Right I havent beleived in investing directly in an oil company untill today and in the last few months have been investing in OIL SERVICE companys Hamworthy and Corac, you know the picks and shovels tale.

Anyway after doing a lot of research I really feel that SOCO INTERNATIONAL SIA as been left behind in the mass bull market on oil companies.

Forget, Burren, Regal, Dana and the rest in my opinion this is the one to be on.

So.....why buy Soco now?

Four inter-related reasons:

1) Newsflow is now very much in sight on several fronts. None of it has yet emerged though, so analysts have yet to revisit their old views and recommendations. There was, and indeed remains, a chance to get in before serious interest picks up again.

2) There is, IMO, a decent chance of some very large price rises within the next 6 months, accompanied by increased downside protection. Once newsflow starts, the shares will come back onto institutional radar screens - you can wait for it to emerge, or you can speculate now at what I think will prove to be a lower price -perhaps much lower!

3) The market thinks there is nothing happening and has gone to sleep on the prospects. You can see this in the broadly sideways drift and very low volumes on most days [until this week]. They are wrong. Yemen and perhaps Mongolia should provide some near-term good news.

4) The time to buy is when no-one else seems very interested.

And heres the last results from the company......................

Soco International PLC
02 September 2004

SOCO International plc

Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2004

SOCO is an international oil and gas exploration and production company,
headquartered in London. The Company has interests in Vietnam, Mongolia, Yemen,
Libya, Tunisia and Thailand, with production operations in Yemen, Tunisia and
Mongolia. SOCO today announces interim results for the half year ended 30 June
2004.

HIGHLIGHTS

Operating profit of 4.1 million (2003: 4.2 million)

Net profit of 2.0 million (2003: 2.5 million)

Earnings per share of 2.9p (2003: 3.6p)

Cash balance of 26.7 million at half year end

Finalised the sale of an interest in ODEX creating a consortium of SOCO
(34%), Oilinvest (46%) and Gazprombank (20%) in the special purpose
entity to progress initiatives in Libya and other countries

Continued reinterpretation of existing 3D seismic and acquisition of 650
sq km of new 3D seismic in Vietnam prior to commencement of drilling in
Q1 2005

3D seismic programme completed in Mongolia with two wells drilled, both
apparent discoveries, and a third well spudded

First ever deviated Basement well drilling in East Shabwa in Yemen



Ed Story, President and Chief Executive of SOCO, said:

'Following an extended period of quiet preparation, the release of interim
results coincides with the commencement of a very active drilling programme for
SOCO, one that I believe has company transforming potential'

2 September 2004

ENQUIRIES:
SOCO International plc Tel: 020 7457 2020 (today)ENDS.

This could really be a craking stock and is worth getting in at these lowly price figures.

Please DYOR

cheers GF.

Trades of the size SWW will be delayed by an hour.

That answers that.

Thank you.

Interesting day. Bid was above mid in size (12.5k-20k) all day until about the last hour.

Still holding and we'll see what tomorrow brings, but pls remember anything I post here is as a trader, not an investor! ;-)

No problems Al. It's interesting to see from a traders perspective as to what they see is happening over the shorter term. All types of posts are appreciated I'm sure by everyone. This from this mornings Telegraph online:

"However, yesterday traders were speculating that oil and gas exploration group Soco International, telecoms company Kingston Communications and pharmaceutical group Cambridge Antibody Technology stand a chance of being promoted to the FTSE 250."

SOCO is 13 places above automatic entry to the FTSE 250.

The other two are below the automatic entry point.

http://www.stockchallenge.co.uk/typo/stockchallenge/ftse.php

I can not rememeber where I got the link, it was probably from ADVFN, I will credit the poster when I find it.

Thanks for the link SWW. I think it's either this or next Wednesday when the new entrants are announced.

Nice link sw and just what might move it higher, gav. ;-))

Might explain the big late trades coming in most days.

I believe the FTSE Review is next Tuesday's (8th March) closing prices

Thanks for that Al. So I would assume that there would be an announcement advising of the changes by the LSE. May even get a mention on Working Lunch next week if we make it! ;-)

gav

I think the committee sits Wednesday and any changes come into effect on Friday 18th.

Many thanks for that Al, cheers. If you hold until the 18th, this will have been a long term hold for you then! ;-)

Indeed!

Thought we'd be in the 550-600p region by now though. ;-))

6 quid by Easter then Al! ;-) Here come some more of the larger sized trades again as per yesterday.

Big boys psotioning themselves prior to 350 entry? You might also find smaller funds cashing in as it's rarely one-way traffic.

You could be right Al, or it could be something else, who knows. Us little un's are always the last to know!

If it is funds them Im assuming that some funds will have to buy a comp that enters, eg - certain types of trackers?

Precisely.

CNE was a classic example last year. I notice they may fall out of the FTSE and into the 250 next week.

BTW, SIA is quite illiquid for this kind of level. You may find the bigger shareholders and directors lobbing some their way. Time will tell.

Agree re the illiquidity, I had thought about that. I would say that that was one of the reasons why we moved up so quickly last year and at times, dealing limits are so small. When good news did come out, it was hard to get amounts of stock. Will be interesting to see what happens if some of the big boys want in and the directors or Pontoil dont sell them any stock.

Flurry of little people selling?

Probably Americans SWW from looking at the time when some sells came in. No news out to trigger it though.

Not that I can see, so back to watching.