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Thanks to smarty, here is a link to the Broker Note on AST, you can download and read at your leisure :

http://www.mediafire.com/?vcogo6g2j8x2612

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Yes PRO read and digested, thanks...

Nice blue rise so far reckon we could hold today and build on the momentum that we are seeing on the run up to the spudding....??

Very strong, clearing out the stale bulls.

No reason this should not be well over 10p soon, going to be an exciting few months ahead and maybe a 20p price target is too low.... ?

You could be right on all counts Prose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12.05 250k at 26.50p that would do for starters!!!!!!!!

Excellent end to the week, strong demand for shares taking out the top slicers and stale bulls who probably hoped their selling would weaken the price and make it fall back.

Wrong they were, the buyers are more than the sellers and so the share price rises upwards...... into a nice strong close.

Perhaps a break though 10p next week.

Yes Pro i was looking for 8.5 before the spud news but it looks like it could hit higher!!! then who knows after????

Thanks to a poster on III for the info.


AST gets a speculative buy rating in Shares this week, summary as follows:

"Speculative investors should 'snap' up as AST prepares to drill a well on 412bcf Petisovci-Lovasi prospect."

Mentions can be bought into production quickly off the back of existing infrastructure

6 wells to be drilled over next 12 months across 3 core developments with a potential rereating to 58p quotes FinnCap.

Drilling expected to start q1 on Hermrigen gas field targeting a 120bcf prospect.

Also mentions Anagni-2 likely to be spudded mid 2011 targeting approx 5mmbo.

Highlights risk of potential requirement for additional funds, up to 15million, through a dilutive placing for contingent wells and upgrade of production infrastructure at Petisovci"

Should'nt be to dilutive Prose if the share price is higher??write up wont do the share price any harm!!!!

A nice chart update from "fingers xxd" at AFN

http://www.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=5456944&from=13853

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A deal with the EDB will really cut down on any dilution, so lets hope they move with a debt-finance solution for Slovenian.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/11559/slovenia-success-could-transform-ascent-resources-11559.html


............spects. Once management has the data it can decide how it finances the project, with the capital costs estimated at between 100 and 150 million euros.

One way to bankroll the potential 28 hole programme at Petişovci-Lovaszi might be to find a farm-in partner.

But Ascent doesnt really want to dilute down its 75 stake in the project.

So it may look to debt-finance Petişovci-Lovaszi. Cunningham says there are sources of funding out there including possibly the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development as a possible partner.

Farming in is about both risk mitigation and funding but also provides an access to technical expertise, the Ascent finance director said.

It is a double edged sword. Obviously you get someone to carry you through the drilling programme.

But it (Petişovci-Lovaszi) is fairly large, instantly producible and the.............

Simon Cawkwell's view (EK)


.......Also constantly perking up is Ascent (AST), now 8.5p middle or so. News is on its way and holders should hold very tight. Newbies can snaffle a few as a matter of principle......


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Nice to see some more "initial coverage".

http://www.iii.co.uk/articles/13532/hybridans-small-cap-wrap


I think more and more are waking up to the fact AST is going to have some very exciting times in the coming 6 months. Those exciting times will be made vastly more exciting if they can come to a deal with the European Development bank for debt-finance for Slovenia, as has been suggested already.

If you look at the projects they are all pretty much appraisal.

Slovenia - gas is there, proven, produced some years ago and now looking for sweet spots to tap the main resource.

Anagni/Ripi - proven oil, again, looking for sweet spots.

Swiss - proven gas, appraisal well.

Netherlands - proven gas awaiting farm out to appraise.

Hungary - proven gas, producing now and might look at deeper potential later.

Slovenia starts now, Swiss in Q1 2011, and Anagni maybe Q2 2011. Thats three high impact projects all happening in the coming 6 months.

It looks as if it is well run, and the fact that they are not at the mercy of the sea for their exploration is a big plus.

They are also focused on "mainland Europe" - which negates the political risks too. Such a focus also gives them access to good sales prices for oil and gas.

Hopefully everything on time weather in slovenia dry,cloudy with sunny intervals...

Strong finish to a strong week. Should be spudding news next week for PG11

Market Opening times over the holiday period :

Friday 24 December 2010 Markets close from 12.30
Monday 27 December 2010* Closed all day
Tuesday 28 December 2010* Closed all day
Wednesday 29 December 2010 Normal business day
Thursday 30 December 2010 Normal business day
Friday 31 December 2010 Markets close from 12.30
Monday 3 January 2011* Closed all day
Tuesday 4 January 2011 Normal business day

Tipped at Watshot.com it seems...... as posted on III by ruudboy99

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http://watshot.com/shop/page-article/action-article.show/id-130009583

Buy Ascent Resources (AST) at 8.25p.

Ascent Resources (AST) has long been a favourite among stock market punters but has proved something of a damp squib in recent years. All that could be set to change now that the company has streamlined its operations to focus on its core assets. With a six-well drilling programme planned for the next twelve months and offering potential upside of as much as 58p per share, Ascent shares could be ready to fly. Speculative buy, at 8.25p.

For the last several years Ascent Resources has been running around like a wet hen trying to juggle a portfolio that was patently too large. From highs of around 30p in the middle of 2008, the shares were trading at just north of 3p by the middle of this year. They have rallied since, reaching 8.25p as I write, but they are still among the cheapest resource plays on AIM, trading at a discount to risked NAV of almost 50%.

Whilst some of the price rebound can be put down to recovering sentiment towards resource stocks, the company has made some important moves in recent months that suggest the shares are worthy of reappraisal. Firstly, non-core assets have been hived off, thereby refocusing the business and strengthening the balance sheet. Secondly, Ascent has secured a one-year loan facility of 2.1 million, with an interest rate of 6% per annum that will be covered by cash flow from existing production in Hungary, and has entered into a 7 million Standby Equity Distribution Agreement with investment company Yorkville Advisors. Consequently, Ascent is now a pure-play European gas concern and it has secured the funding necessary to get things moving in the right direction.

Hungary/Slovenia

A recent CPR (competent persons report) by RPS has confirmed Petisovci-Lovaszi as a significant under-exploited tight gas field with a P50 estimate of reserves in place of 412 Bcf (billion cubic feet). Straddling the Hungarian-Slovenian border, the Petisovci-Lovaszi field has been partially developed in the past, producing 10 Bcf without the benefit of modern drilling and completion technologies. The fact that the reserves which the company is targeting are producing fields substantially de-risks the investment case, making Ascent one of the lowest risk E&Ps out there. Ascent believes a recovery rate of 65% should be achievable from reservoirs of this type, providing a huge re-development opportunity for the company. If only half of that P50 estimate is recoverable, then the AIM company is still looking at a significant share of a 200 bcf redevelopment project, making it comparable to many North Sea developments.

Starting on 16th December, the plan is to drill a vertical well to 3,000 metres using state-of-the-art technology to gather as much data as possible. If successfully flow-tested, the well could be commercialised quickly and easily via existing nearby infrastructure, possibly within as little as six months. The fact that this is an onshore project in a country where drilling is relatively cheap, gas prices are high and theres plentiful nearby infrastructure to bring production quickly onstream, is "one of the delights of this project", according to Managing Director Jeremy Eng.

Ascent is currently producing 1.25 million cubic feet per day (net) from the Peneszlek gas field. The field has produced intermittently during the past two years from three wells, one of which has now been shut in, and is expected to recover 5 Bcf in total by the time the field is abandoned. As of 31 December 2009, Ascent reported net 2P reserves of 1.9 Bcf. Peneszlek will provide Ascent with a useful $5-6 million of net cashflow during the next 18 months. However, with no further production wells planned, Peneszlek is now a depleting asset. As such I do not consider it material for valuation purposes.

Switzerland & Italy

Respectively second and third in order of potential significance are the firm's Swiss and Italian considerations. Although Ascent sold its Swiss acreage in April 2010, it retained an option to back in for 45% of any conventional discovery following the drilling of up to six exploration/appraisal wells. The first of these wells is due to spud in the first quarter of 2011 and will target a gas discovery made in 1982. The Hermrigen-2 appraisal well is targeting an estimated 120 Bcf recoverable within existing discovered sands and several deeper reservoirs. In Italy the final well in the - thus far pretty ambivalent - drilling programme is the Anagni-2 well, which is likely to be drilled in mid-2011. The well is targeting a 5 million barrel shallow oil play onshore Italy.

N.B. The firm also holds a 54% share of acreage in the Netherlands but the licence is due to lapse unless a farm-in partner can be found before the end of the year to help fund an appraisal well costing $26 million. In light of this I do not consider it relevant for valuation purposes.

Valuation & Recommendation

My main reason for recommending Ascent shares at this juncture is its exciting drilling schedule which could provide a material uplift to the valuation over the coming months. First up is Petisovci-Lovaszi, to which broker finnCap attaches a risked valuation of 12.8p per share with upside stretching to 37.6p per share fully unrisked. Drilling Hermrigen in Switzerland, due to get underway in the first quarter of 2011, could add as much as 12.1p per share fully unrisked. Finally, Anagni-2 could be worth 5.7p per share to the company on a fully unrisked basis. 2011 could be a game changer for Ascent and the upside case stretches to a sizeable multiple of the current share price. As such the shares are a speculative buy, at 8.25p.

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