JKX are a growth oil and gas company, principally based in the Ukraine, but also present in several other countries, and have recently presented some excellent results.




JKX corporate website : http://www.jkx.co.uk/index.cfm

Poltava Petroleum : http://www.ppc.net.ua/inf_en.html

Annual report 2005 : Click HERE

KBC Peel Hunt on Oils

Encore looks undervalued.

Yes...i agree...Encore is a good BUY.

Ukraine companies seek gas alternatives
AFX


DONETSK, Ukraine (AFX) - Twelve times a day, the tap at the Donetskstal factory's blast furnace No. 2 opens and out plunges a river of fiery, molten metal.

The cast iron is part of the lifeblood of Ukraine's export-oriented economy and the first sign of success in this former Soviet republic's race to wean itself of its costly dependence on Russian natural gas.

This metal is produced using no natural gas, a first not only for Ukraine but also for much of the region. The furnace uses pulverized coal as fuel, a technology that was long ago adopted in the West and Asia but was largely ignored in a part of the world where few saw the point of investing euro20 million-euro25 million (US$25 million-US$32 million) to transform gas-guzzling furnaces into more energy-efficient beasts.

But last year, in what many perceived as political punishment for Ukraine's election of a pro-Western president, Moscow cut Ukraine off from the heavily subsidized gas supplies it had enjoyed since the Soviet collapse. Ukraine suddenly saw the price it pays for natural gas nearly double, and could be facing another 40 percent increase next year.

'I would say that we managed to do this right on time,' said Borys Krykunov, technology director at Donetskstal-Metallurgical Factory, which had been using the technology for years, to varying degrees, but only this year managed to complete the full transition from natural gas in production.

The factory in Donetsk, about 730 kilometers (450 miles) southeast of Kiev, is one of several in Ukraine's industrial east, a region where smokestacks and coal mines dot the skyline and a change of wind brings a pungent smell.

'Today, many factories are starting to go down this path,' Krykunov said.

Ukraine is one of the most inefficient energy users in the world, using almost as much natural gas as more advanced economies such as Germany and Britain. For every dollar's worth of industrial production, Ukraine consumes about 2 1/2 times as much energy as its neighbor Poland.

Gobbling up much of that natural gas is the metallurgical sector, which drives Ukraine's economy, accounting for almost 40 percent of all Ukrainian exports. Ukraine ranks first in the world in its use of open-hearth furnaces -- a dinosaur technology that requires huge amounts of gas -- in metal production. Forty percent of Ukraine's steel is produced using that method, compared to 3 percent in other steel-producing nations.

For decades, such waste didn't seem to matter. The Soviet Union was awash in natural gas. After the Soviet collapse, newly independent states such as Ukraine lacked the funds to modernize their industries, and Russia kept the cheap gas flowing, so there was no real incentive.

Then came last year's gas price dispute. Ukraine saw its foreign trade balance slide from a net positive to a deficit of 2.9 million hryvna (US$580,000, euro457,000) in the first half of 2006, with the biggest imbalances with its two main energy suppliers, Russia and Turkmenistan.

Officials began talking about the need to reduce gas consumption by as much as 60 percent. Ukrainian industry, led by the metal sector, has been the first to respond, reducing its use of natural gas by more than 1 billion cubic meters compared to a year ago, said Volodymyr Saprykin, an analyst with the Kiev-based Razumkov Center for Political and Economic Studies.

'We definitely saw long-term investment programs being altered,' said Ildar Gazizullin, an expert at Kiev's International Center for Policy Studies. 'I would expect that we will be seeing more modernization and an increase in efficiency in the next few years.'

Donetskstal's furnace No. 2, tucked inside a large, gated compound, is a model. A mix of pulverized coal and hot air are blasted into the towering furnace to produce about 2,300 tons of cast iron every day. In 2005, the furnace required 61 cubic meters of natural gas for every ton of cast iron produced; today, it requires none. The more environmentally friendly technology has also allowed the factory to cut back on the use of coke, which has also been growing more expensive.

Donetskstal plans to bring a second furnace online with the same technology within the next month.

'Coal is cheaper and very efficient, so the cost of metal production is less, of course,' said Ivan Volovnenko, a blast furnace expert at Donetskstal. 'For a time, every blast furnace was blowing natural gas. But about 20 years ago, the Europeans and the Asians stopped using natural gas for the same reason we are now.'

Donetskstal won't say how much it spent on renovations to switch to the new technology, but has been open about sharing the advantages. The company held a seminar for other metallurgical factories to show off its furnace, Krykunov said, and many were sold on it.

The government has floated the idea of offering special incentives to encourage the switch to energy-saving technologies, but so far hasn't offered anything specific. Metal companies, which had enjoyed healthy profit margins, have largely been doing it on their own.

First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said one thing the government wouldn't do is put an artificial limit on energy usage.

'Estimates that we may reduce by two times the use of gas in the next five years are absurd,' he said. 'We can't reduce the use of gas because our economy is going to keep developing and we are laying the basis for high economic growth. Gas-using sectors account for 30 percent of our economy.'

Industry just has to become more efficient, officials said.

'The one big stimulus is the increasing price of gas, it's really the big thing -- the one and only incentive that business needs,' Gazizullin said.

.

Driver,

What is your post?

Ray A
No post, a poster called dai oldenrich high jacked all the threads earlier today so I was just putting this B/B at the top where it should be.

How long would oil price stay down?

JKX has had an over-inflated share price for quite a time now. It should fall back to a more appropriate level around 150p or maybe slightly less.

150p???

Haystack,

Is that irrespective of whether well R101 becomes a producer or not?

JKX is little different from most of the other over-valued oil stocks. At the moment and for the last year or so oil stcks have been the equivalent of the dot com stocks. So many are valued in terms of the next well/discovery. This is going to end badly for most of the exploration companies adn their investors. There has been a correction in recent months, but I expect far more serious falls over the next year. Oil prices may well come down a lot more and if they do then quite a few companies will cease to be viable.

Andy, did you see the post on the BLR thread ref North sea gas

JKX Oil & Gas PLC
01 November 2006


JKX OIL & GAS PLC ('JKX')
ANNOUNCES
UKRAINIAN DRILLING UPDATE


JKX Oil & Gas plc ('JKX') announces that it has completed and tested Well I125
as part of its ongoing drilling programme at Poltava, Ukraine.

During testing, Well I125 flowed at a stabilised rate of 425 barrels of oil and
0.25 million cubic feet of gas through a 72/64 inch choke, with a wellhead
flowing pressure of 125 psi. The well has been tied back to the Company's
production facility via a 2 km flowline.

Well I125 is located on the southern flank of the Ignatovskoye field and is
completed in the Visean carbonate reservoir, which is oil bearing at this
location. Well I125 encountered secondary porosity zones in communication with
existing Well I123 and will accelerate recovery from the oil leg.

The Kremco rig has now spudded Well I126, which will drill a reefal feature
similar to the one successfully targeted by Well I124 earlier in the year.

JKX Oil & Gas plc is an exploration and production company listed on the London
Stock Exchange. The Company has license interests in Ukraine, Georgia, Russia,
Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey and the United States.


ENDS

For further information please contact:

Sofia Rehman Cardew Group 020 7930 0777



This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

425bbls/day through a 72/64ths choke and a wellhead pressure of 125psi.

Hardly world class is it and JKX are even now worth almost 1/2bln? You may have a point Haystack. Didn't appreciate until just now how poor the chart had looked in recent months either. Hmmm.

Sorry - on the chart, it's just reversed from the underside of the 26 week EMA. The 200day SMA seems to be rolling over too.

TAKEN FROM ADVFN

XenaWarriorPrincess - 8 Nov'06 - 21:42 - 3187 of 3187


Good to know that we are in safe hands when it comes to gas supplies.....

Gawd bless 'em all at Gazprom.........

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/11/09/002.html

"Last winter, a shortage of Russian supplies allowed Gazprom to meet only the minimum requirements of its European contracts, leading to shortfalls all around.

Growing demand at home means that Gazprom needs to develop new fields even if it meets its export commitments. Yet it has just started investing in the vast Yamal Peninsula now, 10 years after it was to begin production there. And its decision to go it alone at Shtokman -- a huge field located under the Barents Sea in extremely difficult conditions -- has prompted fears that development will be delayed there as well."

"Last winter, shortages struck three regions, including Moscow, and 1,945 Moscow enterprises were warned that they might be cut off. Electricity limits were eventually imposed on 604 of them.

This winter, 16 regions, including Moscow, are likely to face shortages, and 2,632 Moscow enterprises have been warned about cuts once the temperature drops to minus 15 degrees Celsius"

"Last month, Gazprom stopped insisting that it was producing enough gas to meet demand. It acknowledged that supplies were running dangerously low and called on the government to take urgent measures to stave off an energy crisis this winter.

"What we're looking at is three to five years of energy crisis,"

RNS!

Nice little prosuction increase.




LONDON (AFX) - JKX Oil & Gas PLC said the I126 well on the Poltava field in Ukraine flowed at at 1,850 barrels of oil and 3.25 mln cubic feet of gas per day during testing.

The well has been tied back to the company's production facility.

The Independant - The Investment Column: JKX Oil dogged by reserves uncertainty and price premium

Our view: Avoid

Share price: 298p (-9p)

"Annual results from JKX Oil & Gas yesterday made great reading for the group's shareholders. Both its profits and dividend doubled thanks to strong oil and gas prices. The bulk of the JKX's production is in the Ukraine. Although prices here are around half the level seen in Europe they are increasing at quite a pace which is great news for the FTSE 250 group. Last year alone domestic gas prices in the Ukraine rose by 55 per cent...........................However, not all is rosy at the company. It needs to replace its reserves which at the last count stood at just 44 million barrels of oil equivalent. JKX "