I bought the FT on saturday, could someone give me brief details of the write up in the mail on saturday please, many thanks.
2517

mail sat

When is the western bandwagon for post-conflict oil and gas going to roll in Iraq? Investors could do worse than having a look at Irish firm Petrel Resourses, which is the only quoted company operating in non-Kurdish southern Iraq. The AIM quoted company gained 12p, over 10%, to 127p after an encouraging half-year update. Petrel currently does non field service work in Irag for the new government."

Cheers forest. The FT write up wrongly stated losses grew to 304m euros instead of 304,000 euros.
2517

BAGHDAD, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Iraq's oil ministry hopes to sign contracts with international firms before the year-end even if a new oil law governing the sector has not been passed by parliament, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Monday.
Shahristani told Reuters in an interview that the new contracts will be in line with rules and guidelines contained in the landmark draft oil law, which he said had been delayed by political infighting.
"As a responsible ministry, we cannot keep waiting. There is no legislative vacuum. The current laws allows the oil ministry to negotiate with firms and to sign contracts," he said.
"We are going to commit ourselves to the draft (oil law) in signing contracts by having free competition and total transparency and announce contracts which achieve the best interests for Iraq."
Iraq's cabinet first agreed a draft law for dividing up the world's third largest oil reserves in February, but disputes with the regional government in Kurdistan, as well as objections from some Shi'ite and Sunni Arab politicians, have hobbled its progress.
Major oil companies such as Total , Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil have been positioning themselves to gain access to Iraq's prized oilfields, especially those in the south.
While the industry generally prefers long-term production sharing contracts to develop larger investments, the Iraqi oil minister signalled more restrictive service contracts may be the way forward.
"We have explored fields whose reserves and production rates we know very well so ... this only needs service contracts," Shahristani said.
"For super giants like northern and southern Rumaila and Zubair, we may only need service contracts," he added.
He said he hoped the tender process for developing oilfields could begin before the end of the year.
"We have (also) formed a new office, which is called the office of oil contracts and licenses, and it has prepared contract models and a plan for developing fields," he said.
"Which fields will be listed in the first round and which in the second is under final review. We will begin the first round before the end of this year."ENDS

Beat me to it lex, i just copied it from peetle on the dark side.
very good news.

from
irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=business-qqqm=business-qqqa=business-qqqid=43290-qqqx=1.asp

22 September 2007

Iraq hopes push Petrel shares up 10%

By Ian Guider
SHARES in Petrel Resources rose by 10% yesterday after the company said it was hopeful that new legislation in Iraq will soon be passed, allowing it to explore for oil and gas.


Petrel, backed by exploration industry veteran John Teeling, is looking to

explore a 10,000sq km region in the western desert of the country called Block 6. It cannot undertake full exploration of the field without the passing of the Hydrocarbon Law by the Iraqi government.

Shares in Dublin-based Petrel, which is listed on Londons Alternative Investment Market, rose 11.5p (16.5c) to 126p, giving the company market value of 84 million (120m).

Petrel managing director David Horgan said Iraq was one of the last great under -explored, underdeveloped onshore oil provinces left.

There is no current oil and gas opportunity to match Iraq, Mr Horgan said yesterday. The undeveloped proven and probable reserves alone are immense, let alone the unexplored deeper horizons, which have proven to hold massive reserves throughout the wider region.

Petrel has been operating in Iraq for a decade and said it now had a good relationship with the Ministry of Oil, which awarded it a contract in 2005 to develop the Subba and Luhais oil fields.

Mr Horgan said although the security situation remained dangerous, the company had not experienced difficulties. We have had no direct incidents and have enjoyed the co-operation of local communities, he said.

Though political stability remains elusive, there is no uncertainty over the fact that Iraqi oil must be developed. Iraq needs it, but so too does the rest of the world.

Petrel released its interim results yesterday, showing a loss of 304,000. It had almost 20m in the bank at the end of June.

Forest,leave you in charge.

where has our man got 2
last we heard from lex1000 was 24 Sept, left Forest in charge an he's done a runner as well.

i thought this board went quiet!

Lex always kept us informed.
Are we going to see another huge spike up?

dont know how this is going 2 turn out never tried pasting a chart b 4.
inserted 25day sma, had I been able 2 draw trend lines u would b able 2 c that a rise looks 2 b on the cards (hopefully)

yeah I like that not bad for a first attempt

well thats about right just looked at the sp an it's gone down so whatever I say I mean the opposite

thanks James---good try!

i'm still waiting on that spike up

Ramp over?

Added some more this morning. 4k @ 124.6p within 123p to 127p buy/add range sp back testing 25 sma.Trend is up.

Buy the dips & add on weakness.aimvho.DYOR.

Market maker buying.Tick up^

DJ Iraq, 5 Oil Cos To Sign Tech Support Deals By Dec-Oil Min

AMMAN (Dow Jones)--Iraq's government expects to sign oil technical support agreements with five international oil companies before the end of the year, Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said Friday.
"We're going to sign these agreements with five oil majors," al-Shahristani told Dow Jones in a telephone interview from Baghdad, but declined to name the companies involved. Some of these agreements would be signed within the next two months, he added.
These new agreements would help increase production in six Iraqi oil fields - Rumeila South, Rumeila North, Zubair, Subba/Luhais and Missan in southern Iraq and Kirkuk oil fields in the north, he said.
Al-Shahristani declined to give details on the cost of the technical support deals, but said they would be small contracts financed by the oil ministry.
The contracting companies would provide technical support, expertise and equipment to redevelop these oil fields, which are already producing.
These technical support agreements would be the first step before awarding service contracts to develop oil fields, he said.
Al-Shahristani said the ministry expected to issue the first round of tenders for international oil companies to develop its existing fields by the end of this year.
ENDS

Petrel has been active in Iraq for the last decade. The successful management-PET of the large Subba & Luhais oil field development in Southern Iraq....SEE PREVIOUS POST

HCL VERY CLOSE

Iraq security head: Oil law blues a deal
Posted : Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:19:58 GMT

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 Iraq's national security adviser says a deal is "very close" on a federal oil law -- one where "everybody goes home partly unhappy."

Mowaffak al-Rubaie was largely optimistic Friday in a speech during a Washington visit, including on plans to protect and bolster the crucial energy sector.

The most prominent part of this has been a national oil law. It's stalled in Parliament over concerns private and foreign companies will be allowed too much access to the currently nationalized oil sector and a larger debate over how much control the federal, regional and provincial powers will have.

"I wouldn't like to say the hydrocarbons law only needs to cross the t's and dot the i's," Rubaie said at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a Washington think tank. "We have been saying this for long. But I'll tell you what: There is a huge pressure from everywhere, inside and outside the country."

The U.S. government has pushed the Iraqi government on passing the controversial law both publicly and behind closed doors. It is billed as a way toward reconciliation, since sales from the world's third-largest reserves last year brought in 93 percent of the federal budget.

"We need to apply more pressure, on everyone, to agree on a compromise hydrocarbons law whereby all parties go home partly unhappy," Rubaie added. "That's the best compromise I think, whereby everybody goes home partly unhappy. And that compromise, I think we are very close to that. We need some tweaking on that."

He said the debate is more a constitutional one than political. The Kurdistan Regional Government interprets the constitution whereby federalism is decentralized. Many more nationalist blocs in government want the central government to set oil policies.

This week the KRG signed two more oil deals on their own with foreign firms. These and many others it has signed are considered illegal by Baghdad.

Ben Lando, UPI Energy Editor

Copyright 2007 by UPI

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/119608.html

Oil security improves, Iraq chief predicts
Posted : Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:45:53 GMT



http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/119615.html