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

A bit quiet here.

I have nicked some images of the missing rig 28, captured by Springhead and posted on advfn today. He also says that it looks like they are packing up, ready for the move....problem is, we know not where.



pics courtesy of Springhead @ advfn.

At last!


LONDON (AFX) - Northern Petroleum PLC said it has been told by British Drilling and Freezing Ltd that it is preparing to move its rig no 28 to the Sandhills-2 site on the Isle of Wight.

Sandhills-2 lies around 1 kilometre to the south of Sandhills-1, which was drilled in 1982 by British Gas.

Following the drilling at Sandhills-2, the rig will be moved for further drilling at the Bouldnor Copse-1 site near Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.

har





COPYRIGHT



Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved.

Article in oilbarrel.

http://www.oilbarrel.com/home.html

27.07.2005
Northern Petroleums Isle Of Wight Drilling Campaign Edges Closer As The Company Keeps Busy In The Netherlands
Shareholders in Northern Petroleum, who tend to keep a very close watch on their company, were pleased to note on Monday that its drilling contractor was readying a rig for the journey south to the Sandhills-2 well site on the Isle of Wight. Shares in the London-listed company climbed 14 per cent to 14.875 pence on the news.

Drilling contractor British Drilling & Freezing Limited started to rig-down the rig, a job that takes between 36 to 48 hours, and will then load it onto flatbeds for the journey south. All being well, the BDF-28 rig should be drilling by next weekend on the long-awaited Sandhills-2 appraisal well, a follow-up to the 1982 British Gas Sandhills-1 well.

That well logged an oil column in the Great Oolite but the discovery was then written off as the difficult-to-produce formation was considered unworkable at that time. Northern, which has built a niche in reappraising and re-interpreting projects previously deemed unproductive or marginal, has deployed the latest seismic and computer analysis to the old Sandhills data and believes the Great Oolite holds real potential on the Isle of Wight. The proof of this geological model will be tested with the drilling of the Sandhills appraisal well, and also by the follow-on drilling of the Bouldnor Copse-1 well. In fact, it is this second pure exploration well that could prove really interesting: the Bouldnor Copse hole will test a deeper, and potentially larger exploration prospect in the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone.

Northern operates the Sandhills well in onshore licence PEDL 098 with 57.5 per cent of the equity along with Magellan Petroleum (22.5 per cent), Black Rock (5 per cent), Oil Quest Resources (7.5 per cent), Oil & Gas Investments (2.5 per cent) and Montrose Industries (5 per cent). On the Bouldnor Copse-1 well in PEDL 089, Northern operates with 70 per cent on behalf of Wessex Exploration, which holds 20 per cent, and Oil Quest Resources, with 10 per cent.

While shareholder attention remains fixed on the Isle of Wight, managing director Derek Musgrove believes the companys recent move into the Netherlands is by far the most interesting project in the portfolio. The Netherlands deal, signed last month with NAM, a company jointly owned by supermajors Shell and ExxonMobil, is an extension of Northerns strategy, taking it into an area that had fallen off the industrys radar in recent years.

The deal gives Northern access to eight undeveloped oil and gas discoveries and seven exploration prospects onshore Netherlands, a project that Musgrove had been tracking for some three years. Its nice to take up the ball after a hiatus of some years, Musgrove told oilbarrel.com.

Northern will take over operatorship of the discoveries and receive 100 per cent pay-back of its costs plus an uplift of 30 per cent before splitting the future profits equally with NAM. The development would be a fairly simple operation. Six of the discoveries have suspended wells that were successfully tested so the wells and wellheads are in place, just leaving Northern with the job of putting in some pipes and tanks. The company will have to submit a plan of development to the Dutch authorities, which run one of the strictest environmental licensing regimes in Europe.

Northern is already doing lots of work as it gets to grips with its new properties. The gross in-place volumes are currently estimated at 170 billion cubic feet of gas (53 bcf net to Northern) and 41 million barrels of oil (12.4 million barrels net to Northern). This provides an immediate boost to Northerns proved and probable reserve base as well as holding out the opportunity for much-needed near-term production and cashflows.

Musgrove believes the most exciting aspect of the deal, however, is the exploration upside. The company has the option to acquire 50 per cent of NAMs interests in a number of additional onshore exploration areas that cover an area equivalent to seven UK North Sea blocks. The gross reserve base here is reckoned to be in the range of 0.8 and 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas (340 bcf to 520 bcf net to Northern). Northern will earn its right to its 50 per cent equity by drilling, and paying for, up to seven exploration wells. Northern has already committed to one exploration well, scheduled for drilling in 2006, and will have to drill an additional two once it exercises this option.

16.75p today....the next lot of news is likely to see us over 20p :-)

Sandhills 2 is now a beehive of activity; several trucks with pipes and a big crane at work. Loads of 4WD. Let the games begin. I'll report on progress and post pics as the work progress. Guess NOP will keep their lips sealed until the rig is actually erected.

Thanks NJ.

Thanks for that info Niels ,its good to have someone so close to the action.
DB66

Here's the site as of Thursday 28th:


Click for pic

Today I was nearly arrested by this guy (who was very nice and doing his job):

Click for pic

Fortunately DM came to my rescue, and I took the following picture. As you can see the rig is now up. Pending final testing drilling should start next week.

Click for pic

NJ, my connection is slower than my finger on the BUY button, please post pictures as links. Did I read earlier that NAV 50p?
Nearly bought early July but went on hols and then read about delays, should have taken advantage of drop then, typical of me, have I missed the boat?

Andy, OK I'll place links to hi-res and low-res pics next time.

No, you did not miss the boat. Even buying now makes sense. However, if the IoW results are bad the sp may drop sharply because people panic. This would be a great time to buy more. In any event the present cap is way lower than the confirmed assets. On the other hand, if there is more oil than anticipated the price will rocket. Remember, Sandhills is not exploration, it's assesment; it is known there is oil there (well, one click away), it's just a question of how much and of what quality.

not to comfortable abought consolidation,may transfer my investment to ati,as i dont think that the iow will bring that much attension to the institutes, and further more this will cause a dip in sp until further news from holland and italy on the other hand ati willbe floating on aim shortly and at present on ofex,imn sure this will move in the right direction, rob peter pay paul

Cant see a dip onone, its finally happenning. Whether they find anything commercial, well thats another matter.




Good puff piece spotted by besbury over on advfn.


Gushers ahoy at Isle of Wight
By Sylvia Pfeifer (Filed: 31/07/2005)
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/07/31/cnoil31.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/07/31/ixcity.html

The Isle of Wight, better known for its sandy beaches and famous sailing regatta, could soon be able to add another string to its bow - as Britain's next oil province, writes Sylvia Pfeifer.

Northern Petroleum, the Aim-listed oil and gas explorer, will today start to drill its first well on the island's Sandhills licence area, two miles from the coast between Yarmouth and Newport. Estimates suggest Northern's licence area could have reserves of as much as 156m barrels of oil. Production from onshore oil and gas fields in Britain is tiny compared with the vast amounts still being pumped from the North Sea.

However, better technology, combined with high oil prices, has sparked a revival of the onshore industry in recent years. Britain's first onshore well was drilled in Derbyshire in 1918, but activity didn't take off until the 1930s.

The Second World War effort also played a major part in developing the industry.

Read this

Neils:- Suggest that you have another look at Sandhills!!!

Ticked up, due to expected RNS confirming drill spud at Sandhills

Well here it is, and second well to be drill in Yarmouth

Immediate Release: 1 August 2005

Northern Petroleum Plc

('Northern')

Sandhills-2 commences drilling

Northern Petroleum Plc ('Northern') announces that drilling commenced at the
Sandhills-2 well on 1st August 2005. The well is located in PEDL 098 at
co-ordinates OS 446150 E, 089815 N and has a planned total measured depth of
4167 feet. The primary target is the Great Oolite and the reserve potential is
evaluated at being in the range of 10 to 50 million barrels recoverable.

Following the drilling of Sandhills-2 the rig will be moved to the Bouldnor
Copse-1 well site near Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight to drill both a structure
at the Great Oolite level and a deeper and potentially larger exploration
prospect in the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone on licence PEDL 089 with a reserve
potential of 90 to 140 million barrels recoverable.

PEDL 098 partners are

Northern Petroleum (GB) Limited 57.5%

Black Rock Resources (UK) Limited 5.0%

Magellan Petroleum (N.T) Pty Limited 22.5%

Oil Quest Resources Plc 7.5%

Oil and Gas Investments Limited 2.5%

Montrose Industries Limited 5.0%

PEDL 089(A) partners are

Northern Petroleum (GB) Limited 70%

Wessex Exploration Limited 20%

Oil Quest Resources Plc 10%

-Ends-

For further information contact:

Derek Musgrove

Northern Petroleum

Tel. 020 7743 6080

Chris Roberts

Hansard Communication

Tel. 020 7245 1100

Great news timed it well today, we be updated news every Weds.

Posted by Dave IR on the iii board.

"Nice piece just now on Meridian Tonight ( ITV ) with Fred Dinenage introducing an item on NOP drilling on the island.

They inverviewed Graham Herd of NOP, who basically said that if they discover recoverable oil, the site would only contain small surface buildings and no oil rig. He mentioned a 'transport system' which I would have thought would be a very short pipe across the Solent to Fawley?

Good to see the drill turning and lots of bods working hard :-)

The coverage/item may appear on the meridian website:
www.meridiantv.co.uk"

Fred Dinage finding out HOW they do it. Great Bloke!