.

Is there any truth in the rumour that PC has been reducing his holding, presumably it's under 3%, so no need for an Official Note......anyone...?
EDIT (26Oct09)-Thanks P- any ideas why he'd sell justa s things are getting exciting, perhaps he'd bought high(40p+) and got fed up. 'tis what I do.
So far, I'm in profit - phew.

He went below 3% months ago and notice was on RNS too, sold most in the 5p to 7p range.

Proselenes,once again thanks for your posts,looking inteesting for next week?
regards
cyril

There should be a meeting between Otto Energy and Ascent Resources soon, to discuss the Po Valley region of Italy. Although Gazatta-1 was a duster, it was the largest of two "drill ready" status leads on the license area, based on very old seismic data/AVO.

However, there are many other "leads" on the license area, which is quite large, and some potentially larger than what G-1 was thought to possibly be. These new leads need new seismic and more work to get them to drill ready status if possible and its good to see Otto Energy in their report out Monday saying they are keen to keep on with the Po Valley region. The benefit for them of course is using the Ascent part owned rigs for very good drilling prices, which make the risk/reward ratio much more palatable. They must have been "happy" in some ways that Gaz-1 was drilled on time and below budget by the AST part owned rig. So perhaps some seismic in 2010 and another drill end 2010/2011 ? Writing off the whole value of the Po Valley license on the Gaz-1 failure was irrational, but the markets are and that is what the market did, but now perhaps we soon might see some of that potential coming back into the price as time goes by.

The link to the recent Otto release :

http://www.ottoenergy.com/IRM/Company/ShowPage.aspx?CPID=1378&EID=13573322&PageName=Annual%20report%20to%20Shareholders','Annual%20report%20to%20Shareholders

And the comment in it is :

"Elsewhere, in Argentina and Italy, our wildcat exploration programme
was unsuccessful in finding hydrocarbons. It is likely that we will exit
Argentina. Our plans to continue exploring in the highly prospective
Po Valley in Italy are still being formulated having consideration to the
hydrocarbon potential, cost of exploration, the market for gas and in
context of Otto’s other business opportunities."

Interesting post by OJ at IV, especially about 104-AA being commercial.


http://www1.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=12050&mn=5387&pt=msg&mid=8112873


.

Interesting news on fontana spud,also no news on Pen104AA so semms a positive(p&aed would have been annouced)sign?

Fontana-1 Drilling Commences




Ascent Resources plc, the AIM-traded oil and gas exploration and production company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Ascent Resources Italia srl ('ARI'), has commenced the drilling of the Fontana-1 well which is designed to appraise the shallow part of the Anagni structure in the Frosinone Exploration permit in the Latina Valley.




The drilling is planned in two phases; the first phase will drill an 8-1/2" hole and set 7" casing at approximately 300m, the second phase is designed to drill and recover cores (geological samples) from this depth to the total depth of the well.


* * ENDS * *
cyril

The delay of PEN-104AA news is in my view very good news. It must mean, I feel, that they are doing "volumetric" testing know to work out the size of the gas pocket. You cannot do this once the well is on production, and they said it would be back on production in a month, so they must now be doing volumetrics to work out the size and production life time. This would mean they have found something of decent size.

We might even get PEN-105 volumetric news with PEN-104AA volumetric news.

So no we just await them to finish testing and working out the size, and then put it back on to production and let us know the results, IMO :)

Should be a strong run next week, or starting tomorrow if the news is tomorrow).

We have another "substantial gas reservoir" in PEN-104AA :)

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200911020700067337B

.

New broker note just out with upgraded 20p price target.

http://www.capmarkets.com/ViewFile.asp?ID1=126788&ID2=366297829&ssid=1&directory=12384&bm=0&filename=AscentUpdate6Nov2009.pdf


.

Worth a read.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gmg/op/view.m?id=233307&tid=120787


.

From the LGO update today, 34m of reservoir at PEN-104AA perhaps, and also LGO are farming in to the new Hungarian area :

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200911250700100311D

..........Hungary

The Penzlek Gasfield (7.27% LGO) in eastern Hungary, through LGO's 7.27% ownership of PetroHungaria Kft is currently shut-in pending testing of the Pen-104aa and Pen-105 wells which were recently drilled.

The PetroHungaria joint venture operator completed the drilling of Pen-104aa on 02 November which targeted a deeper Miocene reservoir at the depth forecast from seismic interpretation. The well drilled through 65m of Miocene reservoir formation, equivalent to a vertical thickness of 34m, to a total depth of 1,872m (TVD 1,322m). The well was completed with a slotted liner and external casing packers and is currently under test.

The ZalaGasCo joint venture (14.54% LGO) reported no activity during the period.

The Company notified Ascent Resources plc on 18 November of the intention to exercise the option to become a 14.54% shareholder in the joint venture with Ascent Hungary Limited which holds a joint development agreement with MOL Hungarian Oil & Gas for joint operations in south west Hungary including the Lovzi and Ujfalu oil and gas fields.

PP: Any buzzes on Fontana, all very quiet on that front??

L2 3 v 1

CANA/SCAP/WINS all bidding at 6p

Just KBC offering at 6.25p

Nobody likes the 5p placing price announced today, but those offering the money want a pound of flesh in todays market.

AST now have 6M in cash, near 6M in a SEDA facility, and PEN-104AA coming on line next week, with GH-1 on line December along with perhaps 105 on line production in December.

Should be two more wells spudding December, GH-2 and PEN-101 or 106.

Lots of Slovenia news to come and more from Hungary.


Oh...and Fontana as well.

Onwards and upwards, 8p by year end ? or more ?


Should be good news out next week, on PEN-104AA at least.

Couple of posts from Paul who took part in the placing.



ghhghh - 27 Nov'09 - 08:44 - 9390 of 9500

I tried to get 11m in the Placing but scaled back 25% since oversubscribed.

AST were trying to raise 6m to 10m so imo a good sign that they only raised the minimum at 5p. If they thought A-2 a crock or risk that 104AA won't flow as hoped they would have filled their boots.

AST will get flak for the 5p price but small cap markets have turned last few weeks and investors pitched their bids at different prices ie I said I'd take only 6m if 6p and I wanted a min of 5m raised so that if A-2 a duster (as balance of probability it will be) then AST well capitalised for first time in its existence.

I just bought another 1m in market at 5.3p - wondering who could be selling down here. Ascent has always been cash poor but asset rich. I sold down a few months ago because I had too much exposure to a risky (ie no cash with PEN 104 about to run dry) company. But since then AST has made good discoveries with PAN and esp PEN 105 and 104AA which should deliver strong cash flow next year. And now 6m cash.

Also market overlooking:

With this in mind, a key focus will be the Petişovci oilfield in Slovenia where preliminary results from the 3-D seismic are above our expectations; new prospects are available for drilling and there is near term potential for production in 2010.


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


ghhghh - 27 Nov'09 - 11:30 - 9486 of 9495

AST tried to get the best price possible but were screwed by unfavourable markets.

They started several weeks ago looking for 7p plus and even just a few days ago 6p looked unlikely as too low.

But this week has obviously been a nightmare for Ascent as they tried to balance price versus amount raised.

Several large investors, myself included, screwed them further by saying we would only invest if at least 5m raised. I expect A-2 to be a duster and therefore only wanted to invest if AST financially secure and therefore no funding problems whatsoever re Slovenia and getting PEN/PAN into production. Especially since markets looking dodgy and Dubai could be tip of iceberg.

I suspect they could have got circa 2m to 3m at 6p and AST had to make the difficult decision whether better to get 6m and suffer the extra dilution. In the big picture, this is not that bad re dilution and flip side is they now have the all important cash for PAN and Slovenia.

IMO they thought what if A-2 a duster? Odds are it will be. Shares will drop sub 6p. A large placing at 5p would, with hindsight, have looked like a smart deal.

Also they are very bullish on Slovenia. Two edged. Now they have the cash to pursue this without needing to farm out or can now farm out on better terms.


And re a right issue - by the time this was sorted A-2 would have announced. If duster what sort of take up? And who would have underwritten and at what cost?

I understand how galling it is to have been out of the loop re getting in to Placing but AST kept this very tight in order to protect the share price. I only got in because have taken part in a few Astaires Placings before and therefore had track record of keeping my mouth shut.

A number of high profile long term investors were only asked last minute, presumably when they had the 6m secure and could therefore scale back to make room for them.

So imo Ascent did everything they could reasonably do to be fair and get best price but in the end took the view that they needed the 6m.

That they didn't take more is encouraging.

It's easy to knock them but what could they have done differently?

Either say 3m at 6p or 6m at 5p. With the latter you now sleep at nights and if A-2 a duster, then a smart move.

This "Placing News" has dropped the sp 17% ((Currently 5-6p-)) + the spread, that is really nasty.
+My reading of several RNS since Oct.09, is that P C will have to make an official Ann. re his % holding - Lucky/no wonder he sold at recent highs, as/if the Co is happy to sell at just 5p.
- but we retail-shareholders are not so lucky - this Placing is a dilution of 1/3, so whatever you paid (prior to late Nov09) is raised 33% - e.g. If you paid 9.0p (that wouldn't be difficut, with broker fees, spread etc.), your real investmernt was 12p - Ouch!
DYOR.

Whetheer this placing was really necessary at this time of "difficult" cash I cannot say, but AST should have done it when the relationship of News/Reward is somewhat more positive than now - although "maybe" the Placing-investors are aware of better news that we . . . . . this is often the case, IMHO....I believe it, and that's all that I care about.

Let's not forget this Stock was talked-up 2--7 (mostly by the Co Press releases) to 30p but NOTE that this (Nov09) dilution detracts from Highs - so 30p (then) would equate now to 20p...DYOR

What planet are you on ??????????????? If you paid 9p you paid 9p, thats it.

The company now is fully funded for the whole of the 2010 campaign, which could see them ending the year with over 20M a year in annualised revenues from Hungary and Slovenia.

The very simple fact they are fully funded with cash in the bank now makes them a very low risk play, and therefore attractive to many other people.

They will do very simple things now, drill holes, put them on test, then on to production and then drill another, and again and again.

500K cost, 10M payback.

Riddling Hungary and Slovenia with that money to make money.

Only a blind man cannot see the potential here now, fully cashed up.

And thats forgetting Fontana-1 totally.



hangon - 29 Nov 2009 15:15 - 294 of 294

........ If you paid 9.0p (that wouldn't be difficut, with broker fees, spread etc.), your real investmernt was 12p - Ouch!
DYOR.

The Dualex release of Friday. PEN-104AA testing starts this week maybe :

http://www.dualexen.com/documents/Financials/2009/DXE-2009-Q3.pdf

Hungary

In August 2009, the Company participated as to its 12.5% working interest in the Gorbehaza #1 (“GH-1”) well in the Panhandle region of the Corporation’s Nyirseg North permit. GH-1 was drilled to a depth of 1,300 metres and was successfully completed and tested. GH-1 encountered two Pannonian gas-bearing sandstone reservoirs totaling 5.75 metres and the stratigraphically lower zone of the two has been completed. The shallower sand will be completed and put on production once the lower zone has been depleted. GH-1 is planned to be tied-in to the third-party-owned Hajdunanas Gas Production Facility 2.5 kilometres to the north in the first quarter 2010.

In September 2009 the Company concluded the drilling and initial completion operations on the PEN-105 well in the Peneszlek area of northeast Hungary. The well was drilled to a depth of 1,487 metres to test a structure which tested gas from the base of the Miocene volcaniclastics in a well drilled in 1982. Nine metres of reservoir were perforated over three intervals in the target formation at PEN-105 and all three zones flowed gas, two with condensate. Permitting of the pipeline that will be used to bring the gas to market is underway and construction is planned so that gas sales from this well can commence early in 2010.

In October 2009, the Company completed the deepening of the PEN-104A sidetracked gas well (“PEN 104AA”). Based on good mudlog formation gas shows and open-hole well log evaluation, PEN-104AA was completed with a slotted liner and external casing packers, and will be tested once equipment becomes available and, pending favorable results, it is anticipated production in Hungary should resume in December.

A very good post, and very true. The window of opportunity was now, and AST took it. Wait until next year and see what happens to any small AIM oily in need of cash, they will likely be struggling extremely to get any cash and will be diluted massively or simply go bust.

This makes AST more attractive now as they are cashed up, and have the cash to get "cash revenues" coming in from many producing wells so they can be self reliant on generating their own cash for exploration by late 2010.


edjodav - 30 Nov'09 - 21:21 - 10126 of 10155

i have spoken to ast today and have been informed that ast didnt go down the gem route due to the fact of the formula used when drawing down as they would have only been able to draw down a certain amount at a time and it would have taken to long. they would have only been able to draw down about 400k to 500k from now until january 2010.they didnt do a rights issue as this would have cost somewhere in the region of 400k to 450k to organise.
ast also stated that the money raised is to fast track slovenia and hungary.
they also said that they needed to get institutions on board earlier rather than later due to the fact that next year the money would not be available as bigger oil companies look to go to the market for funding.
pen 104a and 105 flow rate news will be released within the next week or so and these wells will confirm that they are commercial wells.we will have five producing wells over the next six months.it also looks like the remaining gem facility will not be used. i feel a lot better today. just one other thing i got the impression that fontana is not a duster

http://www.oilbarrel.com/nc/news/display_news/article/ascent-to-raise-6-million-as-it-chases-production-growth-in-2010/771.html

December 01, 2009

Ascent To Raise 6 Million As It Chases Production Growth in 2010

Allaying investor concerns that the company was too cash-strapped to develop its portfolio of 20 properties that span five countries across Europe, Ascent Resources has conditionally raised 6 million through a placing with new and existing shareholders. The placing was handled by its new broker and Nomad, Astaire Securities plc, and involves 120,000,000 new ordinary shares priced at 5 pence each, a slight discount on the current share price of 5.5 pence each.
The placing will be in two tranches: the first raising gross proceeds of 1.79 million and the second, subject to shareholder approval at an EGM on December 14, will raise 4.2 million. The placing shares will represent about 24 per cent of the enlarged share capital.

The AIM-quoted company plans to use the funds to develop those projects capable of delivering near-term cash flows: rank exploration has dropped off the agenda for next year. This means the 2010 development plan will focus on proving up reserves and increasing production from its properties in Hungary and Slovenia, said CEO Jeremy Eng.

This involves building production from the Penčszlčk area of eastern Hungary, where it plans to have five wells in production by mid-2010. The company recently completed the PEN-104 sidetracked gas well, the second sidetracked well on the field which appears to have found a substantial gas reservoir in the Miocene. It will be tested shortly. Ascent has a 45.23 per cent in the .........

frontera resources/FRR