Ophir cuts spending to cope with lower oil prices
By Karolin Schaps

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - Oil explorer Ophir Energy , which completed the acquisition of rival Salamander Energy this month, returned to profit last year and said it would cut spending by $250 million over two years to deal with low oil prices.

The London-listed company reported a full-year operating profit of $294.4 million, compared with a $307.6 million loss the previous year, as it benefited from selling stakes in some of its Tanzanian fields.

Ophir, like its industry peers, is cutting capital spending following a halving in oil prices since last June.

The company, whose main assets are in Africa, has reduced its capex programme by around 50 percent year on year to $250-300 million, it said on Thursday.

Other savings will come from reducing overhead costs, which will include some job cuts, chief executive, Nick Cooper, said.

"Ophir has doubled its exploration footprint during 2014 but only has $100 million of committed exploration and appraisal spending in the portfolio between now and 2017," he said.

Ophir's 267 million pound takeover of Salamander Energy has given the oil explorer a firmer footing in southeast Asia and a number of producing assets.

It said the Sinphuhorm gas field and Bualuang oil field in Thailand alone are expected to generate around $150 million in cash this year.

Ophir has been trying to grow by acquisition for a while, having two takeover offers rejected by Premier Oil last year.

another good movement up this morning to 132.60p +3.30p

share price ready to go over 20 days MA

Is moving great guns as the order book is very strong on the bid side DEPTH at one time was 85 v 53 and on that bullish mood the share price went to 135.30p

now is back to 133.80p with 72 v 61 and bullish again, after some profit taking

a bit of up and down but intraday uptrend

I think it was yesterday or day before that grotley fool were trying to stick boot in. They seem to think the market listens. I think they're jokers like 99% of commentators.

Share price has gone to Auction

WTI oil price 2 days chart

I noticed the 20 days Moving overage has been crossed by share price today and although the Indicators RSI and Stochastic, have been rising from oversold the only one holding behind, was MACD, but is now ready to cross over 0 ( divergence) bullish

135p + 5.70p

order book has been very strong on the bid side
is very volatile on those spikes as it reaches a new intraday high
After yesterday's results, everything is looking very good.

another thing is OPHR is the highest riser of the small oil stocks

Ophir Energy Plc’s Buy Rating Reiterated at Deutsche Bank (OPHR)

Ophir Energy Plc logoOphir Energy Plc (LON:OPHR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Deutsche Bank in a note issued to investors on Friday. They currently have a GBX 180 ($2.66) price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 40.29% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Analysts at Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a GBX 240 ($3.54) price target on shares of Ophir Energy Plc in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Analysts at Westhouse Securities reiterated an “under review” rating on shares of Ophir Energy Plc in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Analysts at Citigroup Inc. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a GBX 142 ($2.10) price target on shares of Ophir Energy Plc in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, analysts at BNP Paribas raised their price target on shares of Ophir Energy Plc from GBX 147 ($2.17) to GBX 151 ($2.23) and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of GBX 249.56 ($3.68).

Ophir Energy Plc (LON:OPHR) opened at 128.31 on Friday. Ophir Energy Plc has a 1-year low of GBX 112.70 and a 1-year high of GBX 270.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average of GBX 137. and a 200-day moving average of GBX 167.. The company’s market cap is £760.93 million.

Directors buying shares after the results

Ophir Energy plc
Notification of Transactions of Directors/PDMRs

The Company has been notified of the following acquisitions of Ordinary Shares of 0.25p each in the Company, by Nicholas Smith, Non-Executive Chairman and Vivien Gibney and William (Bill) Schrader, both Non-Executive Directors of the Company.  The acquisitions all took place in London. 

Name

Date of Transaction

Date of Notification to Company

Number of Shares Purchased

Purchase Price per Share (pence)

Nicholas Smith

20 March 2015

20 March 2015

12,000

129.704

Vivien Gibney

19 March 2015

19 March 2015

5,000

128.928

Bill Schrader

20 March 2015

20 March 2015

7,500

135.000

20 March 2015
---------------------- 1 day


https://twitter.com/nictrades

oil prices on the rise again, most likely due to the greenback getting weaker

$47.05 for WTI
and
$55.90 for the Brent

------------------ Intraday Brent Oil ----------------------------------------------- 3 month -------------------------------------
----

First day were is mostly down instead of up on the intraday chart



Google OIL news.. Google OIL news

Brent live... http://www.livecharts.co.uk/MarketCharts/brent.php
WTI crude .. http://www.livecharts.co.uk/MarketCharts/crude.php

OPHR was not the only one on the way down today

Market report

At 4.47pm, WTI crude was up 0.02% to $47.46/bbl. Brent fell 1.31% to $55.19/bbl.

A slick of oil stocks skidded lower. Tullow Oil (TLW) faded 2.88% to 313.7p, with Cairn Energy (CNE), Shell (RDSA), and BP (BP.) following.

Directors buying more ............

Ophir Energy plc
Notification of Transactions of Directors/PDMRs

The Company has been notified of the following acquisitions of Ordinary Shares of 0.25p each in the Company, by Dr Nick Cooper, Chief Executive Officer and Dr Bill Higgs, Chief Operating Officer. The acquisitions took place in London.

Nick Cooper 24 March 2015
79,500 138.73 p

Bill Higgs 23 March 2015
39,251 140.12 p

Bill Higgs 23 March 2015
5,007 139.80p

Marked down at the start as oil prices were slightly lower, is now well up on the day and trying to reached that important 140p

spread 139.10 v 139.50p +2.50p

reported very late from the 6th March crossed...............

Sailing Stone Capital Partners LL says goes over 10%

before 71,757,969 shares
increased to 72,080,299 now 10.04%

Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or
reached: 6 March 2015

Date on which issuer notified: 25 March 2015

Is having problems on breaking 140p

not too surprising as the market in general has turned pretty sour with dow now down 160 points
meanwhile, ftse holds up manfully but not sure for how long

Oil has been rising slowly

true, and PMO has done well today and TLW moderately so

nevertheless, the markets (i think) are heading for some very unsettled times
with regards to oil in particular, saudi is keeping its taps turned low, and if there is some sort of deal with iran, then my prediction of an upturn for crude around mid year will probably prove over-optimistic

I sold PMO today ,will buy it back if it goes back towards 140p . It's a great trading stock , although i missed this ,one mentor has been posting regular i should have looked more carefully .
I do think we are heading for a market wobble ..