New Projects and good prospects. will be the winner in 2004. IMO
25p in early 2004

typical PCI RNS comes out - we know about ST3, some good news about further development and the price drops..? well it is monday morning

Well, the news was expected.

Nothing has really changed but now the profit takers are having their say.

Sww - yes... see the blues have come back in - no doubt it will be back at 11 by the end of the day

New note out from EVO...

"PCI has announced that it is to participate in a Frontier exploration licence
offshore Donegal. The acreage is situated on the Atlantic Margin of Ireland.
Under the agreement, PCI will pay 25% of the costs of drilling a well in return for
a 16.25% interest in the licence.
The primary target is the Triassic sandstone at a depth of around 5000ft. This
reservoir is productive in the Corrib gasfield to the NW, operated by Shell. The
structure, called Inishbeg is a 4-way dip closed anticline. The feature is in around
320ft of water.
Operator Lundin Exploration is planning a well in 2005.
Our assessment of potential value is that a 250bcf gross recoverable gas
prospect risked at 1 in 5 could be worth 2.8p/share or 25% of the current share
price.
This is in line with the risk reward strategy of the company to provide material
upside through drilling.
Update on other acreage does not provide much new information. Evaluation of
Sidi Toui 3 well drilling December 2004 in Tunisia is still on going, to see if it is
worth testing further the fractured Hamra Quartzite reservoir. Seismic in the
south of the block over the Oryx prospect will be acquired in the next month.
Plans for seismic and drilling in Algeria and Italy are still being finalised.
PCI remains interesting for investors, offering attractive risk/reward potential
through drilling in areas of known hydrocarbon potential. Our NAV of risked
discoveries and balance sheet cash is around 13p/share. Core NAV including
risked exploration potential risked to 49p/share."

Some huge trades going through. Anyone got any ideas?

P

news due on PCIs Algerian drilling campaign, Tunisia Oryx position and possible inclusion in Algerian 6 round (awards postponed from 20 March to 9 April). John Craven in Algeria last weekend and is due back shortly if not already back.As to when news will be with us is anyones guess but should be soon!

Hi guys, may anyone know "B" trade mean? :-)

B = Broker to Broker

A transaction between two member firms where neither firm is registered as a market maker in the security in question and neither is a designated fund manager.

Report out...............

All news on Petroceltic sounds +ve. However it doesnt seem to break the psychological 12p barrier. I bought some shares at 13.50 few months ago (when oil prices were $50 odd) and inspite of current oil prices much higher the share price is'nt increasing. What could be going wrong?

Siyer,

I held these last year but got out after the drilling failure in Tunisia. Yes the news on PCI does sound positive to a point and they have some decent prospects in Algeria and Italy. IMO, the problem right now is that they have given no indication as to when they plan to drill in Algeria or Italy. I would imagine some people sold off after the AGM statement since no timescale for drilling was given. Just some of my thoughts.

Gav

price recovery will be 15.4 p within 5 weeks

thereafter i do not know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

been quiet...

sunday time 3 jul -sharewatch
http://www.petroceltic.ie/pub/050703%20SundayTimes.pdf

directors dealing 13 jul
http://www.petroceltic.ie/pub/050713%20Directors%20dealing.doc

sori cant get the weblink to work correctly doesnt on W2000 ie 5

Any drilling program news or j.v. news would help.

No JV, imo it will be a solo drill paid for in total by PCI ( more for us in the long term when they do strike, I belive they will). Trouble is a shortage of drill rigs. My belief is news of a drill program will be announced mid September at the earliest. Giving all a chance to buy more shares at 11p to 12p .

RNS out for drilling campaign in Algeria. Here we go again..........

P

Strike it lucky

16 October 2005 By Eamon Quinn
Tullow made it out of the ranks of the minnows in recent years, and its transformation has left investors waiting for the next success story. A breakthrough for an Irish oil explorer is already overdue, analysts say.

The Irish candidates to make the next move from minnow by hitting oil or gas include Petroceltic, the Algerian and Italian oil explorer run by oil veteran John Craven; John Teeling's Pan Andean and Petrel Resources; Harry Wilson's Sterling Energy; Tony O'Reilly's Providence; and the AIM market newcomers, including David Hough's Circle Oil and Gas and the Irish-focused Island Oil run by Paul Griffiths, another veteran of the Irish oil scene.



The best market conditions in over a decade - crude prices last week were trading at $62 a barrel compared with $45 at the start of the year - has pushed the shares of speculative oil explorers to new highs.

But a major oil find could transform a speculative minnow explorer overnight into a respectable junior oil producer. Getting there is no sure thing.

The share prices of the Irish-based exploration companies have spiked this year and many have subsequently fallen as prospects came and went.

The economics of the industry should be sobering for investors. Industry leaders estimate that the daily cost of operating a rig in Irish waters can be as much as $210,000 (e 175,000) each day. Even acquiring a rig in the current tight market is a major task, while delivering a rig to Irish waters from the North Sea can cost the operator as much as 3 million.

The rewards of a winning bet are, of course, huge and it is no wonder that the exploration stocks trade on newsflow.

Making sense of the sector can be daunting for the oil investor.

For Stuart Draper, head of research at Dolmen Securities, Petroceltic is the pick of the Irish oil exploration sector. Its quality prospects in Algeria, credible' management and $20 million of net cash on its balance sheet mean that it does not need to come back to shareholders any time soon.

Royalties of $250,000 a year from the Kinsale gas field also mean useful funding as Petroceltic plans to start drilling in Algeria by early next year.

Neighbouring blocks to those owned by Petroceltic in Algeria have been acquired by BP, and Petroceltic is expected to announce a major tie-up with a drilling partner.

Petroceltic shares, which fell sharply late last year when its Tunisian prospects disappointed, have traded around 12.5 pence this year.

Dolmen's second most favoured among the Irish-based oil companies is Sterling Energy, an oil and gas producer with a small exploration arm.

Its purchase last year of assets in the Gulf of Mexico has helped it to tap surging energy prices and boost revenues.

Meanwhile, by farming out its production licences, Sterling shares hit a high of stg20.5 pence last July.

The shares have since slipped to stg18pence as investors wait for the execution of plans to ramp up production from Mauritania early next year.

Circle Oil, which came to the market last year, attracted investor attention after its deal with China Shine to develop its huge prospects in Namibia.

According to brokers, the deal means that it will not have to raise huge amounts of money from shareholders.

The shares have slipped back to around 35 pence since the summer as investors wait for more news on its Namibian development.

According to Dolmen, the highest-risk share remains Providence Resources.

We have greater confidence in Petroceltic in Algeria than Providence in offshore Nigeria and offshore Ireland, said Draper. Their strategy is not quite clear to investors, and we are just not comfortable with them.

Providence last week announced plans to carry out a major seismic study with Island Oil and Gas of its offshore Ireland prospects.

Meanwhile, shares in Iraq-focused Petrel have traded in line with hopes that chief executive David Horgan's visits to Iraq will deliver contracts for the company.

Petrel shares spiked to stg100 pence last month when it announced it had won a contract to develop an oil field in Iraq.

The shares have traded around stg60 pence since winning a second and significant contract to examine data in the Mesopotamia area of the country.

According to market sources, Petrel could be about to announce a deal with a Japanese trading company which is seeking to acquire oil.

Petroceltic

The main focus over the past few weeks for John Craven, the chief executive of Petroceltic, has been to prepare the company to start drilling in the Algerian Sahara by early next year. Getting a road laid across the desert to enable the start of drilling is just part of the work.

The company is appraising existing oil and gas discoveries across a 10,800 square kilometre area in the country after nine discoveries were made on the block since the 1960s.

Petroceltic will probably drill two wells initially in Algeria, as part of plans to drill up to seven wells in the next 24 months across Algeria, Italy, Ireland and Tunisia.

In Italy, Petroceltic has attracted interest from Italian oil companies for its offshore interests there. Its main Irish licence is in a gas prospect in offshore Donegal, north-east of the Corrib discovery. Craven said the company planned to drill there next year.

Following its initial disappointment in Tunisia, it has been offered a prospect there and may also drill there next year. There is a nice newsflow ahead of us, he said.

Petrel Resources

Petrel's David Horgan recalls how difficult it was to raise funding to develop licences before the war in Iraq.

We had a funding at stg3 pence and John Teeling was one of the few people to see the opportunities there, said Horgan.

Horgan's hard work has paid off with the award of two contracts from the Iraqi oil ministry in recent weeks.

Whether the contracts are the doorway to Petrel winning major business in Iraq in future years remains to be seen.

Island Oil and Gas

Paul Griffiths, who formed Island Oil and Gas in 2003, raised stg8 million privately and brought it to the AIM in December last year at stg40 pence. It now has a mixture of private investors and institutions, including Gartmore.

Management owns about 30 per cent. It was trading last week at stg60 pence.

Griffiths worked alongside Petroceltic's Craven at Gulf Oil when the company discovered Ireland's first significant oilfield in the 1980s. Though mostly focused on Ireland, Island is also seeking a licence in France.

We understand how to do business here, said Griffiths.

The company has numerous interests in offshore Irish prospects but generates its main revenue stream from its 12.5 per cent stake in the Seven Heads gas field. Unlike Ramco, Island has no debt tied up in the field

a

From oilbarrel.com

01.12.2005
Petroceltic Increases Its Exposure To Close-Ology Drilling Project In Italy
2006 is shaping up to be a busy year for AIM-listed Petroceltic, which has wells planned in Italy and Ireland. Investors are also keen to hear news of drilling on its prospective acreage in Algeria but, in common with many companies, it would seem the tight rig market is thwarting an announcement on firm drill dates.

The company made a vote of confidence in its Italian acreage earlier this month when it upped its stake in the shallow water licence B.R.268.RG from 15 per cent to 40 per cent. The licence contains the 1992 discovery well ELSA-1, drilled by a consortium of companies including Agip and Enterprise Oil. According to consultants Petrel Robertson, this structure could hold 182 million barrels, an increase on the 108 million barrel estimate held by Enterprise. These numbers will need to be tested by the drillbit - Petroceltic plans an appraisal well next year.

This is a sign of Petroceltics confidence in this project. This is a deep well - down to 4,575 metres - and under the terms of its option, Petroceltic will pay 60 per cent of the costs. (Thereafter, its share of costs is 40 per cent, in line with its equity holding.) But as Petroceltic CEO John Craven points out, this is an exciting project, with independently assessed P2 reserves of more than 100 million barrels and next door to two producing wells - Agips Miglianico 1 and 2 - that are pumping from the same oil reservoir. Oil companies - and risk-averse investors - like the art of close-ology when wells are drilled close to proven producing fields but it never entirely de-risks an exploration project.

Across the Mediterranean, Petroceltic is active in Algeria and Tunisia. Algeria is, of course, one of the jewels in the portfolio. The company holds 75 per cent of the Isarene Permit, which covers more than 10,800 sq km and has yielded a number of proven discoveries in the past 50 years. It is also close to existing infrastructure, lying some 80 km of the nearest export pipeline. However, Petroceltic have not set any firm drill dates and rig availability in this part of the world is tight.

Tunisia has, by contrast, lost some of its shine and the company recently reviewed farmed down its Ksar Hadada production sharing contract to Independent Resources plc for US$400,000. The option gives Independent, which owns gas storage interests and exploration rights in the Mediterranean region, the right to earn a 38 per cent interest in the PSC. In return it must pay 40 per cent of all future seismic and drilling costs on the 7,000 sq km licence area.

The Ksar Hadada permit has been the scene of a number of highs and lows. The low-point was the drilling of the Sidi Touri structure in late 2004. Sidi Touri 3 was drilled some 4.5km to the east of the 1950s-drilled Sidi Touri 1 well and was designed to probe the crest of a 30 km-long structure, which pre-drill estimates had reckoned could hold more than 400 million barrels of oil. In the event, oil shows were recorded over a 177 metre gross interval in the target formation but a short open hole test failed to recover any hydrocarbons. The company continues to mull the potential of this prospect.

Close to home, Petroceltic is active in Ireland, where it derives revenue from the Kinsale Head royalty interest. Petroceltic is hoping Irish waters will yield more riches. It has a 16.25 per cent stake in some frontier exploration acreage in the Donegal Basin off Irelands west coast. The Donegal licence includes the Inishbeg structure, a ready-to-drill anticline that could hold similar volumes to Corrib.

This is high risk stuff: the geology has yet to be fully tested, the drilling costs are expensive and apart from the newly-built gas-fired power station onshore near Derry, there is little commercial infrastructure in the region. But, as Shell has proven with the Corrib gas field, there are hydrocarbons in sufficient quantities to justify commerical development on the Irish Atlantic Margin.

Petroceltics partner here, Island Oil and Gas, has secured a rig for this high risk/high reward drilling project next year. This promises to add some real excitement for investors who like this kind of white-knuckle wildcatting: others, however, are likely to prefer the more prosaic art of close-ology in Italy