Desire Petroleum

<>Desire Petroleum plc (Desire) is a UK company listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) dedicated to exploring for oil and gas in the North Falkland Basin.

Desire has recently completed a 6 well exploration programme. The Liz well encountered dry gas and gas condensate at 2 separate levels while other wells recorded shows.
Together with the Rockhopper Exploration Sea Lion oil discovery in the licence to the north, these wells have provided significant encouragement for the potential of the North Falkland Basin. The oil at Sea Lion is of particular interest as this has demonstrated that oil is trapped in potentially significant quantities in a fan sandstone on the east flank of the basin. It is believed that over 50% of this east flank play fairway is on Desire operated acreage.

Desire has now completed new 3D seismic acquisition which provides coverage over the east flank play, Ann, Pam and Helen prospects. The results from fast-track processing of priority areas are provided in the 2011 CPR. A farm-out to Rockhopper has been announced. The revised equities are shown on the licence map (subject to regulatory approval and completion of the farm-in well). Desire Petroleum

Rockhopper Exploration

British Geological Survey

Argos Resources



Latest Press Realeses from Desire

It's a mirage!!

Is everyone still sleeping? WE HAVE GOT A RIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Desire agrees drilling rig deal for Falkland campaign
Business Financial Newswire
Desire Petroleum has exchanged a letter of intent with Diamond Offshore Drilling for the drilling unit the Ocean Guardian to undertake a four well minimum drilling campaign in the North Falkland Basin.

The Ocean Guardian is currently in the North Sea and following a programme of shipyard work will mobilise in November.

Projected arrival in Falkland waters is early February 2010.

Desire has options to drill a further four wells for itself and or its partners.

Well done, Marky. It's been worth the wait but a hell of a long and winding road.

Looks like we will be playing the south atlantic stocks next year....still probably 6 months before drilling commences....

Cheers Oily,its the news i have waited for for a long time and have held for over 11 years waiting for us to resume drilling in the NFB.

That is crazy holding for as long as that when the funds could have been invested elsewhere...you can always buy them back again..., anyway looks like that next summer should be interesting...

required field i was sure back then there was commercial oil would be found in the NFB and time will tell but over them years i have topped up from my orignal stake to hold a significant amount of shares.Last time they went drilling the share price rose to nearly 5 a share and it will do it again as time gets closer and greed takes over.

More holes will be drilled and maybe other partners will come in to the picture now,RKH i expect news from them it all systems go.

Nothing is certain, only Rockhopper has a confirmed discovery....so it could take several wells before anything of any value is booked...but at long last something is going to be drilled...I myself shall be looking for an entry point...perhaps not today because they always mark shares up too much on news...

Entry when it gets back to 60p which it will imo.
Are these the guys hooked up with BLT? Worth watching that sp also.

Great News!!!! For all of us playing the waiting game.

This is the news that now makes this a credible investment, not sure we will look back again - onwards and upwards, like Marky said these shrs were 5 before a find last time and we will see that price again before Feb, Have topped up today as I have been holding DES for soooo long, time for the payoff

Oriels brokers note

Desire Petroleum (DES, BUY, 64p) Drilling rig letter of intent

Desire announced this morning that it has exchanged a letter of intent with Diamond drilling for the use of the Ocean Guardian to undertake a minimum four well campaign in the North Falkland Basin. Desire has options to drill a further four wells for its self or its partners.
The rig is currently in the North Sea and is expected to mobilise in November with the drilling programme expected to commence in Feb 2010.
It is currently unclear which prospects Desire will target, but a 4 well programme could target over 1bn boe of reserves (gross) which we estimate would be worth 450p/sh risked or over 2800p/sh unrisked.
Desire plans to drill as many wells as possible to fully test the area and will be looking to raise additional funds prior to mobilisation. On our numbers Desire is currently funded for the majority of a four well programme (depending on which prospects are targeted).
This should be good news for all the Falklands companies as the Ocean Guardian is rated to 1500m water depth and should be capable of drilling on some of the acreage in the South Falklands basins.

amazing what a "letter of intent" can do!

puts a lot of money in the bank doesn't it!

Cynic am so glad your not holding RKH or DES as you still cant see the picture!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/6168664/Desire-Petroleum-tows-rig-to-oil-rich-Falklands.html

Desire Petroleum tows rig to oil-rich Falklands

A British oil explorer is raising 20m-30m from shareholders as it prepares to start drilling in the Falkland Islands, where it believes up to 3bn barrels of oil and gas may be recoverable.

Desire Petroleum, which has been conducting seismic tests north of the islands for many years, has managed to secure a rig that will be towed to the drill site from the North Sea in November.

The company's estimates for extractable oil and gas reserves suggest up to eight wells at the field could yield as many or more barrels than both BG and BP's major finds in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, BG said it was
drilling in an area of 2bn barrels of recoverable oil in Brazil, while BP revealed last week that it could extract 500m barrels from the Tiber prospect in the Gulf of Mexico.

Desire's testing has only been preliminary, so it can only guess at recoverable volumes, but senior sources in the company said it was confident that the gamble would pay off.

"We believe there are 2bn to 3bn barrels down there, making it potentially as big as BP's find," a spokesman for the company said. "This is only conjecture because we have not started drilling, but the area has become more economic as the oil price has gone up."

The majors retreated from the Falkland Islands in the late 1990s, when the sharply dropping oil price meant many companies allowed their licences to lapse. Shell and Lasmo was drilling near the Falklands in 1998, but decided that the area was not profitable enough at that time.

However, Desire has been looking for a suitable rig for many years in the hope that the shallow water would work in its favour. It believes that drilling at the site will take just 180 days after the rig becomes operational in early February.

The company has a 147.6m market capitalisation and is drilling the wells with its partners Rockhopper and Arcadia. *2913 - Population at last Census (2001)

*Total land area - 4700 square miles (about the size of Wales)

*Capital - Stanley - which prides itself on being the safest capital in the world. There are no recorded cases of mugging or pickpocketing

*GDP - 45m, ranking it 223rd in the world

*60bn - the estimate of the number of barrels of oil in the North Falklands basin according to seismic tests

i am fully exposed - to coin a phrase - with enough oilies that are actually producing the stuff (yes, i know i also hold some HSAWK that produces a jerrycan a month).

i am delighted for you and others that DES (inter alia) has gone balistic on the back of a letter of intent, which quite frankly is totally loony - but then so arguably has been the similar performance of PXS.

i dare say that in the fullness of time the falklands area will actually start producing oil in commercial quantities ..... as and when that happens, there will be plenty of time to get on board and make a bob or two from the companies that succeed and will have well-avoided the inevitable stinkers (another horrid pun i'm afraid)

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article6829829.ece

http://en.mercopress.com/2009/09/11/fakland-islands-weekly-penguin-news-update
Friday, September 11th 2009 - 4:31 am UTC

Fakland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update
DESIRE SHARE PRICE SOARS ON BACK OF OIL NEWS. Desire Petroleum shareholders who have stood by their investments for more than a decade were rewarded yesterday when the news that a rig had been sourced sent shares leaping almost 40 per cent to 89p.

For the next two years, these five faces will become as familiar to some Falklands teenagers as their own friends and family. Kathryn, Vicky, Jo, Pam and Ben are the new teachers on the block at FICS, and already they have big plans for their next two years. Find out more on page 2.

The drilling unit Ocean Guardian is scheduled to arrive in the Falklands on February 1, Stephen Phipps of Desire Petroleum said this week.

The unit will mobilise at the end of November and, following a 65-day tow, will begin its first round of oil exploration in Falklands waters since 1998.

The company has exchanged a letter of intent with Diamond Offshore Drilling (UK) for the unit, which will be used to drill in the North Basin: We are looking forward to coming down again and drilling, said Mr Phipps.

Director of Mineral Resources Phyl Rendell said congratulations should be extended to Desire, as the company had been seeking the right rig for several years: This is a significant step forward for oil exploration in the Falklands, she said.

With more than 200 share-holders in the Falklands, and an increase in share price of 39.5 per cent at the close of trading yesterday, Desires announcement is good news for many in the Falklands.

Councillor Mike Summers said: Its certainly a boost to everyone involved in that area, both in the public and private sectors. It also brings the prospect of a significant amount of additional work next year for the private sector.

Mr Phipps said although the majority of those working towards oil discovery would be based offshore on the rig, there would be support staff based onshore who would contribute to money coming into the Falklands, through restaurants and hotels.

Although he couldnt comment on the number of jobs the drilling may create for local inhabitants, he said it was unlikely more than 15 people would be based on land as support staff.

Logistical issues surrounding the project will now have to be resolved, with a long list of things to talk about when next in the Falklands, Mr Phipps said.

Things like accommodation, flights, office, space - everything starts now. Well be sorting it out in the next few months.

The security of the rig will have to be further addressed by Desire, said Cllr Summers, adding that after the recent consultant visit to discuss security the foreign and Commonwealth Office appears to be content with the progress government has made to date.

Mr Phipps said this was a significant step towards finding oil.

However if they were to discover oil in February, it would not be extracted for four or five years, due to appraisal wells, production platforms, infrastructure needed and other issues that would have to be resolved.

Councillor Summers said: If oil is produced, and thats still a long way off, the government receives royalty and income from corporation tax. But I must stress that is still a long way off. We dont yet know if there are commercial accumulations of oil.

If oil is found in very large quantities it would significantly change the economic perspective in the Falklands.

Rockhopper Exploration will potentially also utilise the rig, after details have been finalised.

Mr Phipps said: We believe we will find oil in the Falklands. The company is about drilling in the Falklands, so now we have a rig we can drill again.

as has been pointed out before .....


Mr Phipps said ...... "....... if they were to discover oil in February, it would not be extracted for four or five years."
Councillor Summers said: If oil is produced, and thats still a long way off ...... but I must stress that is still a long way off. We dont yet know if there are commercial accumulations of oil."


surely common sense says take profits now - and quickly