http://www.falklands-oil.com/

http://www.rockhopperexploration.co.uk

http://www.argosresources.com/




Rockhopper was established in 2004 with a strategy to invest in and undertake an offshore oil exploration programme in the North Falkland Basin. It was floated on AIM in August 2005. Rockhopper was the first company to make a commercial oil discovery in the Falklands. Today Rockhopper is the largest acreage holder in the North Falkland Basin, with interests in the Greater Mediterranean region.

http://www.firstbreak.org/content.php?section=3&id=4248&issue=329&TAB=2〈=

Falklands well reclassified as a gas discovery in Rockhopper Exploration acreage

A competent persons report by RPS Energy has provided a boost to UK AIM-listed company Rockhopper Exploration in its bid to develop potential resources in its licensed acreage in the North Falkland Basin. Highlights of the report are that there could be as many as eight oil prospects on Rockhopper acreage with a combined prospective resource of (unrisked) 1 billion barrels recoverable. In addition, a previous exploration well, 14/5-1A, drilled by Shell, has been classified as a gas discovery in the newly named Johnson structure with a possible 165 m net gas pay.In the report, RPS Energy has classified
the Johnson structure, which lies in approximately 500 m of water in licence PL032, as a contingent gas resource. This follows extensive re-interpretation by Rockhopper of well 14/5-1A (drilled by Shell in 1998) which encountered significant quantities of gas. Well 14/5-1A is now classified by RPS as a gas discovery. The 3D seismic collected by Rockhopper in 2007 demonstrates a previously unmapped structural closure (Johnson) which is penetrated by well 14/5-1A. In the final well report for 14/5-1A, Shell recognized 165 m of net pay. In addition to the contingent gas resource, RPS considered eight oil prospects on Rockhopper operated acreage and two on non-Rockhopper operated acreage. Those on Rockhopper operated acreage could contain a total P50 recoverable of 998 million barrels on an unrisked basis. In addition to those eight prospects, Rockhopper has mapped 15 additional prospects which were not considered by RPS as they are unlikely to be targeted in the first round of drilling. However, they do provide scope for significant additional upside in the event of an oil discovery in the basin, according to Rockhopper.Previous economic studies carried out for Rockhopper by Barrett Petroleum Services in 2004 and by Scott Pickford at the time of the admission to AIM indicate that the North Falkland Basin could be economically viable at oil prices as low as $30 per Barrel. RPS outlines the basis for two proven source rocks in the North Falkland Basin, one mature for oil, the other gas. The oil source is younger and shallower than the gas source.Basin modelling work in the northern part of the North Falkland Basin confirms that the Lower Cretaceous source rock, which generated the oil recovered in well 14/10-1, is likely to be mature over a larger area than previously
thought, extending just north of the northern most boundary of licence PL032. This result suggests that a large area of the Lower Cretaceous oil mature source rock is likely to be present throughout licence PL032. The source rock generating the gas recovered in well 14/5-1A is older than the Lower Cretaceous source and is believed by Rockhopper to be Jurassic or early Cretaceous. New basin modelling work in licences PL023 and PL024 indicates a higher probability of mature source rocks than previously thought and results indicate that these source rocks could be mature for oil and gas.Viewing the prospects for exploration drilling Rockhopper says the market for mid-water semi-submersible drilling rigs continues to ease with a number of units now available in the UK North Sea. In addition, day rates for suitable semi-submersible drilling rigs have fallen significantly over the past 12 months. Environmental Impact Statements have been submitted to the relevant authorities for all Rockhopper operated licences, while site survey work on the Ernest structure indicates no geohazards. Reprocessing of the short offset data on licences PL032 and PL033 for site survey purposes is now complete.Pierre Jungels, executive chairman of Rockhopper, said: The new RPS Energy competent persons report gives verification
of the broad spread of our portfolio. Not only do we have the first discovery and contingent resource declared in the Falkland Islands area, but also we have over 20 structural oil prospects, eight of which have been independently verified. This clearly demonstrates what the directors feel are the highly attractive prospects of Rockhopper. Johnson is now recognised as a contingent resource while Sea Lion and Ernest are now our foremost oil exploration targets, both with a 23% chance of success, not taking into account the positive controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM).

CANACCORD ADAMS STARTS ROCKHOPPER EXPLORATION WITH SPECULATIVE BUY
rating, target price of 67P

though that is a nice accolade - perhaps too strong a word - i would still have thought that either DES (i know you like those) or FOGL would be better, if one feels compelled to invest in falklands E&P oilies

Business Financial Newswire
"Rockhopper Exploration has agreed farm-in terms with a third-party energy company for one of its licences in the Falklands.

A further announcement including proposed terms will be made once approvals are in place.

Rockhopper has also welcomed yesterday's announcement by Desire Petroleum of its intention to hire a rig for a North Falkland Basin drilling campaign.

The company says it hopes to drill a minimum of two wells on its operated acreage. "

i guess you got in wrong again cynic,why dont you do one of your graphs to compare the prices.........now was it 12p i bought in at.

Yet more movement from one of the Falkland Oil Crew Companies..... Rockhopper Exploration.

Now I wonder if this will end up like the bus stop syndrome. You seem to wait for ages for one to come along, then what happens, three or more come at once.

thats only 700% increase markymar........for this year only! cynic looks for 0.2% increase for a 1 hour holding......maybe 1 minute holding (thats 60secs and not a tiny one, lol)

take the piss and be as arrogant as you like.
for myself, i have no need to try the macho bit and buy squitty blue sky shares and then crow when they happen to come good - isn't hindsight great

you all seem to go very quiet about your stinkers though, but that is no surprise

at the moment, picking winners is definitely shooting rats in barrels ..... and profits of course, are only that when banked .... you probably haven't done that either

this is at almost all time high! so its hardly a stinker! wake up and smell the coffee

very selective reading
so you don't have any losers in your portfolio????????
and i take it you have not and will not be taking any profits here either

As reiterated in todays press, the oil majors such as Shell, BP, Exxon and the like are still desperate to boost their inventories, mainly due to the fact of low oil reserves on their books, but also due to intentionally over estimating for the last fews years in order to enhance their share prices.
As the Falkland field possiblefinds are being talked about in the same volume category as the BP and Chevron recent finds in Mexico how long will it be before the minnows such as Des/Fogl/Rock and the like are taken over.
IMHO the question won't be so much if as when. Will they wait till oil is pumping in sufficient quantities and risk loosing out to a competitor that jumps first or chance getting in on the ground, IE now.
Both strategy are a risk but which once will they take.

A rig being available is good news for the falkland stocks but like everything else it is only when they drill and test that we will be sure of anything, look at Gulfstone : they have discovered loads of oil and there are still doubters !....all in all good progress for the falklander oilies....I'm looking to invest at some stage but there are bound to be delays with drilling and such, so testing results next summer ? July....somewhere around there perhaps a bit before....the sp's are too high for me now..will have to wait for a retracement before taking any position....and then a long wait...the problem is that at the moment there are loads of successful small oil companies out there GPX, GKP, for instance plus all the main market mid caps...all doing well so I just can't cover them all. Anyway the South Atlantic will be a hot zone from 2010 onwards for small and big investors alike !.

Required field,

Agree with your comments.

Obviously there is a risk of waiting to jump in, but like you I feel there is bound to be a retracement of the sp, so imho I feel you are right to wait. The only reason I am not selling and buying back in (the only Falkland connected company I'm in is FKL) at a lower sp is due the the spread probably taking away any profit. But as you appear to be 'not yet in', obviously the spread is not yet for you a consideration. Best of luck on your timing.

Greek.

http://www.oilbarrel.com/nc/news/display_news/article/north-falkland-basin-exploration-campaign-gathers-momentum-as-rockhopper-exploration-bags-a-farm-in/771.html

September 15, 2009

North Falkland Basin Exploration Campaign Gathers Momentum As Rockhopper Exploration Bags A Farm-In Partner And Desire Petroleum Secures That All-Important Rig





More than ten years after the first, and last, wells were drilled in the North Falkland Basin and the campaign to return to the islands is, at last, gaining traction. Shares in Rockhopper Exploration hit a new 52-week high last week as the company announced it had agreed farm-out terms with an unnamed energy company, a deal that should give the AIM firm the financial clout to drill at least two wells on its acreage next year.
And fellow AIM explorer Desire Petroleum also released welcome news to the market last week as it confirmed it has signed a letter of intent to hire the Ocean Guardian rig for a minimum four-well programme starting in February 2010. As long time Falklands followers will know, the chartering of a suitable rig on reasonable terms has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks to getting these remote waters drilled up, with rig mobilisation fees alone running into the many millions of dollars (earlier this year some operators in the Falklands were talking about eye-watering mobilisation fees of between US$10 million and US$50 million).


Now Desire has succeeded in signing a letter of intent with Diamond Offshore Drilling for a minimum four well programme in the North Falkland Basin. The rig, a third generation semi-submersible capable of drilling in waters 1,500 feet deep, is currently in the North Sea and will mobilise for Falkland waters in November, to reach the islands in early February 2010. Desire has options to drill a further four wells, either on its own account or for partners.

This means there are up to eight well slots for the taking in 2010. Given it has taken over ten years to get a rig back in the area, the operators in the North Falkland Basin should take full advantage of this opportunity in order to drill up this high prospective but little drilled area. Desire is already investigating fundraising options to help it make the most of the rig. We intend to explore as many play types as possible, thus maximising our chances of success, said Desires chairman Stephen Phipps, a comment that not only refers to one of the shortcomings of the 1998 drilling campaign, which tested only one play type, but also highlights the diversity of his companys prospect inventory.

Rockhopper certainly hopes to be one of the operators to take advantage of the Ocean Guardians arrival and last weeks farm-out news should ensure it has the financial clout to take up at least one well slot. Investors will now be keen to learn the identity of the anonymous energy company and to find out more about the terms of the deal: all that is known at present is that the farm-in partner has agreed to contribute, at a promote, to the costs of drilling one well on the licence and to certain back costs. Investors will want to know just what kind of investment the incoming partner will make in return for how much equity in the acreage in order to put a value on the deal. These details will also help investors crunch through the numbers to work out what kind of funding gap the AIM firm faces to drill up its acreage: Rockhopper has said it hopes to drill at least two wells using the Ocean Guardian.

Like Desire, the company has a wide range of prospects to choose from, including the Johnson structure, which is the only classified contingent resource in the Falklands. Johnson was drilled by Shell in 1998, finding 165 metres of net gas pay. When Rockhopper took over the acreage it undertook 3D seismic and extensive re-interpretation and cross-analysis with Shells findings to come up with a data set that according to a Competent Persons Report (CPR) from RPS Energy that shows recoverable contingent gas resources in the Johnson structure of 1.6 trillion cubic feet of gas, with a high estimate stretching up to 7.9 tcf. In addition to Johnson, Rockhopper also has over 20 structural oil prospects on its acreage, eight of which have been independently verified. Of these, the Sea Lion and Ernest oil prospects remain the leading candidates for drilling with prospective reserves of 170 million barrels and 156 million barrels of recoverable oil on a P50 basis, respectively.

http://www.falklands.gov.fk/assembly/documents/201-09.pdf

Review of Environmental Impact Statements produced by Rockhopper Exploration PLC for offshore drilling

Another positive step in the right direction

http://www.smallcapnews.co.uk/article/Rockhopper_Exploration_eyes_participation_in_2010_drilling_campaign/7675.aspx

Rockhopper Exploration eyes participation in 2010 drilling campaign


22 September 2009

Rockhopper Exploration, the oil and gas explorer working in the North Falkland Basin, today said that it had a very real prospect of taking part in a multi-well drilling campaign in 2010.

The comments by Rockhoppers chairman, Dr Pierre Jungels, came following news this months that the companys partner in the Falkland Islands, Desire Petroleum, had signed a letter of intent with a drilling contractor that should see a rig arrive by early next year.

In addition, Rockhopper recently signed its own letter of intent with a third party energy company to farm out one of its licences.

During the last year the company declared a gas discover over its acreage and said its Johnson prospect contained an estimated contingent gas resource of up to 7.9 Tcf recoverable. The two best oil prospects have been given a 23% chance of success in the companys Competent Persons Report.

http://proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/8568/aim-oil-gas-explorers-mixed-frontera-resources-europa-oil-gas-and-aurelian-lead-risers-8568.html

AIM Oil & Gas Explorers Mixed, Frontera Resources, Europa Oil & Gas and Aurelian Lead Risers

Falklands oil rumours swirl
By Neil Hume and Bryce Elder

Published: October 8 2009 03:00 | Last updated: October 8 2009 03:00

Desire Petroleum , up 0.2 per cent to 99p, and Rockhopper Exploration , down 4.5 per cent at 85p, were in focus yesterday amid talk that the exploration companies were attempting to raise about 100m to help finance their drilling programmes in the Falkland Islands.

Traders said Desire was looking to raise 50m via an issue of new shares at 75p a share and Rockhopper up to 50m at a price yet to be determined.

Desire recently struck a deal to take a drilling rig to the Falklands for the first time since 1998.

It is planning to drill a minimum of four wells, but has the option to drill a further four for itself or its partners, which include Rockhopper.

A chance for you long term holders to take a little profit & buy some more at a lower price?

I thought DES was in bed with BLT, so a bit surprised they need more cash. Or have I got that wrong?

FOGL in bed with BLT