to the Arabian Desert borders with Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia. The East Safawi Block opportunity emerged from the work Petrel had been doing with the Jordanian authorities in the Arabian Desert. Generally the best plays are on the Iraqi and Saudi side of the border, but there are also some interesting plays across the political frontier on the Jordanian and Syrian side. So far the most comprehensive access and cooperation came from the Jordanian NRA.

Petrel have been given a unique opportunity to study the pan-handle bordering Iraq. The Jordanian NRA offered Petrel an exclusive MoU to study the choice east Safawi block for 6 months, after which studying data and options Petrel then have the option enter into a exploration and production agreement, assuming they find encouraging data and identify drill targets. It is arbitrary to value exploration work until we know more after reprocessing the seismic.

Petrel feels that Jordan as a nation is under explored, and reinterpretation of existing seismic data will continue in tandem with analysis of existing data from the Iraqi Western Desert, which is currently inaccessible due to the negative security situation. Ground work will resume there when possible. In contrast, Jordan is a place in which the company feels safe doing business, and a place where it can be done on good fiscal terms.

Oil & gas plays in the East Safawi block will be based on what the company has learned from Iraq, and the near term focus will be on constructing a region wide model of the Western Desert. This will achieved through analysis of satellite imagery and reprocessing followed by reinterpreting of seismic data.


There has been some confusion surrounding the Jordanian venture, hopefully these will be dealt with in the following bullet points.

1. Will Petrel be allowed to convert any discovery in to productions?
Petrel has the right, but not the obligation to convert to a PSA on generous terms.

2. How will the Jordanian work be funded?
Existing and new institutional shareholders have underwritten the expenditure.

3. How is the partnership with the Iraqi/Jordan authorities working?

The Jordanian authorities have already been very cooperative with Petrel their work in Iraqi. They are a pleasure to work with Our interest in East Safawi (Jordan) comes directly out of the work conducted and models developed in the Iraqi western desert. Hopefully 2005 is the year!

Iraq

The current situation is that no contracts have been awarded, at least no official notifications have been issued. The biggest contract (200,000 bopd) is the Subba & Luhais joint field development. This is also the most straightforward, being 45km NE of Basra port. The area is fairly quiet (Shia and sparsely populated). There is considerable potential at depth.

Petrel said they did not know officially but understand that the Turkish group Everasia bid on Khurmala only. OGI is a consortium of Arabs and Cargary groups which had approached them with the view of joining them saying they were only interested in Hamrin.

If low price is critical, I would guess that Everasia and OGI would under-bid western groups because of different approaches and solutions. The end objective is risk-sharing arrangements
The companies bidding on Subba & Luhais are western-style groups which will bid on the basis of actual costs and risks.

The shares are trading in quite a volatile manner, more than usual after last months foolish report by Reuters which stated that Petrel had lost out in it Khurmala and Hamrin fields tenders, saying they had been awarded to a Turkish company and Canadian company respectively, the Canadian company had to suspend its shares from trading due to the incorrect announcement. Although the shares recovered a 8% early morning loss on Monday, they recover to positive territory finishing 14% up, unfortunately nervous traders have pulled the shares down again 7.5% to 47p, just 11p above our initial coverage last March, a far cry from their high of 136p.


http://www.lemminginvestor.com/PetrelJordanIraq110105.html?1105463499812

I have been researching the political unrest and imo it is clear that no contract announcement will be made public until after the elections due to the interim government being over ruled on completion of the elections, if the new government have a differing agenda as to who gets what. There is a sound viewpoint that there is growing pressure within the country to produce oil and overcome power shortages within larger cities. A good friend works in country. I still hold.

watcher

Just got this back from PET;

Subject: FW: Contact Petrel Resources : Funding
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 11:56:00 -0000
From: "David Horgan" Add to Address Book
To: ******.*****@btopenworld.com


We opted for East Safawi because of the work we were doing across the
border, the fact that much of the Iraqi data has been damaged and the
cooperative response of the Jordanian authorities. Most of the
expenditure in the MoU period will actually be incurred anyway for our
Iraqi western desert work. All of it will be funded by European
institutional investors. The first phase is cheap, as we are mostly
re-interpreting existing data and selectively re-processing seismic -
which is already budgeted for.

If the Jordanian work throws up drillable targets we will convert to a
PSA. We will then fund Jordan specifically - though the well results
will also help our Iraqi work.

DH

-----Original Message-----
From: Jacqui Gallagher
Sent: 12 January 2005 11:06
To: David Horgan
Subject: FW: Contact Petrel Resources : Funding



-----Original Message-----
From: petrel@hub03.mail.esat.net [mailto:petrel@hub03.mail.esat.net] On
Behalf Of ******.*****@btopenworld.com
Sent: 12 January 2005 10:57
To: petrel@iol.ie; ******.*****@btopenworld.com
Subject: Contact Petrel Resources : Funding

Name - Roger *******
Message :
David,
Further to my e-mail yesterday regarding the MOU with Jordan,
obviously this type of work is expensive, how is Petrel aiming to fund
this work ?. The funding from a Japanese institution, is that just
available for projects in Iraq, or is it any projects where they could
be paid by way of an oil off-take.
Many thanks for your time,
yours,
Roger *******

dexter - sorry it took me a while to get back to you, been a bit busy of late, just sent you an e-mail, but yes I'm still very bullish, perhaps even more so in regards to PET

Does anyone know if PET are about to tender for any more? Just found this. Sorry if its old news.


Oil Projects Company ( SCOP )



TENDER ANNOUNCEMENT







Name of Tender: Development of Kormor Gas Field

Project No: 5312

Location: Kormor Gas Field located 80km east of Kirkuk city

in the Northern Part of Iraq







The Oil Projects Company (SCOP) of the Ministry of Oil, Baghdad, Iraq, announce the issuance of the above-mentioned Tender.

Brief description: - Production Rate 220mm scfd

- Processing facilities - Dehydration and Condensate Separation in the

plant Location and the rest for sweetening in new facilities near

North Gas Plant in Kirkuk.



Note: 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.



Tender documents may be collected (by an authorized representative of the tenderer) at SCOPs headquarters in Baghdad against the payment, non-refundable, of 5000 (Five thousand US Dollars).

The last date for purchasing the tender documents is 31/1/2005



The deadline for receipt of tenders is 12.00 noon on 1/3/2005




Director General of SCOP



wilbs

Tokyo, just a quick question does your sp quote still stand for NBR?

Wilbs - I've heard they have plans to go for another 6 tenders this year, but do not know which ones, as another 66 tenders will be up for grabs.

watcher - As for NBR, I'm out at the moment, so not doing too much research into it, sorry!!!will have to see what the next week does to the SP, but don't think it will go over a pound until we hear news on the amount of carats that are being found with the new equipment, I'll amend my price target when I decide to get back in, best bet is to ring the company as they were really investor friendly when I rang them & started looking into them, but at the moment I'm changing my investment stratergy and building a long term holding in PET as I still believe they are the share to hold this year.

Tokyo

Thanks toyko.
I just emailed PET and got this reply back.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Yes. We were invited to and have purchased the tender.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jacqui Gallagher
Sent: 13 January 2005 15:14
To: David Horgan
Subject: FW: Future tenders


****@btinternet.com




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: petrel@hub01.mail.esat.net [mailto:petrel@hub01.mail.esat.net] On Behalf Of ****
Sent: 13 January 2005 15:12
To: petrel@iol.ie
Subject: Future tenders


Hi,
sorry for troubling you as I know that you are busy.
I understand that you may tender for 6 more projects in Iraq this year. Are you able to tell me if you have or are going to tender for the Development of Kormor Gas Field, Project No: 5312?

Many thanks for your time,

Craig *****

interesting thanks wilbs

No problem tokyo. Its good to see that they are still pushing on in Iraq and with sudan and Iraq, things IMHO look good for the long term.

wilbs

Wilbs i really don't think they are involved in Sudan, by the looks of things DH has put the Sudan plans on the back burner, and is pushing ahead with Iraq, there will be another possible 66 tenders up for grabs this year, to which PET will apply for about 6 of them, if my info is correct.

We of course still have the Harmin and S&L tender decisions to come, my money is on them getting the S&L tender, as the past history with the field, the pre feasability study, etc should stand they in good holding for this, also just looking back at the tenders we have seen the companies that previously worked on the fields got awarded the contracts, so just hoping this holds true here.

As for Block 6, I still feel it is a little way off yet, but them seem to be moving in the right direction with the MOU from Jordan, all we need to know now is that they are talking with the Syrians and the Saudis, and then the BB's will be full of talk on the regional play around Block 6. I have started back to my old ways again with a few top ups, as I believe they will walk away with one of the tenders, and if things mentioned above start to happen I think they shall also be awarded Block 6, which we all know is the real prize, PET is still my tip for 2005, but agree with you that it is a long term hold.


Tokyo

Not long now....

Iraq Minister Seeks Approval for New Oil Contracts
by Hassan Hafidh
Tue, Jan 18, 2005 16:39 GMT


BAGHDAD - Iraq's oil ministry has asked the cabinet to approve four new contracts with international oil firms for the development of upstream oil and gas fields, as well as a refinery upgrade, a senior Iraqi oil official said Tuesday.

The official said the two oil-field contracts are for Hemrin, northeast of Baghdad, and the Subba and Luhais fields in southern Iraq. He said the third contract is for the development of al-Zubeir natural gas field near Basra in the south. The last contract is for an upgrade to a gasoline production unit at Basra refinery.

The official declined to give the value of each contract but he said that they would run to millions of dollars. Nor would he name the oil companies recommended by the ministry for cabinet approval.

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's current interim cabinet is likely to approve some of the contracts, the official said, while an elected government to be set up after Iraq's Jan. 30 elections would approve the remainder.

If approved, they would bring the number of oil and gas development and infrastructure contracts prepared or signed by the oil ministry over the past month to seven.

Last weekend, the oil ministry awarded two oil fields' study contracts to international oil firms. BP PLC (BP) won a contract to carry out an integrated field study in Iraq's huge southern Rumeila oil fields.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD, SC) and the U.K.'s Exploration Consultants Ltd. won another contract to analyze the northern oil fields of Kirkuk.

Last month, the ministry awarded the country's first post-war Khormala Dome oil field development contract, worth $136 million, to the U.K.'s DPS, Turkey's Avrasya and Iraq's KAR.

If these three oil fields are developed they could add up to 350,000 barrels a day of output to Iraq's current oil production capacity of around 2.5 million b/d, according to Iraqi oil officials.

Khormala, near Kirkuk, could produce 100,000b/d. Hemrin has the potential to produce 60,000 b/d, while the Subba and Luhais oil fields' potential is around 190,000 b/d.

2004 Dow Jones Newswires.