does anyone know why ramco has all of a sudden taken off today ....i cant find any news out but all of a sudden up nearly 11

Article from the FT regarding recent increase in RAMCO share price.

Recovery speculation aids Ramco shares
By Malini Guha, Michael Neill and Philip Stafford
Published: August 4 2004 04:00

Speculation that a recovery is in progress is growing around oil exploration group Ramco Energy. Investors have been piling into the stock in recent days, sending the shares up 19.8 per cent to 49p yesterday, and bringing gains in the past week to 60 per cent.

At first glance, reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for the troubled company seem thin on the ground. Its share price has plummeted from 400p in January since details of production problems at its Seven Heads gas field in the Celtic Sea came to light.

A miscalculation on its key project led to exceptional items of 93m in its full year results, a hefty charge for a company with a turnover of just 20m in 2003. Ramco is currently undertaking a technical review but analysts said the problems had the potential to threaten the company's survival.
Success in the future depends largely on convincing its bankers of the viability of the project, by rescheduling 68m worth of loans. Analysts have written off the chances of a sustained share price rise until the problems are resolved.

But gains in the past couple of days have been driven by hopes a favourable technical review is imminent, and it will convince the bankers to reschedule the loans.

However, its last market update on June 18 gave no definite date for the delivery of the report and observers warn that until it arrives it is likely to remain a stock traded mainly by retail investors.

Thanks j.

The volatility shown again today is an ideal opportunity to exploit this minnow, whilst the big(ger) players are twiddling their digits. Any further snippets gratefully received.

If you believe the numbers, there were a lot more buys than sells today 77/17/6, but the price dropped 6%. Something is not quite right with these numbers, is this the start of a new rally or the end to this one?

Happy hunting!

Range of Mid-prices quoted today for ROS ranged 56.5p-46.5p. Someone is making money - and lots of it. This rally looks suspiciously like the previous one a few weeks ago. IMHO it will fizzle out to remove the toe-dippers and then find a comfortable level from which to launch if and when the good news arrives - possibly 38-44p range but with a dip to 29-35p first. Lets see. Thanks for reply, always good to know not JUST talking to the dog!

namreh3, I agree with previous comments, a good share to go short on when the price is right, just need to exercise caution on the timing.

I'm a novice with the charts and don't use them a great deal but it will be interesting to see if the price starts to track the upper bollinger band from the middle of next week. I will be on my hols so I will miss out on any further buying opportunities until I get back.

Good luck in the meantime.

Happy hols J. (Don't miss the boat!)

Thanks namreh3, latest news has really hit the share price but nothing new for RAMCO. Investors Chronicle had a couple of articles ref RAMCO which are posted below for anyone interested.

Looks like I will be able to rest easy during my hols.

Articles from IC today:-

Ramco Energy said a technical review of its Seven Heads gas field will be made public after the end of August. Field production is running at around 20.3 million cubic feet a day. The group has written the value of the field down to the level of non-recourse finance associated with it, 56.6m, and does not expect this to increase after the technical review. To cap it all, the group's executive chairman, Steve Remp, is recovering from major surgery.

Second Article in IC.

But for all small oil and gas companies, things can go wrong, as well as right. After years spent unsuccessfully trying to convince the City to come on board, while working up assets in the Celtic Sea, Ramco finally managed to get some heavyweight support from industry analysts at the beginning of this year. One broking house had Ramco as its tip of the year, and investors chronicle was a strong supporter, too. Then, in the spring, just as the company was bringing its Seven Heads gas field into production, things began to go wrong. The pressure readings weren't right, and too much water was creeping into the production pipes. It turned out that Ramco's geological reading of its gas field had been wrong and that, although it is still sitting on substantial gas reserves, the structure containing them is severely fractured. That means that extracting the hoped-for amount of gas looks well nigh impossible, and the survival of the company itself is now in doubt. Broker Seymour Pierce now rates Ramco a sell.

being shorted by EK?

Ramco Energy PLC
10 August 2004

10th August 2004

RAMCO ENERGY PLC
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Ramco Energy plc (Ramco), the Aberdeen based exploration and production company,
held it's Annual General Meeting (AGM) today in Aberdeen with all resolutions
passed unanimously.

Acting Chairman, Peter Everett, confirmed that the ongoing technical review on
the Company's Seven Heads Gas Field in the Celtic Sea was nearing completion but
that summarised findings from the review would not be announced until the end of
August 2004 at the earliest.

In the meantime, the Company is in discussions with third parties who are
interested in participating in its Irish interests, including the Seven Heads
field. Furthermore, there are on-going third party discussions on the possible
farm-out of some of the other exploration projects in the Company's portfolio.

ENQUIRIES:

Ramco Energy - Aberdeen
Steven Bertram Group Financial Director 01224 352 200

Hi namreh3

Looks like the AGM was a bit of a disappointment with very little news coming from it other than a statement that the Company is in discussions with third parties who are interested in participating in its Irish interests, including the Seven Heads field.

From what I can make out there are a number of RUMOURS that Ramco may be going to join up with another oil company to help extract the potential oil reserves in and around Seven Heads. Total and Shell have been mentioned but I have been unable to find any hard evidence to back up these claims other than the above statement which indicates a third party interest but doesnt tell us a great deal.

The fact they are in discussions with third parties over Seven Heads could be seen as good news because it indicates that not all is lost, would you buy into an oil and gas field that was barren?

Until the 7H results are released I think the price is going to hang around its current position but we may see some upward movement as September draws near.

I will keep monitoring the news and rumours and let you know when I hear anything more reliable. Meantime, keep an eye on this one but dont get caught out by any sudden prices rises that may evaporate very quickly, unless you are confident you can sell quicker that the price is falling!!

Good Luck All.

There's been a few good opportunities to take profits on this from lows of 24p. Unfortunately I personaly have been too gready and on 3 occasions thought, here we go, back up to the 1.00 level. Unfortunately not!

wypanb, if it makes you feel any better I have been doing the same and am still hopefull that the price will hit 1.00 but we may have to be patient.

My major concern with Ramco is that things are a bit make or break, if the news is good then 1.00 should be on the cards but any bad news could see us looking at the 10 pence mark.

They are way overstretched on exploration and badly need a partner to share the drill costs at seven heads - the sad reality is that the well is no longer viable - they have not been able to convince the banks so I will be nothing short of shocked if Shell and Total are even remotely interested in this size of a well with very dodgy reserves and costly extraction. This one is unfortunately looking more and more like a lame duck so i would counnsel being very careful - I think that 10 pence or even suspension is not unrealistic - they are far far from certain to make it out of this.

Best option is that one of the smaller local operators buys them out but I just can't see it - they just don't have the assets to be attractive enough. I know that many of us, myself included were banking on better news last time around and it didn't come - the announcement will now slip back into later September - this is a BAD sign - being patient is the right approach if you really feel they can find a partner - I'd say it's a remote hope and steer well clear. I took the loss and bailed out.

As a matter of interest where are you getting these facts?

*Have the banks said no to loan re-finance?

*Are the seven head wells really not viable? I thought they were delibrately choking back these wells to help add info and thus develop their diagnostic report. In the meantime they are indeed buying in gas to fulfill promises.

Just curious.

wypanb

Sorry wypanb, I should clarify on 7H - It is viable - yes, perhaps but the point I meant to make is that it is much less so (with higher extraction costs and much lower reserves) and not so far as ROS are concerned because they cannot (alone) fund extraction and supply - that's why they desparately need a partner. The banks have put a limit on borrowing (see RNS press reports)and the cost of capital in any case would be too much to bear for ROS given their already stretched position and a very weak balance sheet. As to facts - this is partly known information and of course partly educated speculation on my part - one takes a point of view on a stock and it's value and inevitably it's going to be different from others - that's what makes the market such an intersting and dynamic entity! Having followed the oil sector for many years, I'm just in a different place. Anyway, I sincerley hope that I'm wrong and you get to your target with ROS because you and other ROS investors genuinely deserve to be rewarded for your support of this stock.

Well, it's coming soon whether we like it or not. Boomtime or crash, what'll it be?

Ramco Energy PLC
31 August 2004


Press Information

31st August 2004

RAMCO SEVEN HEADS UPDATE

Ramco Energy plc (Ramco), the Aberdeen based exploration and production company,
announces an update for the Seven Heads Gas Field in the Celtic Sea. Ramco Seven
Heads Limited (RSHL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ramco, is Operator of the gas
field.

The technical review of the gas field has been completed and will shortly be
circulated to partners, banks and the Irish authorities for their review. Ramco
continues to discuss its financing arrangements with its bankers who have
provided an extension to the existing waiver to allow the completion of the
review process and to enable their discussions to be concluded.

The Seven Heads partners are RSHL (Operator) 82.5%, Northern Exploration Limited
(a wholly owned subsidiary of Ramco) 4%, Lundin Ireland Limited 12.5% and
Sunningdale Oils (Ireland) Limited 1.0%.

ENQUIRIES:

Ramco Energy - Aberdeen
Steven Bertram Group Financial Director 01224 352 200

Fleishman-Hillard Saunders - Dublin
Michael Parker 00353 1 618 8450

College Hill - London
Nick Elwes 020 7457 2020

Time to get your crash helmets on lads...

HAS ANYONE GOT SOME INFORMED ADVICE TO GIVE ...I BOUGHT AT 126 AND I AM SHITTING MYSELF

Join the club pall we are all s... ourselves i bought at just under 1.00, but went away on holiday for 2 weeks, and i cant get any news or any thing out of papers, internet, other than a load of crap. Like johargan1 said buy the helmet. it could be a rough ride.