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It looks pretty good to me....this will be drilling at the same time the Falkland lot will be.....and this is a proven discovery with flow rates of 160 barrels of heavy oil per day which Schlumberger have confirmed will flow at 4000 barrels per day later on !.

almost as good as one of HAWK's pathetic wells, but at least HAWK already has a good number of them, and i think that oil is relatively light (more valuable) too

Cynic : check out the Rns's...this is valued at 24 million or so....minimum of 160 million barrels of oil in the North sea with (upside possibly)....Nighthawk is valued above 100 million....This is also on a run...sp rising daily !.

am very cynical about this stock! ..... sorry but don't like amoeba heavy oil E&Ps, and though i hold HAWK, i can't say i'm particularly enthusiastic about that one either ..... on the other hand, the likes of TLW, PMO, HOIL, GPX, GPK are "proper" companies to a greater or lesser extent

Crikey ! : I'm in all of them ! (except PMO)....including Nighthawk...when will that go up ?.

don't tell me you have been following my advice ..... spooky!

The thing that many people forget is that the government has already allocated 500m pounds in the way of assistance and tax breaks to get North Sea heavy oil flowing. They are due to announce even more incentives very soon.

This is all good news for XEL and makes everything much more attractive.

Article in Shares mag this week...everything positive...

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/10391/xcite-energy-says-its-making-progress-towards-watershed-moment-as-it-prepares-for-first-development-well-in-north-sea-10391.html

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Xcite Energy Says Its Making Progress Towards Watershed Moment As It Prepares For First Development Well In North Sea

In its Q3 results statement, North Sea oil developer Xcite Energy Limited (AIM & TSX-V: XEL) said that its ‘Bentley Alliance’, will provide a watershed moment for the company as it begins the drilling of the first development well in the Bentley field in Q1 2010.

In the three months ended 30th September 2009, the group has continued to make progress with the planning for the development of the Bentley oil field. Xcite said its emphasis during the last quarter was on securing field partners and setting up the Bentley Alliance.

Xcite reached an agreement with Fugro Well Services Ltd to drill and test the first development well on the Bentley field, the 9/3b-R well, on a risked basis. Fugro will bear a material percentage of the cost of the well as the first Alliance partner.

Expenditure in the quarter predominantly comprised the costs of study work and planning for the next stage in the development of the Bentley field, including the preparation for the drilling of a technical borehole on Bentley, which is scheduled to be conducted during Q4.

The Bentley field is the company’s primary asset.

In the period the company reported a loss of 249,000, slightly widening from Q2 due to charges for previously deferred tax payments. Also in the quarter Xcite successfully completed a fund raising of 2.1 million The funds will be used to secure the necessary industry partners and to further commercial arrangements in relation to the development of the Bentley field.

Xcite said that it intends to pursue a number of commercial initiatives involving potential business partners and production sharing contractors to facilitate further work on the Bentley field. According to Xcite, Q4 is likely to be characterised by a low expenditure rate, with efforts focussed on advancing the concept of the Bentley Alliance and the completion of drilling the geotechnical test well.

Xcite Energy CEO Richard Smith commented on the company’s progress: "We are very pleased with the market's support for our recent fund raising and its positive reaction to the creation of the Bentley alliance with Fugro as the first partner. This represents a significant step forward in the development of the company and in drilling the first development well in the Bentley field, planned to commence in the first quarter of 2010. This will be a watershed event for the company and we look forward to continued support from shareholders in order to successfully pursue our strategy."

The Fugro Synergy drilling ship appears to be underway with its destination given as "xcite job". Its ETA date has passed, so we can assume therefore they are setting up preparing to spud the well.


http://www.shipais.com/showship.php?mmsi=311019800

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14% up in Canada......and the market is not open too long either :)

http://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=CVE%3AXEL


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Superb increase...much more to come in the months ahead !.

I think people have realised that spudding of the well is very soon, and its success has major implications for the "Bentley Field" and therefore the valuation of XEL.

We are on the move again it seems.

Spudding soon of the well, not far away.

gone nuts hasn't it .... but be careful as it is very thinly traded so inevitably very volatile

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article6941725.ece

......Tiddler to watch

Shares in Xcite Energy gained 7p to 47p and could be in line for a good run. The group has a 100 per cent interest in the Bentley oilfield in the UK North Sea, which is one of the largest undeveloped oil projects in the region. Arbuthnot recently started coverage of the stock with a “buy” rating and a target price of 133p...........

why has it suddenly gone mad at this point though ?

Rig is setting up now, ready to start drilling fairly soon.


http://www.stockhouse.com/BULLBOARDS/MessageDetail.aspx?p=0&m=27688558&s=XEL&t=LIST&l=0&r=0



........Now that oil seems to be in that $70 to $80 range,one area of the world is probably going to start attract a lot more attention...the North Sea. This is an area of the world which involves pretty steep upfront costs for allthose expensive offshore platforms and for all those expensive British tradesmen.

Once you've got production on stream, the British government has some pretty tasty royalties that are actually encouraging oil production...unlike Alberta,
where they seem to be encouraging oil and gas companies to move to BC or Saskatchewan.

Some analysts such as Warren Verbonac of Octagon Capital suggest a basket of plays in the North Sea such as Sterling Resources, Xcite Energy, Antrim Energy (AEN)and Ithaca Energy (IAE), but not everyone has got all that much money to have a piece of everyone and heck—there are other areas of the world to explore.

Our preferred way is simply hoping Sterling (the toppick of Kevin Shaw of Wellington West) and Xcite Energy is the way to go. As we get closer to work actually starting on the Xcite Energy play in the North Sea, we expect more analysts to start publishing on it and morepeople to discover the play.

On November 27th, Arbuthnot Securities out of Britain publishes a report on Xcite Energy and frankly folks, Xcite will be one of the more exciting stories in the next few months as we have written up that they’ve got an awful lot of balls in the air as far as financings, when to get started, joint ventures with service companies, you-name-it. Management here might actually earn their pay
in a big way (and today, management makes us an even bigger fan as they set options that are at current prices...instead of what you usually see in the markets with directors giving them scads of stock at huge discounts and usually much more than they deserve).

The most intriguing thing about the Arbuthnot report is they are suggesting this stock will be a three-bagger if not better.

Analyst Dr. Dougie Youngson writes,XEL is extremely undervalued. The company is currently valued at c. 0.40/bbl, which in our view is derisory. Given the
current oil price of c$80/bbl and XELs asset base status, we would expect the market to value the company today in the region of $2-3/bbl

Youngson continues,Bentley is one of the largest undeveloped oil fields in the UKCS. If it can successfully covert the resource base into reserves, XEL will
become the third largest (in terms of asset size) independent oil company active in the UK North Sea."

ah I see, thankyou.

the very clear caveat is set out in post 18