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

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.

.

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?

.

Better volume today too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHU3I2SWvtA&noredirect=1

Seems PCI is undervalued...

ProactiveInvestor bonus not in evidence today just yet!

http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail/?display=discussion&code=cotn%3APCI.L&it=le&action=detail&id=9218504

A fellow posters take from the Video.

If you take the low ball figure of $35m then you have $140m for the 1/4 share. So PCI have $140m in cash and $420m as the remaining % stake = $560m = £350m.

Current market cap is £190m.

Plus Italy and Kurdistan for free.

A total no-brainer (and ignoring the increase in value of Algeria since the first farmout).

Petroceltic International plc - Completion of Transaction
Petroceltic International plc is pleased to announce the completion of its sale of an 18.375% interest in the Isarene PSC to Enel Trade SpA (Enel).

Under the terms of the agreement ENEL has:
· Agreed to pay up to US$36.75 million to Petroceltic, which equates to 24.5% of all back costs incurred from signing of the PSC in 2005 until the end of the exploration period in April 2010;
· Committed to fund 49% of the cost of the recently completed six well Isarene appraisal drilling campaign, which costs are capped, in aggregate, at US$145 million; and
· Agreed to pay Petroceltic a contingent cash consideration, up to a maximum of US$75 million, such amount determined by a number of factors based on the results of the appraisal programme, such as the overall level of reserves and the production profile.

Amounts outstanding under this agreement or to be paid under cash call arrangements currently exceed US$101 million and are now due for settlement within 30 days. Any contingent consideration amounts payable will fall due upon approval of the Declaration of Commerciality by the Algerian authorities, which is expected later in 2012.

Post - completion, Petroceltic operates the permit with a 56.625 % interest, Sonatrach maintains a 25% interest, and Enel holds an 18.375% interest.

Petroceltic International plc

Receipt of Enel Funds and Repayment of Loan

Petroceltic International plc ("Petroceltic" or "the Company"), the upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused on North Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, is pleased to announce that funds falling due upon completion of its sale of an 18.375% interest in the Isarene Production Sharing Contract to Enel Trade SpA (Enel) have been received. The amount received, which was in excess of $100 million, has been partly applied to the repayment of all amounts owing to Macquarie Bank Limited under the $30 million bridge facility negotiated in October 2011.

Further contingent consideration amounts may become payable to Petroceltic upon approval of the Declaration of Commerciality by the Algerian authorities, which is expected later in 2012.

Post-completion, Petroceltic operates the permit with a

It should jump, IMO

Yeah !, but I bet it won't,...this wouldn't jump even if you pinched its bottom !...

It is being pinched. Let's see how far it can go.

Less than 1%......it's always been the same with this one and god knows how I've kept the faith with it...and yet there is a phenomenal amount of gas there just waiting to be transported to europe....