Any experts out there with a view to todays RNS on Algerian gas find ?
Looks good to me but sp is down
Thanks in advance nr

Thank you.

Market giving PCI a good kicking today. Be greedy when others are fearful...

or be stupid when others are sensible?

Er....man about to jump here!!! A little tact please! ;o)

Harry go to the army surplus and buy a parachute which are going cheap after the recent defence cuts!

StockMarketWire.com
Petroceltic International plc, the upstream oil and gas exploration and production company has issued an update on operations at the Ain Tsila field on its Isarene permit (Blocks 228 & 229a) in south eastern Algeria.

Brian O'Cathain, Chief Executive of Petroceltic commented: "We are delighted to have achieved such excellent flow results from the Ordovician reservoir at AT-8 without fracture stimulation.

"These results confirm the potential for good productivity towards the north of the field, are likely to have a positive impact on our estimate of recoverable gas reserves and are very encouraging for the ultimate commercial development of Ain Tsila.

"They will be incorporated into the Final Discovery Report, (Field Development Plan), which we plan to submit to the Algerian competent authorities by the end of January 2012.

"Our appraisal programme is continuing at a rapid pace with further results from AT-8, the AT-7 well test results, and the AT-9 well logging and testing scheduled before year end."

StockMarketWire.com
Petroceltic International plc has announced that fracture stimulation of the AT-8 well on the Ain Tsila discovery in Algeria has further enhanced the substantial pre-facture flow rates announced earlier this month to 38.6 mmscf/d.

In addition the well has produced over 1,100 barrels per day of condensate. These results exceed the previous best test results achieved at AT-1 and further confirm the high deliverability achievable in this field.

Hate to admit it but I'm stuck in here, but this is a very good update......so quite pleased with this result.....just going to stay put until the markets recover as they should....

ENEL cash coming soon...

StockMarketWire.com
Petroceltic International has issued a positive update on its Algerian operations at the Ain Tsila field on its Isarene permit in south eastern Algeria

AT-7 well flows at 4.9 MMscf/d after fracture stimulation and AT-9 has successfully encountered improved reservoir quality

Brian O'Cathain, Chief Executive of Petroceltic commented: "We are delighted to have successfully fracture stimulated the AT-7 well. This result confirms that commercial gas rates can be achieved in the south of the field after the mixed results of AT-6.

"We are very encouraged by the logging results from AT-9, which was drilled on time and within budget, particularly as it extends the presence of this interval of high quality sand, successfully tested in AT-1 and AT-8, further south into the centre of the field.

Initial petrophysical evaluation indicates that this is the best quality reservoir encountered in any of the Ain Tsila wells to-date."

Almost back in profit! An unexpected turn of events.

From: Tom Hickey
Sent: 13 November 2011 21:52
To: Tom Hickey
Subject: Exxon Mobil entry to Kurdistan

Dear All,

Many of you may have seen the recent rumours regarding the likely entry of Exxon-Mobil to Kurdistan the first supermajor to formally confirm its interest in this important emerging province.

These rumours were formally confirmed today at a conference in Erbil by Dr Ashti Hawrami, Oil Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Blocks allocated to Exxon are understood to be the following:

* Al Qush: located immediately west of Shaikhan (Gulf Keystone Petroleum), northwest of Erbil city.

* Baeshiqa: located immediately south of Ain Sifni (Hunt Oil), southeast of Al Qush.

* Pirmam: located immediately north of Mala Omar (OMV). The ancestral home and headquarters of KRG President Massoud Barzani is located within the boundaries of this block.

* Betwata: located immediately east of Harir (Marathon) and immediately north of Shakrok and east of Dinarta (both Petroceltic/Hess)

* Qara-Hanjeer: located immediately south-southwest of Chamchamal (Dana Gas/Crescent Petroleum/OMV/MOL).

* Sixth block: located immediately north-northeast of Arbat (Shamaran). Thus far is not officially named, is located along the border with Iran and includes in its area the important Penjwin border crossing.

Clearly the decision by Exxon to apply for acreage in Kurdistan represents a major endorsement of the prospectivity of the region and progressive nature of the Erbil administration, and follows the entry of other significant companies such as Marathon, Murphy, Hess, Maersk, Repsol and Vallares during 2010-11.

I attach a short presentation outlining the location of each of the Exxon Blocks relative to PCI acreage and existing producing fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Tom Hickey

Tom a great addition to PCI BOD.

Petroceltic International plc the upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused on North Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, is pleased to issue an update on operations at the Ain Tsila field in Algeria. Petroceltic operates the permit with a 56.625% interest, Sonatrach holds a 25% interest, and Enel holds an 18.375% interest, pending final ratification by the Algerian authorities.

Highlights
AT-9 well flows at 43.9 MMscf/d from the Upper Zone and 8.9 mmscf/d from the Lower Zone without fracture stimulation
Substantial condensate yields from both zones - 1,005 bpd from the Upper Zone and 205 bpd from the Lower Zone
Highest pre-fracture stimulation flow rates achieved to date on the Ain Tsila field
The well will not be fracture stimulated at this time as current test rates are already limited by surface facility capacity.
2011 Algerian appraisal drilling and testing programme now complete - all 6 wells successfully tested gas columns
3 of the total of 9 wells drilled have flowed gas at rates in excess of 33 mmscf/d.

Tipped in todays Independent.

Conference Report 2: Petroceltic Looks To Kurdistan For Its Next Algeria, Europa Oil & Gas Gets Excited By A Multi TCF Opportunity In France And Bayfield Energy Hopes To Do A Burren In Trinidad
By Amy McLellan

Tuesday wasnt the first time Tom Hickey had presented at an oilbarrel.com event. He is a familiar face to many delegates given his former role as CFO of Tullow Oil as it graduated from a small cap scavenger of North Sea gas assets to a darling of the City with a string of world-class discoveries to its name. Hickey was an instrumental part of the Tullow story but departed in 2008, preferring to remain in Ireland rather than take on the corporate stresses of being CFO to a FTSE100 oil and gas company. Now Hickey, a corporate financier by trade, is back in the E&P game, as corporate development director of Irelands Petroceltic International


The AIM-quoted company, which has assets in Algeria, Kurdistan and Italy, has some way to go before comparisons can be made with his former employer but Hickey said the quality of the Board and the technical team had a familiar feel to Tullow circa 2001. Back then, Tullow was digesting the package of Southern North Sea gas assets that became the springboard for its future growth and company-changing adventures in Africa. Petroceltic also has an asset that could prove transformative, namely its giant Ain Tsila gas-condensate field in Algeria.

This part of Algeria is home to big name players like BP, Total and Repsol, which are busy developing giant gas fields to supply energy-hungry markets in Europe. Ain Tsila certainly ranks among these giants, with the gas-in-place number currently ranging from a low case of 5.7 TCF to a high case of 20.8 TCF. The range is still wide, despite nine appraisal wells, because of the large field area relative to the number of wells: appraisal step outs are typically more than 10km and entire North Sea fields would fit into the gaps.

Hickey admitted the results of the 2011 six well appraisal campaign had been mixed in part down to the requirements of state oil company and project partner Sonatrach, which wanted the full field appraised, even the tighter areas to the south although the last well, AT-9, has delivered a great result. The announcement was made a day after Hickeys presentation and pleased the markets: the horizontal well flowed 43.9 million cubic feet per day of gas from the upper zone and 8.9 million cf/d from the lower zone, with both delivering high condensate yields. Importantly, these rates were without fracture stimulation and the well wont be fracced because these natural flow rates are already limited by the capacity of the surface equipment.

This is a great result because Ain Tsila is a tight Ordovician reservoir (not uncommon in the Illizi Basin), which depends on careful well positioning and completions to hit the sweet spots in order to flow at commercial rates. There have now been nine appraisal wells on the field, three of which flowed at high rates of more than 33 million cf/d. Now the company is working towards submitting a field development plan to the Algerian authorities in Q1 2012. The plan is for an initial 35 well development to deliver a 400 million cf/d wet gas plateau with around 200 wells required to maintain the plateau for ten years. First gas is due in 2017.

This is a giant project for an 159 million market cap company like Petroceltic. The companys strategy here is to monetise its position and invest the proceeds elsewhere. It has already made a good start, having in April announced a farm out of 18.75 per cent to Italian energy group Enel. The Italian company will pay Petroceltic US$36.75 million in historic costs plus up to US$71 million of the 2011 appraisal costs (a two-for-one promote) this circa US$100 million payment is due once the Algerian government ratifies the farm-out, believed to be imminent. Importantly, theres another possible US$75 million payment to come from Enel, contingent on the final reserves. This deal values the project at around US$1 billion; post farm-out Petroceltic has a 56 per cent interest, an interesting metric given its modest market cap.

The Dublin-based company now plans to farm-out another 18.75 per cent and hopes to net a big name operator already active in the country; the aim is to conclude this in H2 2012.

With these farm-outs, the company hopes to minimise its exposure to expensive development costs and to realise value for shareholders from its extensive work to date. The proceeds can then usefully be deployed elsewhere and top of that list is Kurdistan, where earlier this year Petroceltic bagged a position in two Hess-operated blocks. Petroceltic had been eying Kurdistan and quietly doing its due diligence for a number of years aided by the high level contacts of chief executive Brian OCathain from his time at the helm of Afren, also now active in Kurdistan before joining forces with Hess on the Dinarta and Shakrok Blocks.

Petroceltic sees this as something of a coup, giving the AIM company a foothold in a region that is going to be dominated by Big Oil in years to come. Smaller operators, like fellow AIM company Gulf Keystone, have taken advantage of the peculiarities of the Kurdistan position to bag world-class exploration assets while Big Oil, protecting its interests in southern Iraq, sat on the sidelines, worried about offending the politicians and lawmakers in Baghdad. That dynamic has now shifted following the recent news that ExxonMobil has signed up for six blocks in Kurdistan. There will be half as many operators in Kurdistan in two years time and the big boys will dominate, said Hickey. We are very grateful to have captured these two licences at this stage. First drilling is expected in 2013, with Hickey describing the licences as potentially transformative for the company.

The other assets in the portfolio lie in Italy, including a potential company-maker in the western Po Valley, which could drill in 2013. The less said about the companys Elsa oilfield in the Central Adriatic the better as it remains currently off limits due to Italys ban on offshore drilling. Hickey said the recent political changes in Italy meant there was a better chance now of the ban being lifted but could obviously give no real direction on this issue, which remains a frustration for the company and its shareholders. Still, with Algeria making steady progress and Kurdistan looking very promising, the Italian assets are something of a sideshow. This was a positive presentation and many in the audience were glad to see Hickeys return to oilbarrel.com.

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Brian O'Cathain, Chief Executive of Petroceltic, commented:

"It is particularly pleasing to close this final well test from the Ain Tsila field appraisal programme with this excellent result, which we understand to be the among the highest gas flow rates ever achieved from an "unfracced" Ordovician well in Algeria. The relatively high flowing well head pressure indicates that the well could potentially deliver at higher rates in a production setting and underlines our confidence in achieving our planned development plateau rates of 400 mmscf/d."

Look guys,not trying a scaremonger,but if you check out PTR trades,you'll see an 18.6million trade @11.6p. This seems to be BLUEGOLD who look to be in trouble,why i post as i believe they are holders of PCI? Be alert as they maybe a distressed seller?

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