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 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.

What is it they say ? buy on the bid

StockMarketWire.com
Cove Energy has revealed further appraisal success from the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique.

Cove said the Lagosta 2 encountered 237 (777 feet) net meters of natural gas pay in multi zones.

This is the largest pay count of any well in the Windjammer, Lagosta, Barquentine and Camarão (WLBC) gas complex to date.

Chief executive John Craven said: "Lagosta 2 has delivered another outstanding result demonstrating the lateral and vertical extent of the high quality Tertiary reservoirs in the WLBC gas complex and further de-risks the recent resource upgrade of 15 to 30-plus TCF.

"I am confident that after further evaluation of Lagosta 2, combined with new drilling and well testing, we will see more resource upgrades as this exciting project drives on towards final investment decision in 2013."

The operator is Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4292985

January 19, 2012
Investors Cheer As Latest Gas Strike Offshore Mozambique Boosts Cove Energy Sale Prospects
The price tag on Cove Energy, which put itself up for sale earlier this month, increased this week as the AIM-quoted E&P announced another mammoth gas strike in the waters off the coast of Mozambique. The astonishing run of success by the Anadarko-led consortium drilling these deep waters, in which Cove has an 8.5 per cent interest, has already made Cove one of the standout successes on AIM in recent years. The company listed on AIM in 2009 and in September of that year raised £42 million through a placing priced at 20 pence per share to back its US$3 million acquisition of a series of East Africa E&P interests, including an 8.5 per cent interest in the Rovuma Area 1 block offshore Mozambique; just over two years on and that project has yielded world-class gas discoveries and Cove’s shares are trading at record highs of more than 137 pence.
To realise value for shareholders before the Mozambique project enters a capital intensive phase, involving the construction of a two-train onshore LNG plant to monetise the possible 30 TCF of offshore gas, Cove has decided to put itself on the auction block. Shares in the company, which rose 20 per cent in 2011, have rallied strongly over the early weeks of 2012, gaining another 20 per cent, amid speculation that bids of as much as US$1.2 billion could come from the world’s largest oil companies. Cove currently has a market cap of £677 million (US$1.04 billion).
India’s state-owned Oil India has been widely reported as one contender in the secret bid process. Indian companies have been investing in oil and gas projects across the globe to help feed domestic demand for energy – indeed, India’s Bharat Petroleum and Videocon Industries are both partners in the Anadarko-operated Rovuma project – and the Mozambique gas finds are well positioned to deliver gas into the booming Pacific LNG market that feeds energy-hungry markets across Asia, including India. Chinese companies may also be interested in such a reserves-rich asset, particularly given Chinese investments across Africa’s oil and gas rich basins, while European and North American companies should not be discounted as many are jostling for position in sub-Saharan Africa and have been keen to secure acreage along the East African margin.
This week’s news from Mozambique will not have harmed the sales process, with Anadarko announcing that the Lagosta-2 appraisal well, 7 km north of the Lagosta discovery, encountered 777 feet of net gas pay in multiple zones, the largest pay count of any of the wells in the Windjammer, Lagosta, Barquentine and Camarão gas complex, where the recoverable resource tally now stands at 15 to 30 TCF. Pressure readings from Lagosta-2 indicate there’s continuity with the Lagosta-1 and Camarao wells over a distance of 15.5 km – that’s a lot of reservoir. Cove’s CEO John Craven said the well had further derisked the resource estimates on the WLBC gas complex, calling it “another outstanding result”, which could yet see further resource upgrades.
Further drilling and testing work is underway across the block, where two deepwater drillships are now working. The JV partners, which include operator Anadarko with a 36.5 per cent working interest alongside Mitsui (20 per cent), Bharat and Videocon with 10 per cent each and state oil company ENH with a 15 per cent carried interest, now plan to drilled the Lagosta-3 appraisal well.