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

Embargoed: 0700hrs 24 March 2004
Northern Petroleum Plc

("Northern")

Farm-out AgreementNorthern Petroleum is pleased to
announce that its wholly owned subsidiary,
Northern Petroleum (GB) Limited, has entered into an agreement whereby Hereward
Ventures plc ("Hereward") will acquire a ten per cent. interest in the onshore
oil and gas exploration licence PEDL 089 Area (A) covering parts of Hampshire
and the Isle of Wight.

The interest in the licence by Hereward will be earned by the payment of thirty
per cent. of all costs as incurred by Northern to the completion of an earn-in
well. In addition, a payment of ?45,000 to Northern will be made as a
contribution to past expenses which have been invested in well log analysis,
seismic interpretation and mapping of prospects.

Northern has identified prospects in both the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone
formation and Jurassic Great Oolite formation, which will be drilled and tested
in one well.

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director, commented,

"We are delighted that Hereward Ventures Plc has identified the strong
potential that lies in this onshore licence in the south of England and, in
doing so, endorses Northern's analysis and interpretation of the potential of
this licence."

-Ends-

sharehappy
at the mo. it looks like you are the ONE, but i'm hoping my gold shares take off in the next 30-40 day, which will allow me to get into this share. I notice that CMR NOP and HEV seem to be all linked, its hard to choose a bad one from anyone of these... heres hoping for good news in the summer (I.O.W.)
good luck in your holdings, I spend most of my time over on advfn.com. you might find more interest over there
:o)

Fingers crossed that your gold shares take off. Cheers, will probably see you over on advfn.

SH

Taken from the other place

Here's Avington 3 and 4 PERMISSION GRANTED

Agenda for the Itchen Valley Parish Council Meeting held on

4 March 2004 at Martyr Worthy Village Hall

8. Planning Decisions

W17981/01 Pentex Oil, Temple Copse, Matterley Farm, Alresford Road. Temporary permission to drill 2 additional, directional exploratory/appraisal wells including the testing, along with the continued testing of Avington B(2) exploratory well at Avington exploration site, Matterley Farm. PERMISSION GRANTED

Buy Northern Petroleum (and look at Egdon, Hereward and Black Rock)
argues Stewart Dalby, editor of oilbarrel.com

Shares in London AIM listed junior oil and gas explorer Northern Petroleum have made ratchet-like progress in the last six months, creeping up and then falling back on a bit of profit taking. Still at 7.375p they are almost double what they were last September and look to have plenty of upside potential.

The company has acquired attractive licences in Italy and Denmark and some production in Spain. But the real interest is in the patchwork of assets chief executive Derek Musgrove and his small team have put together in southern England. The licences are mainly onshore and cover the Weald and Wessex basins, an area stretching from West Sussex through Hampshire to Dorset and taking in the Isle of Wight.

A while back, there was great interest in the south of England as an oil province. Wytch farm in the Wessex Basin close to Poole was at once time the largest onshore field in Western Europe with 450 million barrels of oil reserves. It is now mature, and running down, although still producing. There was an attraction in drilling in the south of England because the big boys like BP could offset costs against expenses offshore in the North Sea. Once this incentive was removed, however, exploration tended to dry up.

There was a renewal of interest last year with the success of the Avington 2 well near Winchester in Hampshire. The well, which was operated by Pentex and involved Egdon Resources and Northern, discovered 100 million barrels of oil in place. Not a lot of this was deemed recoverable, only perhaps 10 to 15%, but when you have no production, as was the case with Egdon, this is significant.

Northern - It Gets Better

Northern had 5%t of this well on licence area PEDL 070. Musgrove felt Northern should go for it in southern England and he decided that he would build up substantial stakes and become, where possible, the operator. He has involvement in 13 licences with stakes ranging from 10% to 80%. A three to four exploration and appraisal well programme is planned for this summer in various parts of the empire. But the focus is on licences PEDL 089, PEDL 99 and PEDL 113 on the Isle of Wight and its environs. Musgrove has convinced himself there could be some big oil to be found there.

In 1982 BG, which was then British Gas, found oil in the Jurassic Greater Oolite formation with its Sandhills-1 well on PEDL 113, east of Cowes on the Island. The well was never tested because at that time the Oolite was not considered to be a viable reservoir. It is a difficult limestone reservoir with uncertain recovery rates. However Northern has developed a new interpretation of the Oolite which it hopes will unlock the complex geology. Northern, which has 57.5% of the licence, plans Sandhills-2, an appraisal well, hopefully around June, subject to planning permission from the Isle of Wight Council.

It is thought there could be 49 million barrels of oil probable in place in the Greater Oolite formation with 76 million barrels possible. With recovery rates of 20% possible this could mean 15 million barrels of oil to share amongst the partners. But this is not all. One of the most recent pieces of Musgrove's jigsaw to fall into place, was when, in February this year, Northern exercised an option to buy from Wessex Exploration 80% and the operatorship of PEDL 089 in return for bearing the costs of drilling a well and a payment of 80,000 pounds in two tranches. As part of the deal Northern also gets 10% of PEDL 089b.

While a little bit of the PEDL 089 licence is on the Isle of Wight and is contiguous with PEDL113, PEDL 89a and PEDL 089b are on the mainland in Hampshire across the narrow stretch of water. Here Northern will, in time, be targeting not just the Greater Oolite but also the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone reservoir underneath. This formation has better recovery rates. Wytch Farm is a Sherwood Sandstone reservoir. It is just 20 miles from PEDL 089. In the entire structure there could be 300 million barrels of which 100 million barrels could be recoverable. This means around 57.5 million barrels to Northern. Valuing the oil in the ground conservatively at 1 pound a barrel, this gives a value of 21.6p a share for Northern, since after recently raising 3.15 million pounds through the issue of 52.5 million shares at 6p, the company has 266,000,000 shares or thereabouts in issue.

Northern has had one setback. The collapse in Ramco shares hit the company a little. The company was holding 294,000 shares. They were worth 1 million pounds at one point. Just 25,000 were sold at 396p a while back, but now they are down to 34p. However, after various capital raisings Northern has money in the bank to meet its drilling commitments.

Not Just About Northern

The prospect could be a company maker not just for Northern, but also for mining group Hereward Ventures and Australian London AIM listed Black Rock Oil & Gas. Hereward Ventures wanted to fast track some cash flow. Chief executive David Bramhill said: "It can take ages to bring a gold mine into production. But oil onshore can quickly be monetised."

Hereward Ventures bought a 5% stake in PEDL113 from Black Rock in return for carrying 10% of the costs of Sandhills-2. Recently, Hereward announced it had farmed in for 10% of Northern's interest in PEDL 089 area A. It is actively looking for further acquisitions in the area.

As for Black Rock, at one time it had several holdings in the south of England. But it divested most them and became what seemed like cash shell. Everyone seemed to forget the fact that even after the sale to Hereward it retained a 5% carried stake in PEDL113. Its shares doubled to1.6p on the realisation it retained this interest. But any success with the drill bit at all, could see the shares motor away.

Key Data

Northern (NOP)
Spread: 7-7.75p
Market Cap: 19.6 million pounds
NMS: 15,000
Market: AIM

Egdon (no EPIC)
Market: Ofex
Spread: 16-19p
Market Cap: 6.4 million pounds

Hereward Ventures (HEV)
Market: AIM
NMS: 3,000
Spread: 6.25-7p
Market Cap: 7.5 million pounds

Northern and Hereward will be exhibiting and presenting to 1500 investors tomorrow at the year's top investor show - Master Investor 2004 - in London.

INVESCO investment Co bagges 9.2ml, many other punters buying this am.

ALSO RECOMMENDED BY MICHAEL WALTERS.

Did'nt know that, but you still don't need to SHOUT;

just for you CHARTIST i'm not shouting!

Tipped in the Daily Mail today ! Looking forward to next week.

Settlement of dispute

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20040430152135p7eed.html

Drilling update IOW

http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20040506122329P4A22.html

Smaller companies spotlight
Pat Lay's
small caps, This Is Money
13 May 2004


Pat Lay's
small caps

Strike it unlucky

SOME people are just born unlucky, like the chap who run a horticultural business on the Isle of Wight but failed to make it pay. He decided to sell off his 20 acres inviting offers of around 7,000 an acre for something that, had it been farmland, would have been worth a third of that.

He must have thought all his birthdays had come at once when he received an offer of 9,000 an acre for 4.2 acres early this year, but only if the deal was closed quickly.

He didn't wait to ask why and so wasn't told. If he had, he might have learned what has since become news: the land he sold, a few miles from Cowes and close to Parkhurst Prison, may be sitting on one of the UK's largest onshore oil fields. If it is, then it could be worth a fortune.

It may be some time before anybody knows for sure, but Derek Musgrove, managing director of Northern Petroleum, is fairly confident and has already applied to the Isle of Wight County Council for permission to construct a site and drill an exploratory borehole down to a depth of 1,600 metres.

He says: 'This project has been the result of two years extensive study. We are probably the first company to have access to an almost complete seismic and well database acquired by major and junior oil companies from 1980 to 1992, and our detailed studies have brought new indications of what may be there.'

Mr Musgrove admits that the current high oil price would make this a very good deal for Northern, but says if world oil prices were half their current level, it would still be a commercial proposition.

There is still a long way to go, of course, with environmentalists and others all likely to get involved before permission to drill is won, but with the current state of the oil market Mr Musgrove is likely to have the politicians on his side, at least.


http://www.thisismoney.com/20040513/si78189.html

Was anyone at Northerns proposed news conference on Isle of Wight today ??

This should be of interest to anyone holding Northern!


Latest Southampton news



Date Published: Thursday 13 May 2004

Tapping into black gold riches
by Gareth Lewis




BLACK GOLD: Potential oil and gas sites spread across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex.


YOU could be forgiven for thinking that oil drilling only happens in dusty Texas or the North Sea, not the green fields of Hampshire.

But one company is convinced black gold flows beneath our feet and is hoping to tap into it.

BACK in 1988 oilmen drilled in Hedge End, just next to junction 7 on the M27. They found the precious liquid sure enough, but decided there just wasn't enough to make it worth the expense of pumping it out.

But now, as oil prices break the famous $40 (22) a barrel barrier, all that has changed and one company, Northern Petroleum, reckons there's a healthy profit to be made.

Bosses announced today they are considering drilling at four sites across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight - a move which could generate a 31.5m cash bonanza each year.

A site at Auld Youngwoods Farm near Porchfield on the Island could yield as much as 1,000 barrels of oil a day, reckon experts at Northern Petroleum who have persuaded the company to buy 4.2 acres there.

If everything goes smoothly, the well could begin producing oil in as little as four months.

Analysts are poring over data from a number of other sites spread across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex to identify a further two spots which would produce enough oil to make it worth drilling.

If the other three match the Porchfield site's 1,000-barrel-a-day potential the 4,000 barrel total would still be just a drop in the black ocean of oil produced daily - Russia alone produces 10.6 million barrels a day.

Exactly how much oil lurks beneath the ground in Hampshire is unknown, but the oilmen are confident enough to put up the 1m needed to drill at each spot.

"We wouldn't commit the money if we didn't think the prospects were good," says exploration manager Graham Heard.

"There is quite a lot of oil under the ground in Hampshire. It has got a fair number of producing oilfields and there's quite a lot of oil generated."

He warned against dreaming of Dallas-style wealth.

"We are not expecting huge amounts of oil. If you put it in terms of what's in the North Sea it's very small, but we think if you can produce 150 barrels a day you can make it work.

"We don't know what it will produce but probably the maximum is 1,000 barrels a day.

"We won't know until we test the reservoir. It is all unknowns at the moment. But it is not going to be like Dallas. We are not going to be putting up hundreds of wells."

It's not the first time Hampshire has been drilled for oil.

In August last year Pentex Oil UK announced it had found more than 100 million barrels of black gold beneath fields outside Winchester. It was the most significant find since 500 million barrels were discovered just down the coast at Wytch Farm in Dorset, at the end of the 1970s.

The Isle of Wight site has also been drilled before - by British Gas in 1981, but Mr Heard thinks they simply missed the oil reservoir.

"They drilled down to that level and they didn't find anything. We think they drilled off the target location."

In Hedge End, the company has yet to find a site from which to launch an exploratory drilling operation but it is looking within a one-mile radius of the initial exploration next to the motorway.

Although the company says it wants a site that minimises the impact on residents, residents are less than pleased at the return of the oilmen.

Brenda Cantell, 54, manager of the Winged Fellowship charity shop in Lower Northam Road, Hedge End, said: "I think its dreadful news. When it happened last time I was so glad when they gave up.

"To know that they might try again is just awful. There will be a lot of dust, dirt and noise and that sort of thing interferes with the traffic too."

Jane Welsh, vice-chairman of Hedge End Town Council, said it was too early to take a firm view on the plans, adding: "We are obviously concerned about this.

"What exactly is being proposed and what benefits Hedge End would gain and what our residents would have to suffer?"

But the business world welcomed the idea of oil money flowing into the town.

Lakhweer Gill, manager of the post office at Upper Northam Road, Hedge End, said: "It would be good for business in the area. As long as it doesn't affect the environment, then I think it's a positive thing."

Catherine Wright, of the town's Chamber of Commerce, said: "It would be great to see those dollars being spent in our fine retail establishments and restaurants."

Before extracting oil from any site, Northern Petroleum needs to be granted two planning permissions from the council - one to allow it to test to see the extent of the reservoir and a second to allow it to go into production.

FUEL FACTS:

A GROWING number of analysts now predict that global oil production will peak within the coming decade and then start to decline, leading to higher energy prices with major economic consequences.

Oil is the largest single traded commodity in the world. It supplies about 95 per cent of all transportation fuels and 40 per cent of the world's commercial energy.

It is also critical for thousands of manufactured products and for food production.

Some major oil companies have recently acknowledged the increasing difficulties of finding and producing new sources of oil to replenish reserves.

While consumption has continued to rise, worldwide oil discoveries have declined steadily since the 1960s, despite extensive exploration with the most advanced technologies.

The world now uses more than three times the amount of oil that it finds in a year.

TOP OIL PRODUCERS:

2003 figures in millions of barrels per day

Russia: 10.6

Saudi Arabia: 8.18

Iran: 3.78

China: 3.43

Norway: 3.29

UK: 2.45

Brazil: 1.81

Iraq: 1.45




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Newspaper comments

http://www.thisishampshire.net/hampshire/southampton/news/SOTON_NEWS_NEWS0.html

It will be interesting to watch NOP tomorrow. The IOW planners have recommended a conditional approval of the application to drill at the Sandhills-2 location, off Whitehouse Road near Porchfield:

http://www.iwight.com/council/committees/Mod-development_control/14-9-04/paperb1.htm

Final approval is with the the Development Control Committee which meets on 14th Sept.

Personally I figure the chart to be in Wave 3 of a 5 wave move. It should complete a good wave 3, maybe correct and then top out in a Wave 5 at which point it may be advisable to take some profits! Timeframe: 2 to 3 weeks

Well found pwmiles. Not in the bag yet but looking good

From the Daily Express

SHARE WHISPER: NORTHERN PETROLEUM (could be about to take a big step forward on its Isle of Wight drilling prospects)


RNS Number:7548C
Hereward Ventures PLC
09 September 2004

Hereward Ventures plc

Hereward Ventures buys further UK onshore hydrocarbon exploration rights
LONDON (AFX) - Hereward Ventures PLC said it has raised its stake in three
onshore hydrocarbon exploration licenses in the South of the UK to 7.5 pct from
the previous 5 pct and has joined a bidding group which has applied for new
licences in the UK 12th Round of Onshore Licensing.

It has entered into an agreement with Oil and Gas Investments Ltd to acquire a
2.5 pct interest in UK onshore hydrocarbon exploration licences PEDL 098, 099
and 113.

In return, Hereward will contribute 5 pct of future costs which will include an
appraisal well to be drilled on the Sandhills-2 prospect on the Isle of Wight by
the operator Northern Petroleum (GB) Ltd, a subsidiary of AIM-quoted Northern
Petroleum PLC.

These licences have exploration targets with attractive upside potential in
both the middle Jurassic Great Oolite and in the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone
formations.

The estimated potential recoverable reserves at Sandhills-2 are believed to be
10-15 mln barrels in the Great Oolite and 20-80 mln barrels in the Sherwood
Sandstone, Hereward added.

NOP should be on the up on Wednesday Morning after decision by planning on Tuesday evening. Look forward to it goinmg through the 10p barrier.