.

Drilling rig contract completed.....next step is a reserves update that should push this gem up once again....

market not very Xcited today, Q4 drilling long time to wait perhaps.

Up date on CPR late Feb early March so should get the price moving,some peeps thought drilling would take place earlier hence the drop.

A little time and patience is needed here, plenty of upside in the SP with little risk, hence I have it in my ISA.

sp just challenging 25 dma downwards, so if you're feeling brave, a chance to buy ahead of a possible bounce

http://www.oilbarrel.com/nc/news/display_news/article/xcite-energy-inks-rig-contract-to-put-it-on-track-for-bentley-development-drilling-in-q4/771.html

February 15, 2011

Xcite Energy Inks Rig Contract To Put It On Track For Bentley Development Drilling In Q4




After a few months of negotiations, Xcite Energy has finally inked the paperwork to hire the Rowan Norway harsh-environment deepwater jack-up. The newbuild, still under construction in the Keppel FELS yard in Singapore, will undertake development drilling under the first stage production plans for the Bentley heavy oilfield in the North Sea from Q4 2011. The news follows a 5 million draw on the companys standby equity distribution agreement earlier this month.
This ensures Xcite, which is listed on AIM and TSX, now has the drilling hardware to push ahead with development of this heavy oilfield, which has so far exceeded the expectations of the management team. A key well drilled late last year, the much watched 6z horizontal well, which saw investors pile into the stock, driving the share price up 550 per cent from 65 pence in August to 425 pence per share as test results were announced in December, proved the reservoir had high porosity, high permeability and high productivity. The well flowed at 2,900 bpd with the rate constrained by the limits of the testing equipment.

Provisionally, the company reckons there are 750 million barrels of oil in place, with a low case of 120 million and a high case of 250 million with a P50 of 200 million barrels. Thats without any enhanced oil recovery, which could increase that number by 50 to 100 per cent. Xcite has 100 per cent. An updated CPR is due out shortly, which should lay the foundation for development of an asset that has been a seven-year labour of love for the management team and could make Xcite, which listed on AIM in November 2007, one of the largest oil companies on the exchange.

Yet news that the key drilling contract is now in place received a rather muted response on Monday, with the shares dropping 14.5 pence to 368 pence. Analysts at Ambrian Oil & Gas believe this is because so many question marks still remain about how this capital intensive project will be funded by the dual-listed company.

The capex associated with a full-field development of a crude with characteristics such as those at Bentley (high viscosity of up to 1000Cp and gravity of 10-12 API) will run into the billions and, for a small company, we suggest the task of taking on such a large-scale development is simply unrealistic, said the Ambrian analysts in a note. Accepting Xcite will not (or cannot) take Bentley on alone leads you down a path that ends with the conclusion that a significant farm-down will be necessary in order to bring in a larger operating partner, with much deeper pockets and a proven heavy oil operating track record. No noises with respect to a potential farm-out have yet been made, and with the industry not appearing to be lining up to get access to Bentley, this is concerning in our opinion.

Some investors are also concerned about the lack of clarity about the terms agreed with the Bentley Alliance, which includes AMEC and BP. The Alliance is a group of contractors who have agreed to work on a risk and reward basis, a formula which enables Xcite to capture industry-leading expertise and secure the best people by providing enhanced returns for performance. This may be a win-win for the operator-contractor relationship and ensure a Rolls Royce engineering job, but investors are left rather in the dark as to just how much is on the table for the contractors and how much will be retained by Xcite.

Shares in the company rose 800 per cent in 2009 and 700 per cent in 2010, making it one of the favourites among oily investors. While there has been some easing back of the share price to below the 4 a share marker, inevitably some profit taking following the stellar gains of the past year, the stock is likely to remain a favourite pick of many investors given managements track record of delivery and the upside in the Bentley reservoir, which many believe will be at the top end of expectations given the success of that 6z well. Some clarity on the future financing of the development would, however, be much welcomed by investors in the relatively near-term.

good post - even i read it all!

Anybody thinking of topping up at 3.61?? is it at it's lowest?

bought back at 3.59 what I sold at 3.86 and now it's climbing a bit.,.

looks like my buy was good...on way back up.,.

Hopes so balerboy,feels like a life time waiting for this CPR to come out with possible upgrades.

I see that Pro has been getting his wings cliped on the motley fool site.

that makes about every site he belongs to then, perhaps he'l start a new thread there too. must be quite lonely now.,.

bu**er my 359p not looking so gooda buy now.,.

very tiresome is it not - let's hope it's just twitch and lack of news; certainly not a lot of traffic

http://http://brokermandaniel.com/

XCITE ENERGY Whats all the fuss about? Just Hold!

a brave chap(ette) might be buying today with sp slipping a little yet again

If it wasn't commercial..which it was...it is now....$102..WTI...$117...for Brent...I presume that the heavy stuff is also up.....

just an observation - TLW and PMO are both performing very strongly today (even if XEL isn't!) ..... i'ld hazard a guess that this is because their operations are well away from the "red zone" and that they are both solid and genuine producers

if the above is a reasonable assumption, then XEL is becoming ever more tempting, its present weakness being (arguably) attributable to an overall weak market and that much of this stock is held by PIs, and therefore less stable

Reuters
INTERVIEW-Xcite confident on Bentley oil field development

By Sarah Young

Xcite Energy is confident it can undertake a major oil field development off the east coast of Scotland without bringing in a partner, it said on Wednesday, as it looks to become one of the biggest independent oil companies in the North Sea.

"We're not of a mind to farm-down ... There's no reason that we can't deliver this and bring the field into production," Chief Financial Officer Rupert Cole said in an interview.

Xcite's management estimates its Bentley field in the northern North Sea could hold up to 200 million barrels of recoverable oil, a reserve base which would propel it into the top ranks of London-listed independent oil companies alongside Premier Oil and Enquest .Independent oil companies, increasingly dominant in the North Sea as oil majors such as BP put fields up for sale, are helping to revive the oil province.

British oil production is forecast to decline more slowly over the next five years with investment in the North Sea rising in 2011 compared with the previous two years.

Bringing a substantial oil field like Bentley into production is a costly process for a company with no cash flow, but Cole believes Xcite can undertake the development without bringing in a partner and possibly without raising fresh equity.

"I wouldn't rule it out, I wouldn't rule it in either," he said when asked if the company was planning a fundraising, adding that he was encouraged by approaches from institutions willing to lend to the company.

FIRST OIL
The company, whose shares have soared over 700 percent in the last 12 months since a well returned better than expected results in late 2010, is targeting first oil from an initial production plan in the first quarter of next year."The strategy for Xcite has always been to eat this elephant a bite at a time," Cole said.

The first stage will be followed by further development plans once the company starts to generate cash flow, estimated by Cole at an initial $300 million to $400 million over the first two to three years from production at a forecast rate of 15,000 barrels of oil per day.

marky - is that today's news? ..... anyway, bought back a few at 340 which doesn't look too bad a punt

Yesterdays i think Cynic,iv been up Scotland the last few days....shooting haggis