< "> edit this post http://www.investegate.co.uk/afren-plc-%28afr%29/rns/trading-statement-and-operations-update/201301210700069619
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In an attempt to cut down the header page,i've transferred some of the older news to Page1 post No.3.

http://www.oil-price.net/index.php?lang=en
http://www.ft.com/home/uk

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201111020700081674R
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201111150700250723S
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201112010705051251T
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201201170700146472V
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201201230701479690V
http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4323758
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201204170700164488B
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205140700212304D
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205210700407032D
http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4430164
http://www.investegate.co.uk/afren-plc-%28afr%29/rns/significant-new-seychelles-3d-seismic-programme/201212120700052973T/
http://www.investegate.co.uk/afren-plc--afr-/rns/2013-half-yearly-results/201308230700063334M/
http://www.investegate.co.uk/afren-plc--afr-/rns/ogo-drilling-and-resources-update/201311190700083404T/
http://www.investegate.co.uk/afren-plc--afr-/rns/trading-statement-and-operations-update/201401280700096280Y/
http://www.investegate.co.uk/afren-plc--afr-/rns/interim-management-statement/201405200700135209H/
http://www.investegate.co.uk/afren-plc--afr-/rns/interim-management-statement/201410300700116483V/
http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4942625
http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4943375

From shares mag

Courtesy of Alliance trust

Ogo result could lift Afren

Drilling offshore Nigeria represents potential catalyst for the stock - Tom Sieber

Results from a potentially high-impact exploration well being drilled by Afren (AFR), due in late July, could provide a substantial boost to the share price. The company is targeting the Ogo prospect offshore Nigeria and work on the 90-day well got underway in April.

In the last three months the shares have drifted down 3.6% and as a result trade on an undemanding ten times 2013 consensus forecast earnings per share of 13.4p. Broker Investec, which estimates Ogo could be worth 37p in a success case, also attributes a handsome free cashflow yield to the stock of 8.6% this year, rising to 9.8% in 2014.

Following cost recovery the £1.5 billion cap, which also has assets in Kurdistan, will enjoy a 40% interest in Ogo and it is partnered on the well by new Aim entrant Lekoil (LEK:AIM) and indigenous operator Optimum Petroleum. The target is located on the OPL310 licence and the pre-drill estimate stands at 202 million barrels of oil equivalent. Encouragingly it is located in close proximity to the 280 million barrel Aje field. If the well is successful it would increase the likelihood of making further commercial finds on the block.

Afren delivered strong operational performance in the first quarter of this year. Net output of 47,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) was at the top end of its full-year guidance of 40,000 to 47,000 boepd while operating cashflow reached $243 million.

RNS chairman's statement, sp down.......there's no pleasing some people!

Niceone, was right about AFR when you look at the chart.

LONDON, June 11 (Reuters) - An overwhelming majority of shareholders in oil and gas explorer Afren (LSE: AFR.L - news) voted down pay packages for its executives on Tuesday, making it the first UK-listed firm to have its remuneration report rejected twice.

However, the vote is non-binding and does not alter this year's pay packages for Afren's top managers.

Almost 80 percent of votes cast were against approving the Nigeria-focused company's 2012 remuneration report, which included a 3.4-million-pound ($5.28 million) package for Chief Executive Osman Shahenshah and 2.6 million pounds for Chief Operating Officer Shahid Ullah.

"We have been sent a clear message by our shareholders and are committed to ensuring that the results are very different at next year's AGM," said Chairman Egbert Imomoh.

"Our remuneration philosophy has reflected the need to retain exceptional talent in a highly competitive market, further compounded by the fact that we operate in very challenging areas."

Shareholder advisory firm PIRC opposed the report, saying the packages were excessive, with targets attached to share awards "not sufficiently stretching".

The vote makes Afren the first British listed company to lose a vote on its remuneration report twice, a spokesman at PIRC said. In 2011, 52 percent of shareholder votes were against approving the report.

Quoted companies in Britain have had to disclose remuneration reports since 2002.

PIRC also opposed the reappointment of the chairman and one of the non-executive directors.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/afren-shareholders-reject-executive-pay-152221374.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jun/11/afren-pay-rejected-80-shareholders
Investors have rejected a £3.4m pay deal for the boss of an oil exploration company in one of the largest shareholder revolts yet seen.

Around 80% of shareholders voted down Afren's remuneration report on Tuesday, a stunning defeat in the world of company annual general meetings where motions are usually passed with near unanimity.

Sarah Wilson, chief executive of the proxy voting agency Manifest, said it was the third biggest shareholder revolt since it began tracking AGMs in 1996.

Only rewards for RBS bankers after its £45bn taxpayer bailout in 2009, and a £250,000 "golden goodbye" to Labour peer Lord Hollick from United Business Media in 2005 – on top of £1.44m salary and bonus and a £14.5m pension pot – have proved more unpopular.

Afren's shareholders also revealed their wider discontent with the oil company's leadership. Peter Bingham, a non-executive director, who collects £60,000 a year for attending board meetings, was only re-elected to the board by a whisker, while 30% of shareholders voted against chairman Egbert Imomoh.

But the brunt of investors' anger was directed at the generous pay package for Afren's chief executive and co-founder, Osman Shahenshah. In an above average deal for a FTSE 250 company, Shahenshah gets a basic salary of £625,000, topped up by £26,000 in benefits, a further £92,000 for his pension pot, a bonus of £1.3m, plus £1.3m in shares under Afren's long-term incentive scheme.

The shareholder vote is non-binding and Shahenshah will collect his pay and bonuses in full this year, a source close to the company said.

Wilson said the defeat was unsurprising as Afren had "driven a coach and horses" through boardroom best practice, citing a complete absence of "clawback" measures in the long-term incentive scheme, poor alignment between bonus and performance and opacity about rewards.

This is Afren's second defeat on pay, after 60% of shareholders voted against its remuneration report in 2011. But the company, which drills for oil and gas across Africa and in Iraq, has registered high numbers of abstentions at other AGMs, another sign of rebellion. In 2010 Afren scraped barely 50% approval for its pay – a striking message from shareholders when most remuneration reports get backing of 97%.

"The company should have taken better advice when it got its first defeat," Wilson said. "There has clearly been a failure to engage by the company."

It comes as WPP boss, Martin Sorrell, faces the possibility on Wednesday of a fresh wave of protests against his £17.6m pay package. Last year investors voted down the advertising group's remuneration report to protest about his pay rise which has since been reduced.

Afren has also come under scrutiny in recent days after it emerged that its top managers personally own shares worth $24m (£15m) in a Nigerian company that Afren itself invests in.

Afren's chairman, chief executive, chief financial officer and chief operating officer did not declare their personal interest in First Hydrocarbon Nigeria at the time of the original purchase in 2010, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Afren said in response to the report that "complete due process was followed" at the time and that it was guided by its "counsel and financial sponsor".

The company has "independence problems," Wilson said, also noting that there are no women on the board.

Imomoh said: "Since our [flotation] in 2005 we have delivered total shareholder returns of 556%. Our remuneration philosophy has reflected the need to retain exceptional talent in a highly competitive market, further compounded by the fact that we operate in very challenging areas. However, we have been sent a clear message by our shareholders and are committed to ensuring that the results are very different at next year's AGM."

No wonder that shareholders are not happy, the share price looking to test 120p again

Yes rapidly heading that way but is that the bottom?

Let's hope someone will take the bait and launch a bid for the company

ald seems to be near the bottom of its range.

Yes , I agree

trouble is if they can consider paying directors £3m+ why can't they pay shareholders a dividend?

Moving in the right direction - 8% up today.

StockMarketWire.com
Jefferies cuts Afren to hold from buy, target 140p from 155p.

TANGA region could join the oil and gas producers club should efforts to set up an exploration block in January next year strike any of the two resources, authorities say.

'Sunday News' can now report that a UK company, Afren East Africa Exploration, which has been doing studies in the region for the last three years has finally decided to start its exploration in January 2014. Authorities in the region believe that for an investor to invest hundreds of billions in the project, it means there is 'something'.

"Though the exploration is still in the preliminary stages, the amount of money and resources invested by the company gives high hopes for the discovery of the resources," the region's energy Engineer Amaon Kyombo told 'Sunday News," Tanga Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), Mr Benedict Ole Kuyan also told 'Sunday News' that the region is expecting to thrive in the extractive industry especially given its profile of underground natural resources in the area. In an interview, the Tanga energy engineer said various investors have approached them for oil exploration.

He said Afren East Africa Exploration have been doing the study for three years and in January 2014, they would set up first exploration block. "In such a case, they would either get gas or oil," he said, adding: "By the time an investor puts $100m into an investment, then you know there is something.

When you see a multinational company like this one is ready to invest such a huge amount of money in exploration, it means there's something somewhere." He said the oil and gas exploration activities are on rapid increase in the region.

Afren has a portfolio across the region and added its Tanzania side by acquiring a 74 per cent operated working interest in the Tanga Block, located offshore Tanzania, from Petrodel who retained a 26 per cent interest in the block. In consideration for the acquisition of the interest, Afren said it agreed to reimburse Petrodel a percentage of the back costs in relation to the block.

It says Afren also funded all costs associated with the acquisition, processing and interpretation of an agreed seismic survey over the block amounting to 900 km of shallow and deeper water 2D coverage. The Tanga Block lies northernmost coast, directly south of and adjoining Kenyan blocks L17 and L18 in which Afren holds a 100 per cent interest.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201306230041.html

Significant oil discovery offshore Nigeria * the high impact Ogo-1 well located on the OPL 310 licence has discovered a significant light oil accumulation * well encountered a gross hydrocarbon section of 524 ft, with 216 ft of net stacked pay ..... The well was targeting 78 mmboe of gross P50 prospective resources, but based on evidence to date, targeted resources are likely to be significantly in excess of previous estimates.

lovely.,.

The SP of this company is a like a straw in the wind, but !!!

Full RNS article:

Afren makes significant oil find offshore Nigeria

StockMarketWire.com

Afren's high impact Ogo-1 well on the OPL 310 licence offshore Nigeria has discovered a significant light oil accumulation, based on the results of drilling and wireline logs.

The Ogo-1 well has been drilled to a total measured depth of 10,518 ft (10,402 ft true vertical depth subsea), and has encountered a gross hydrocarbon section of 524 ft, with 216 ft of net stacked pay. The well was targeting 78 mmboe of gross P50 prospective resources, but based on evidence to date, targeted resources are likely to be significantly in excess of previous estimates.

Further evaluation using wireline log analysis is currently unde rway prior to extending the well to a total measured depth of 11,800 ft (11,684 ft true vertical depth subsea) to target further high potential zones.

The Ogo-1 discovery, testing a four-way dip-closed structure in the Turonian, Cenomanian, and Albian sandstone reservoirs, confirms the extension of the same Cretaceous sandstones that have yielded other significant discoveries along the West African Transform Margin.


-------

Merrill Lynch comment:
"AFREN: announced the significant success at the Ogo-1 exploration well in OPL 310 offshore Nigeria and, as a result, we expect consensus NAVs to move up c.5-10p+. While we value the well at a risked 4p (unrisked 12p), results thus far indicate that resources are likely to increase significantly from predrill net P50 prospective resources of c.31mmboe, although they cannot be quantified as yet. Moreover, the result also de-risks the Ogo-1 sidetrack from a c.20% Chance of Success (CoS) to a c.33% CoS, where a result is expected by the end of July, and which we valued pre-drill at an additional risked 4p (unrisked 19p). Arguably most importantly, this well result proves the extension of the Cretaceous play across the West African Transform Margin and is the first well to do so south of Lagos; this is a key milestone for the industry. Volumes already appear to indicate that Ogo-1 is commercially viable as a stand-alone development and its potential development will be fast-tracked in the same way as Afren's other projects. We reiterate our Buy rating and expect the stock to be up 5-10% today."

Meanwhile, the new oil discovery made offshore Nigeria by Afren (LON:AFR) and LekOil (LON:LEK) has substantially exceeded expectations, according to Morgan Stanley.

Analyst Jamie Maddock also says the success of the Ogo-1 well has extended the prolific 'West African Transform Margin' eastwards, and this has thrown up more opportunties for drilling in the area. "Stay overweight" in Afren he says with a target price of 220p (current 122p)

http://www.investegate.co.uk/afren-plc--afr-/rns/directors-to-acquire-afren-shares/201307050700076648I/