looks like its hit oil, don't know whats gonna happen, any idea's ???

Cheers crock, much obliged.


I'll give em the news over on advfn.

Crock hi :)
Thanks very much for that, I was expecting an RNS, but just thinking about it, they said RNS every Wednesday, at 9:30am, once the rig has arrived, so maybe one today !
Maybe Niels can post more pictures too :)
Cheers,
PM

Page 48 of shares mag.

Just returned from the site where I spoke to Northerns logistics manager. Offices, telephones, even sleeping accomodation are in place. Also a large container with drill bits. That was the good news. The bad news are that the drilling will be delayed a further 3 weeks, because the present user of the rig has decided to drill yet another hole.

Good grief, but sit tight. They are supremely confident, and everything is ready to go. The oil won't seep away, but your money might if you sell out now.

You heard it here first.

Niels,

Niels Hi,

Thanks for the update, If the price drops a bit more, I will top up with another 15k to 20k worth :)

Cheers,
PM

Getting out of YOO then? ;)

Ah, so now we know what the shake was about today.

Another poxy delay. I cant see how you can run a busines with this type of set up. Firstly, the delay was for "emergency" work. Now it looks like a farce, hasnt NOP got any type of contractual guarantees?


Many thanks for the info Niels. Going to give the girls over on advfn the good news.

When the emergency happened NOP lost their slot. Other customers had contracts for later use and they are now being called. There's nothing NOP can do about it, and it's not their fault. They truly believed they would start this week, but got a call Monday informing them that the existing user wanted to drill another hole. This will take about 3 weeks, add another week to dismantle move and erect, and we may talk in excess of a month if anything else goes wrong.

For NielsJensen

Thanks for giving us this information. I have taken the liberty of putting your two posts of today over on the ADVFN NOP board.

Cant see it NJ. Thats not a contract, it's bum paper. There must have been some contingency clauses to allow a degree of flexibility that would apply to everyone, not just the next bloke in line.

How on earth can you plan anything when the contract is so open ended? On your assertion, they might never drill anything!


Possibly NOP's cunning plan to avoid drilling at all.

They could always use the line "this delay has allowed us to reinterpret the reinterpetion of the misinterperted orignal data captured by a competent company"

Peter, that fine. When I post pics of the rig later you are welcome to copy them as well.

MaxK, I don't really know how these contracts are made. However, if you think about it I would guess that if someone like you had a rig to rent out you'd put in a "force majeure" clause that would cover disasters, acs of God etc. Next, you'd think that when you invoke the "force majeure" you will piss off one, and only one customer, instead of all the others in line. They would otherwise be hit with a domino effect of delays. Finally you'd realise that the customer agreed to the deal in the first place, because he could have been one of the victims of the domino effect.

All in all, the current system seems fair from a utilitarian point of view; it allows the fewest to suffer in case of disaster. In this case we are, unfortunately, in the firing line. You are right in pointing out that there is no guarantee that drilling will start in 3-4 weeks time. Such is life. And no, you can't just sign with someone else; oil prices are soaring and rigs are in very, very short supply.

Just remember, the oil is not going anywhere.

Niels.

Niels.

A contract is basically an agreement between two or more parties to conduct a certain series of motions which will lead to a possible successfull conclusion for both parties. There is normally a timescale/price/quality overide.

How these deals are tied up and the wording of the final draft are endless.

NOP appears to have NO agreement (contractual or otherwise) as to whether the rig will appear on site at given date...meaning they have NO agreement at all in practical terms. This could go on forever!


It's bollocks, cant believe the management are so inept!

If the rig is delayed, lets say to August for the sake of argument, without a change in planning permission, NOP would unlikely be able to drill two wells, test them and clean up both sites by the end of September when the current planning permission runs out.

I haven't seen an RNS yet, so the odds are the rumour is true. Ie it would be stright forward to deny the rumour and say the Rig is now on its way.

However, if the rumour is true then NOP will need to find out more definitive information on when the Rig will arrive in IoW and based on the information they may have to revise their plans. The logical approach would be to drill Boulder Copse first anticipating the planning extension at Sandhills to come through so that a well at Sandhills can be done in Sep knowing they have another 3-4 months to complete operations.

All of the above re-planning would have to be at least put by partners such as Magellan, Black Rock and Oil Quest. This will take time. Again the delay in any RNS supports the rumour being true.

Niels Hi,

Thanks again for the info from the front line :)

I am only coming out of YOO at 8p or more, which I think I will see in the next 14 days, but I can't see NOP going up until the rig arrives, in 3 to 4 weeks, giving me plenty of time to sell YOO and buy more NOP !

Cheers,
PM

Good for you Paul. I wish I had followed your advise to buy YOO. Do you own PDX? :)

MaxK, the management is not inept. If you think so, you should just sell your shares and go elsewhere. They were simply unlucky that a force majeure clause made them loose their slot. Thank you so much for explaining what a contract is. ;)

Niels.

Think nothing of it Niels.

Niels Hi,
Thanks :)
I don't hold any PDX
I have put a message on YOO for you !
How much does a rig cost to buy ?
Any chance they could get one from another company drilling IOM or east England (Hereward ?) ?
Cheers,
PM

Hi Paul,

Pity about PDX. They are still cheap considering the potential. At 200+ they still look good. Requires a lot of research to make up ones mind. Thanks for the YOO msg.

I would think, without knowing, that you can buy a rig for peanuts, just a bunch of steel. However, I think this is about people; you need to know how to put it up, you need the guys to operate it etc. Highly skilled specialists are rare in any industry where demand outweighs supply.

As far as I know Hereward do not own any rigs, I assume you are talking about Oil Quest (same thing).

Niels.

Embargoed Release: 0715hrs
04 July 2005
Northern
Petroleum Plc

("Northern"
or "the Company")

Final
Decree of Two Itali an licences

Northern is pleased to advise
shareholders that ATI Oil Plc
("ATI"), its joint
venture partner in Italy, has
today announced the final
decree of a further two
Italian licences in which
Northern has a 50% interest.
The full text of the ATI
release is as follows:
"ATI is pleased to announce that
it has been advised by its
partner, Northern
Petroleum (UK) Limited ("NPUK"),
that the Italian authorities,
having accepted
the required environmental
impact studies, have is sued
the final decree of a
further two Italian licences in
which ATI has a 50% interest.
The licences confirmed are the
re-designated G.R18.NP
(formerly d19GR.-NP) and
G.R19.NP (formerly d20GR.-NP),
both of which are located
offshore adjacent to
the re cently decreed licence G.
R17.NP and close to the Tunisian
boundary, in
the west of the productive
Sicilian oil province.
A strategic move has been
undertaken to license the 2850
sq km area in these
three licences covering the
Apennine-Maghreb thrust be lt
offshore in Italian
waters, believed to offer the
potential for finding very
large fields. To the
east, this thrust belt contains
the giant Val d'Agri oil field
in the southern
Appenines and the more than 1tcf
Gagliano gas and condensate
field in cen tral
Sicily. To the west in Algeria
is the Tellian fold belt, where
it is known as
the Atlas thrust belt.
Finance Director, Chris Foss,
commented:
ATI is delighted to have
received the final decrees of
these two licences that
are adjacent to the recen tly
decreed G.R17.NP licence. A
speculative 2-D
seismic survey was recently
undertaken by PGS over the same
thrust belt in the
adjacent Tunisian waters. Our
work on reprocessing existing
seismic data
continues, and the joint venture
is considering the r ecording
of new trial
seismic lines if, as
anticipated, PGS records a 3-D
survey over the offshore
Tunisian part of the thrust
belt."
Further enquiries:
Northern Petroleum Plc
Graham Heard, Exploration
Manager
Chris Foss, Company Secretary
Tel: 020 7743 6080
Hansard Communications
Chris Roberts/Ben Simons
Tel: 020 7245 1100
Further information on Northern
Petroleum Plc is available via
our website,
www.northpet.com
END.