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

beg to differ- shorterm ............ Long term is a different story

Careful now hlyeo as they could fall another 50% short term.

If you are buying for the long term ....but short term....it's a gamble and the next well is mainly for Rockhopper...

The thing was to buy on the rebound into DES this morning sell out and into RKH...

Gas would be very viable IF IT FLOWS and if there is a large amount there.

I mean, look at the orange Syn-Rift (where they hit gas) it is massive and the potential is for a huge find.......so do not write off the gas just yet. Admittedly its a very slim chance, but if it comes in then DES is very cheap presently, especially with 5 more drills to do.



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This sounds like a duster in which case the shorters are right and PI's should move on till the next spud.

29 Mar 2010 13:47 - 4200 of 4201
Gas would be very viable IF IT FLOWS and if there is a large amount there.

I mean, look at the orange Syn-Rift (where they hit gas) it is massive and the potential is for a huge find.......so do not write off the gas just yet. Admittedly its a very slim chance, but if it comes in then DES is very cheap presently, especially with 5 more drills to do.

.....not quite correct, Pro. You're not including Desire's farm-in into FOGL's 'Toroa' field - details of which have yet to be released, as I'm sure you're aware; also, one of the five wells is a double-whammy, ie., two birds with one stone, much like Liz/Beth scenario only this time it's Jacinta/Dawn, hence we really have another seven bites at the cherry before we all go and jump off Arbroath cliffs or somewhere similar !, (if nowt is found, of course !).

By the way, you're a breath of fresh air on the boards with your very informative posts. Cheers !

Anybody want to hazard a guess whether this is up or down tomorrow?

more down yet.....i am affraid.....next positive news before it turns blue....so maybe sometime in april......catching the falling knife time.....got my fund ready....

still a holder......

There is little oil in the Falklands so I dont see the attraction.

perhaps more than you think mitzy....more shots at the target to come this year....keep your eyes open for positive RNS

mitzy thinks CHAR has more in that blue sky of theirs!
that said, i don't think the update from DES later this week will be anything to cheer about ..... the only question is whether or not it will affect sp in either direction

Mitzy,

Although not in Des (in three other FI shares) the comment 'There is little oil in the Falklands, so I don't see the attraction', is not the sort of post that makes any sense, especially when the poster can only Guess.
OK they may be right, but the several years spent on gathering all the viable data, indicates differently.
So unless they have the magic gift of seeing into the future, I respectfully suggest they resist from making, 'grab in the air comments, when they don't have the evidence to back them up.

Opinion/views are different from a comment that reads as if it is fact.

There are prospects all over the place....plus tonight oil has jumped up by more than $2....$82.17 last time I looked, for WTI.

I wouldnt say that Cynic,

Plenty of ifs and buts in that last RNS, remember that the RNS was only given in response to the article in the FT.


Hundreds of Falkland Islanders heavily invested in Desire Petroleum (DES) are keeping faith, despite poor initial news from its first well in the region.


Desire investors suffered a horrendous day, as the shares slumped on news of results from Liz, its first well drilled in the North Falklands Basin, have shown quantities of oil which may be small or of poor quality.


Islanders still vividly remember the disappointments of the late 1990s when six wells were drilled in the same area north of the Islands and showed the presence of hydrocarbons in the rich source rock. But rising costs and the plunging value of oil meant further work was deemed commercially non-viable and drilling operations ceased.


Inevitably, this disappointment meant Islanders were cautious in their approach to the latest drilling round but the arrival of the semi-submersible Ocean Guardian last month created an undeniable sense among the community that the Islands were at the brink of a new adventure.


Today's announcement from Desire has dampened excitement, but it hasn't killed off the dream for this tiny community.


Liz is understood to be Desire Petroleum's prime prospect, and local investors - the number of whom has grown from scores to hundreds in the months leading up to the start of the drilling - have had their fingers crossed good news would be forthcoming this week.


One Stanley resident, a former teacher who bought into the first issue of Desire shares around 12 years ago, said he had enjoyed being along for the ride, whatever the news.


"One of the attractions was that the shares were being offered to Falkland Islanders with staggered payments, and these easy terms became even easier when there was a second flotation," he said.


"As part of the adjustment, we never had to pay the second instalment and, if I remember rightly, were even issued with more shares. Although I have bought some more shares in the company since, I once calculated that this first purchase cost me in the end something in the region of 13p a share."


This was even after a day in which the Desire price closed at just above 50p after which saw it lose up to 60% of its value.


He echoed the sense of adventure Islanders were feeling: "There was something exciting about getting in on the ground floor of something which might constitute the next big boom for the Falklands economy and, maybe my own. Although I have kept track of the share price over the years, I have always seen this rather modest investment as a 'punt' with discovery and a buy-out as the ultimate prize, but nothing much lost if it all turns pear shaped."


Living on tiny Sea Lion Island, hotelier and Desire shareholder Jenny Luxton had a similar attitude and was happy to "sit tight and hope for the best".


She said: "I invested money I could afford to lose, so I'm not really risking anything. Having said that, it would be wonderful if oil is found."


Like small communities everywhere in the world, rumour and gossip are national pastimes in the Falklands and as the announcement from Desire loomed, speculation was rife. In the past two weeks there had been talk of oil flooding the offshore platform and counter-rumours of nothing but water being found; every movement of the oil supply ships to and from Stanley's small port was - and still is - closely scrutinised for any clue they may give to whether a significant find had been made.


This interest in the success of the Liz prospect is understandable.


However, Phyl Rendell, the Falkland Islands government's (FIG) director of mineral resources, said that with at least seven wells to be drilled in the present programme not everything was riding on the outcome of the first well.


She said: "It would of course be very encouraging and rewarding for Desire Petroleum, considering how committed they have been to advancing offshore exploration here, to have positive hydrocarbon indicators in their first well.


"If there is not a very positive report following analysis of the samples taken from the well, which can take months to fully interpret, it will still help Desire and the FIG to understand what is present and where to drill next.


"We all are aware that many wells were drilled in the North Sea before commercial oil was found and we are only on the seventh well to be drilled in the North Falkland Basin at present."


In recent years, a drastic reduction in income from the Illex squid fishery - the mainstay of the economy - has led Islanders to hope that oil could provide the financial stability the Falklands need to flourish.
Stanley businessman Tom Blake said oil was needed in order to maintain a positive outlook for the future.


"The Falklands government is currently facing financial pressures which are not just solely due to the worldwide economic downturn and unless a new source of revenue is gained we are likely to see reductions in public services and/or increases in taxes which will make the Falklands a less attractive place to live."


In a quirk of fate, this year's Illex season has reportedly seen healthy catches and income of around 7 million from the sale of licence fees to ships from the Far East.


So while a reprieve may be on the horizon for the Falklands treasury this year, hopes remain pinned on oil for long term security.


But it won't be plain sailing even if oil is found: fresh tension arrived with the Ocean Guardian in the form of new political pressure from Argentina, including direct threats to penalise companies operating in the Falklands, and this tension is bound to get worse with any major find.


However, according to Phyl Rendell this had not deterred the operators whose work was "going to plan" and the British government had also made "the right noises".


She added: "Companies have been very reassured by the statements made by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, foreign secretary David Miliband and the minister for the overseas territories, Chris Bryant, and others that the licences awarded to them by the FIG to drill in Falkland waters have international legal status and that HMG supports the efforts of both FIG and the companies to explore for hydrocarbons."

greekman I have been negative about DES for the last 2 weeks it was due a fall.

no one likes a "told you so" so i wont.
sad day for many.
regards
jkd

marky - i know you have a lot of dosh invested in DES and RKH, so i very much hope that the next instalment makes (much) more cheery reading ..... however, it cannot be denied that this first indication is not encouraging, albeit that there are 6/8/10 further wells already scheduled for this north basin ..... as i have written before, DES assuredly picked what it thought to be the best prospect for its first attempt ...... time will tell

I get the feeling that it's mostly gas.....perhaps a lot of it, but where are the commercial amounts....it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack....Rockhopper have a find and it was gas....

i just re read my own posts.
i often do such, it helps me to see where i go wrong, which i often do. go wrong that is.
dont mean i now think this is going up ,or think otherwise. i am neutral from here,
regards
jkd