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

maybe .... depends how far it drops, but/and as it's friday there could be considerable profit-taking towards the close

Looks as though we have bottomed out!

Stock market report: Friday latest
This is Money
20 March 2009, 3:57pm



http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/tips-and-tactics/article.html?in_article_id=480752&in_page_id=23&ct=5

Keep an eye on Petroceltic, whose shares have more than doubled in the past month and were 1.23p higher at 7.81p. The gas explorer is about to start drilling in its Algerian fields, with results expected in May. Spanish energy giant Iberdrola already owns around a fifth of its shares, which it bought last year at 13p a pop.

GR ..... bottomed out??? .... a very brave call, so tread carefully ..... as for PCI, though i am cuurently out (banked profit), may well buy back in in due course

RNS Number : 2511P
Petroceltic International PLC
20 March 2009

17:00 Petroceltic Intnl (PCI) Well Services Contract RNS

20th March 2009

Petroceltic International plc

Award of Well Construction Services Contract in Algeria

Petroceltic International plc ('Petroceltic' or 'the Company'), the upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused on North Africa and the Mediterranean is pleased to announce that the contract for the provision of all wellsite services, including wireline evaluation, testing and cementing services and civil works for the Company's upcoming drilling programme on the Isarene permit in Algeria has been awarded to Sahara Well Construction Services ('Sahara').

Sahara is a joint venture between Schlumberger, the leading oilfield services provider, and L' Enterprise Nationale de Forage ('Enafor'), the Algerian National Enterprise for Drilling, a subsidiary of Sonatrach, the Algerian state Oil and Gas Company.

Petroceltic has a 75 per cent interest in the Isarene permit in association with Sonatrach, the Algerian state Oil and Gas Company, which holds the remaining 25 per cent.

The Company also announces that the drilling campaign on the Isarene permit in Algeria is now expected to commence in early May 2009, having been delayed by some weeks due to the customs importation procedure for importation of the KCA Deutag T-212 rig into Algeria taking longer than anticipated.

Petroceltic expects to be in a position to announce further details of its upcoming operational programme in the near future, once the final details for the programme have been agreed between the Company and Sonatrach.

The Company confirms that there are no other material announcements in respect of the Company to be made at this time.

Brian O'Cathain, Chief Executive of Petroceltic commented:

'We are pleased to have concluded this contract for wellsite services with Sahara, a new Joint Venture Company set up last August in Algeria, which combines the integrated well evaluation and oilfield services experience of Schlumberger with the local knowledge and experience of Enafor, one of Algeria's leading drilling contractors. We look forward to working closely with Sahara and KCA Deutag, and our partner Sonatrach in the implementation of our exciting appraisal programme on the Isarene Block'.

will be interesting tyo watch this stock over the coming weeks ..... quite possibly there will be some chunky selling on monday giving the opportunity to buy for those who fancy the dabble

blimey nice to see so much interest in this stock that's been sitting in a dusty old cupboard of mine for sooooo long.

Please find some oil or be taken over so I can get rid, it would be nice if one of my speccy stocks actually hit the big time.

This should give PCI a boost:
LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - Irish oil and gas explorer Petroceltic (PCI.L: Quote) is hoping to make a funding breakthrough in 2009 that could help it to expand its drilling operations in North Africa. The Chief Executive of Petroceltic, Brian O'Cathain, said Spanish utility Iberdrola (IBE.MC: Quote) was likely to buy a 49 percent stake in the explorer's share of the Isarene licence in Algeria for $55 million "sometime this year".

O'Cathain said the deal would help Petroceltic to fund its drilling on the permit and potentially to buy other oil and gas firms.

Iberdrola is already a shareholder in AIM-listed Petroceltic, having paid an initial $55 million for a 22 percent stake in the company last August.

O'Cathain said Iberdrola, which aims to produce a fifth of its gas in-house by 2020, had indicated it wanted to exercise its option on Isarene, although timing remained uncertain.

The deal, which needs the blessing of the government in Algiers, would be preferable to going to the market for cash to finance more drilling, O'Cathain said.

"The likelihood is that (Iberdrola) will do it sometime this year," he said in an interview with Reuters.

"Every indication we have had from them is that it is high on their list of priorities.

"The biggest uncertainty is how long the Algerian government will take to approve the deal."

Petroceltic focuses on appraisal drilling to test the commercial viability of gas and oil fields in Algeria, Italy and Tunisia.

The Isarene permit covers about 7,000 square kilometres in the Illizi basin in Algeria, equal to about 35 North Sea blocks, and is thought to contain between 1-5 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Petroceltic has a 75 percent interest in Isarene and Algerian state oil and gas company Sonatrach owns the rest.

Most of the wells in the area were drilled in the 1950s and 1960s and Petroceltic made two gas discoveries there in 2006.

The Dublin-based group said in January that it expected to begin a year-long, seven-well drilling programme on Isarene in April and had signed a contract with offshore drilling contractor KCA Deutag for its rig T-212.

O'Cathain said the company was looking to buy smaller oil and gas exploration companies in the area, including firms listed in the United States and the UK, or privately owned.

"We have a healthy balance sheet, so we expect to be in a good position in the second half of the year to look at other companies," he said. (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

A few weeks delay is nothing with seven wells to be drilled, there might be a little drop but that will encourage buyers....they surely will strike something with such a busy drilling program.....with patience....I can see this stock somewhere between 10p to 20p soon and I can imagine that if they hit something big ....it would rocket all the way up to 100p, so to my way of thinking this is worth probably more than just a punt......there are very few smallish very well funded oil companies with no debt that have this sort of activity about to start....and it will go on for the next 18 months...plenty of Rns's to come !.

I agree these are worth 50p within 12 months mind you I have said the same about Rift but even they are starting to climb gl.

From The TimesMarch 20, 2009

Bid rumour lifts Petroceltic International
Smaller companiesRobert Lindsay
Petroceltic International rose 0.58p to 6.58p as the oil explorer was identified as a potential bid target for Iberdrola, its 22.6 per cent shareholder. Takeover talk in the sector was further stoked by Centrica, down 10p to 236p, raising its stake in Venture Production from 22 to 23.6 per cent. Venture rose 21p to 755p.

Richard Savage of Mirabaud Securities noted that like Centrica, Iberdrola, a Spanish utility, is keen to buy its own gas reserves. It also has an option to buy a 49 per cent share in an unnamed Petroceltic prospect for $55 million (38 million). The whole company, market cap 60 million, may seem more of a bargain.

Rising again......10p must be on the cards for this one.....and a lot more in months to come !.

Very steady today after dramatic close on Friday.

take a look at AEX could be another PCI.

PCI were a flavour of the week with Barclays:

Barclays Stockbrokers Top Trades

Online Trades All Trades

Friday, 20 March 2009
purchases

1 BARCLAYS 11.20%

2 HSBC HLDGS 9.92%

3 ROYAL BK SCOT GRP 6.70%

4 LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC 4.52%

5 Petroceltic International Plc 1.91%

6 AVIVA PLC 1.70%

7 National Grid 1.70%

8 LEGAL & GENERAL GP 1.70%

9 Yell Group 1.66%

10 VODAFONE GROUP 1.33%

sales:

BARCLAYS 18.20%

LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC 7.11%

ROYAL BK SCOT GRP 5.42%

LEGAL & GENERAL GP 3.78%

PRUDENTIAL 3.53%

AVIVA PLC 2.78%

XSTRATA 2.12%

Mecom Group 1.98%

BHP BILLITON PLC 1.63%

HSBC HLDGS 1.29%


Totals 42.34% 47.84%


Saturday, 14 March 2009 to Friday, 20 March 2009
purchases

1 BARCLAYS 12.11%

2 ROYAL BK SCOT GRP 5.95%

3 LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC 4.80%

4 HSBC HLDGS 3.88%

5 AVIVA PLC 2.45%

6 LEGAL & GENERAL GP 2.10%

7 Petroceltic International Plc 1.77%

8 BP 1.38%

9 RIO TINTO 1.38%

10 PRUDENTIAL 1.36%

Sales:
BARCLAYS 27.92%

LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC 8.05%

ROYAL BK SCOT GRP 6.40%

AVIVA PLC 2.89%

LEGAL & GENERAL GP 2.37%

PRUDENTIAL 1.97%

XSTRATA 1.62%

HSBC HLDGS 1.48%

RIO TINTO 1.03%

BHP BILLITON PLC 1.03%

Totals 37.17% 54.74%

If the drilling results are half as good as predicted this is still a good time to be buying into this project, because as someone has already said 50p to 1 is what they will reach.

At 1 with a market cap of 737m,it would have to be a huge find!

Look at dana 981m market cap ,thats oil not gas!

pet,there will be oil aplenty at Isarene too.

Scandinavian Oil-Gas Magazine - News - http://www.scandoil.com/moxie-bm2/news/index.shtml


Petroceltic up on Sahara hire

Published Mar 23, 2009


Shares in Irish independent Petroceltic International soared 4.8 percent on Monday, after news customs in Algeria had cleared the rigs sent by drill-rig company KCA Deutag and that Schlumberger would oversee well services in the coming campaign.

Petroceltic and Sonatrach aim to start drilling in North Africa in May using Schlumberger business Sahara Well Construction Services, a partnership with Sonatrach subsidiary the Algerian National Enterprise for Drilling.

The new well construction contract covers wireline evaluation, testing, cementing services and civil works for drilling at the Isarene permit.

Petroceltic has a 75 percent interest in the Isarene, while Algerian state champion Sonatrach holds 25 percent.

Sultan of Spring on way here?