Medoil is one to keep an eye on, just floated last
week and has great potential

Good day today and posters on ADVFN have been in contact with the company and have said news is comming and they, the company, sound very confident ! Oil went to $55 today so any news is going to be big for MDL

e-mai in my inbox dated 11th April.

MedOil signs up it's First Exploration Acreage- and it's second project is not far off
MedOil, the cash shell which listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in January with a view to picking up oil and gas assets in the Mediterranean Basin, has secured its first exploration acreage, with a second project due imminently.

The company has been awarded, in partnership with seismic outfit TGS-NOPEC, a two-year prospecting permit for the El Louza Block offshore Tunisia. MedOil executive director Jo McKniff is currently in Tunis finalising terms and the official signing ceremony is expected in the next two to three weeks.

"We hold 95 per cent and TGS-NOPEC hold 5 per cent," explained executive director David Thomas. "The costs are not split in the same way and although the split is confidential it's a very good deal for us."

The 4,100 sq km block has already been subject to 10,700 km of 2D seismic coverage, which was acquired between 1968 and 2000. Four wells have been drilled on the acreage, including the M'Sela-1 well, which was sunk by Union Texas in 1995 and encountered a 150 metre oil column. The well flowed 1,100 barrels per day of 35-degree oil from a 30 metre interval and also tested 15-degree API oil from horizons that are currently producing 42-degree API oil at Lundin's 25-million-barrel Isis field some 10 km to the southwest.

During the first two years, the new partners, led by TGS-NOPEC, will undertake a 600 sq km 3D seismic shoot. This will get underway in the second half of this year, with the results due by June 2006. The new seismic will be used to define the extent of the M'Sela accumulation and pinpoint a possible location for future appraisal drilling. The new data will also be used to define the prospectivity of four structures already identified on the 2D seismic, each thought to hold a possible 40-50 million barrels of oil, with a deeper play holding out the possibility of additional reserves. After the initial two years, the companies can enter a seven-year exploration permit and a production permit of thirty years.

Thomas described the new acreage as "extremely prospective with the potential for early development of an existing discovery".

The next project on the blocks for MedOil is a one-year exploration study of Maltese waters, which it reckons will cost around 100,000.

"We submitted our application to the Maltese government in October but after Malta joined the EU it had to be gazetted, which has delayed things a bit," said Thomas. "We now expect to sign this shortly."

The exploration study would focus on an area off northern Malta near the maritime boundary with southern Sicily, not far from the giant Vega oilfield. The first year of the exploration study, which can be extended, would be spent reprocessing existing seismic data.

"We've already identified three quite sizeable structures in this area of about 20 sq km in aerial extent, which really look quite interesting," said Thomas. The three structures lie in waters about 200 metres deep.

Other projects across the Mediterranean region are also being examined, including four offshore projects and three projects onshore North Africa.

Prior to its admission to AIM, MedOil raised 1.2 million through a private placing priced at 7.5p per Ordinary Share. In addition to its cash base, the company can boast a management team that includes former Premier and Tullow Oil executive John Lander while David Thomas has been a geologist for 30 years, including stints working as international chief geologist for the Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Jo McKniff has worked for Oxy as exploration manager in Tunisia, London and Indonesia. As one industry source connected to the company commented at the time of its AIM admission, these are men "that don't mess about".

News comming in now and a new thread on ADV with loads of info. One of the best oil plays around and the illiquidity makes for sharp rises.

Lots of good news and we all know what will happen once oil flows.

Exploration group MedOil* posted its maiden interim results statement today and the shares finished the session unchanged at 17.5p. In the 7 months to March 31st the group posted pre-tax losses of 106,342 pounds. The company was upbeat about its prospects, saying that the outlook for a prolonged period of higher oil prices should provide a very stable commercial environment for MedOil to capitalise on its Tunisian and Maltese assets, as well as other identified projects in the Mediterranean region.

LONDON (AFX) - MedOil 1 lifted to 22-1/2 after a study by independent consultants shows its southern sector offshore Louza Permit M'Sela-1 oil discovery has estimated indicative recoverable reserves of 48-225 mln barrels.

The Merlin Energy Resources also showed total oil-in-place volumes of between 260-860 mln barrels, MedOil said.

buy now at this low price , in discussions with maltese goverment at present