Took a punt on this a few months back....thanks EK...who tipped this and brought it to my attention !.....looks good for Aminex as well...

thanks rf noted.,.

Wait for a broker report, imo, to see what the comapny is worth and what a realistic price may be. Whole bid & sale process may take months, so lots of ups and downs along the way!

watch and trade maybe harrry??

my advice is just watch!

Thanks cynic, decided there was more going on in gkp so sold and plonked it in there.,.

Peel Hunt valuation:
"In terms of valuation, on a risked basis our current RENAV of £813.4m or 166p/share comprises £21.6m/4p for Tanzania, £109m/22p of net cash, -£9.5m/-2p for G&A, £553.8m/113p for Mozambique and £138.5m or 29p for additional exploration upside. For illustrative purposes and considering Mozambique specifically, on a fully unrisked basis our valuation would rise to £692.3m/141p/share, this assumes a recoverable gas volume of 18Tcf.
We highlight that our risked valuation for Rovuma alone (113p/share) supports the current market capitalization of the company serving to discount the rest of the portfolio and any additional exploration upside. In our opinion this indicates clear upside to our 166p target price."

Cynic

Do you hold these , i have a 67% profit on these now, its tempting to sell

not one of mine; not sure if i ever have ..... as i said above, risk much heavier than reward at this level

one of TFC 's share's , but so was NYO

so what? ..... times and situations change .... you've got a good profit so bank at least a good portion of it and put it somewhere else

here here.,.

were were ... ?

Oil India Said to Study Possible Purchase of U.K. Gas Explorer Cove Energy

By Rakteem Katakey and George Smith Alexander - Jan 12, 2012 5:03 AM GMT



Enlarge image Oil India Said to Study Possible Purchase of Cove Energy

Indian companies are looking across the world for oil and gas deposits to secure supplies as demand grows at home. Photographer: Namas Bhojani/Bloomberg

Oil India Ltd. (OINL), India’s second- biggest state-owned energy explorer, is considering a possible purchase of Cove Energy Plc (COV), which has assets in east Africa, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

Oil India is studying documents related to the U.K. company that put itself up for sale last week, the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to discuss the process. Bids for London-based Cove may exceed $1.2 billion, one of the people said. Cove has a market value of 609 million pounds ($933 million).

Indian companies are looking across the world for oil and gas deposits to secure supplies as demand grows at home. Cove, in which BlackRock Inc. has a stake, is part-owner of a field in Mozambique that may hold enough gas to be converted into liquid form and shipped to countries including India, Asia’s second- fastest growing major economy.

“Indian companies would be very interested in Cove because of the large gas reserves in Mozambique,” said Rina Sanghavi, a Kolkata-based research analyst at SPA Securities Ltd. “India needs gas to meet shortages and Mozambique is near enough to bring the gas to India.”

Oil India Chairman N.M. Borah didn’t answer two calls made to his mobile phone seeking comment on the possible deal.

The Indian explorer rose as much as 0.6 percent to 1,110 rupees and traded at 1,106.65 rupees in Mumbai trading as of 10:22 a.m. The benchmark Sensitive Index (SENSEX) fell 0.7 percent. The stock dropped 16 percent last year.
Chinese Competition

Cove, which climbed 20 percent in 2011, jumped another 11 percent on Jan. 5, when it put itself up for sale. The shares closed at a record 128.5 pence on Jan. 10 before falling 3.5 percent to 124 pence in London yesterday. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has a 7.6 percent stake in Cove, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Oil India may face competition from Chinese buyers, one of the people said, without naming the companies. The Indian company has 135 billion rupees ($2.6 billion) in cash and is seeking to use part of the reserves to acquire oil and gas deposits outside the country, Finance Director T.K. Ananth Kumar said Nov. 14.

Cove holds an 8.5 percent stake in the Rovuma Area 1 off Mozambique, which is operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp., and has India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPCL) and Videocon Industries Ltd. as partners, according to the company’s website. The partners have found 15 trillion to 30 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, enough to support the setting up of a liquefied natural gas production facility.

The U.K. explorer opened its data room last month to interested bidders in its Mozambique project. Cove is also working with Total SA of France and BG Group Plc (BG/) to search for oil and gas off Kenya and with Etablissements Maurel & Prom SA in Tanzania.

Oil India has held talks with Gabon’s national oil company for a partnership to buy Maurel’s assets in the African nation, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Oct. 25.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at rkatakey@bloomberg.net; George Smith Alexander in Mumbai at galexander11@bloomberg.net

UMBAI | Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:08am IST
(Reuters) - ONGC Videsh Ltd OVL.L, the overseas investment arm of state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.NS), and GAIL India (GAIL.NS) are making a joint bid to acquire UK-based Cove Energy Plc (COVE.L), a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The deal is valued at over $1.2 billion, the Times of India said, citing sources briefed on the matter.

Both OVL and GAIL have concluded technical due diligence and are expected to place the financial bid soon, the report said.

Officials at GAIL and ONGC were not immediately available for commCove Energy, with a market value of about $977 million, put itself up for sale earlier in January.

Cove Energy, with a market value of about $977 million, put itself up for sale earlier in January.

The firm has an 8.5-percent stake in the Rovuma Area 1 offshore block in Mozambique with an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.

Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL.NS) and Videocon Industries Ltd (VEDI.NS) own 10 percent stake each in the Rovuma block and the right of first refusal, the paper said.

The two firms are not exercising their rights to buy Cove Ennergy's stake in the Mozambique gas block, the report added.

(Reporting by Aniruddha Basu & Prashant Mehra; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

aldo - if that story os true, then would would be the sp value at $1.2bn? ..... then deduct (at least) 10% to allow for for time element while the deal goers through and also possibility of it all falling through

I read on another thread that its about 165p

Let's see what the Sunday papers have to say about it

if that's so, not huge upside

By Nick Webb
Sunday January 15 2012
Oil India, the second-largest state-owned oil explorer in India, is thought to be eyeing up a move for €800m-valued Irish gas-finder Cove Energy. The Indian firm is thought to be examining documents related to the company.

Cove Energy put itself up for sale last week and has opened a data room for potential suitors. Oil India has over €2.2bn in cash reserves, which it has earmarked for buying up oil and gas assets.

However, Oil India is likely to face serious competition from a range of Chinese oil firms, with Chevron and Total also keen to expand in the region.

The Irish company's share price has soared six-fold in just two years since floating on London's aIm market.

Cove owns an 8.5 per cent stake in a hugely lucrative gas field off the coast of Mozambique. Cove's partner Andarko is planning to convert the gas into liquid form in order to ship it to Asian economies such as China and India.

East Africa has become the hottest exploration territory in the world as oil and gas majors fall over each other trying to invest in the region.

John Craven, former CEO of Irish explorer Petroceltic, finance chief Michael Nolan, the ex-boss of Minmet and chairman Michael Blaha may share close to €40m from the sale of Cove Energy.