anyone got any ideas about the block trades that went through today?

website: http://www.sterlingenergyplc.com/



weather: www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/084938.shtml?50wind120

Looking good, my buy at 17.25p is looking nice now and the black stuff is about to flow!! sp targets anyone?

Jameel006 - "explosive, views taken on board but im sure that there is also an agreemnet with a big USA oil company in Madagasscar!"

If such and agreement exists with a big oil company in Madagasscar then lets hear about it or have an RNS on it... Sorry Jameel but "I'm sure" isn't good enough for me... Personally I always though SEY would be aquired by a bigger player in the market a view shared by many... I'm staying out of this one as I think better shares on the market than SEY at the moment. Each to their own though and I wish you the best of luck, never know I could come back to this stock in the future.

andysmith,

To be pefectly honest, share price predictions are a VERY inexact science, in fact more guesswork IMO.

Having said that, there does seem to be a consensus amongst BBers that SEY will run up to 30p on the back of Chinguetti production, though I personally doubt that, 25p being the highest price I can see without any further news.

explosive - this is for you.

Posted 3 pages back.

Confirmationj is on the Sterling Web Site.

http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh91028_2006-01-16_10-48-28_l16759835_newsml

"Exxon Mobil to open office in Madagascar"
Mon Jan 16, 2006 05:48 AM ET
ANTANANARIVO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - American oil giant Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is to open an office in the Madagascan capital as it prepares to start drilling in two recently acquired offshore blocks, the government said on Monday.
Elise Razaka, director general of the Office of National Mines and Strategic Industries, said Exxon would set up an office in Antananarivo on Jan. 27.

"Because of the oil drilling works it will soon undertake offshore, Exxon Mobil is opening an office in Antananarivo," Razaka told Reuters.

Last July, Exxon boosted its oil and gas presence in Madagascar by taking a 70 percent interest in two licences held by small UK-listed oil explorer Sterling Energy (SEY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) .

Though largely unexplored, the government thinks the world's fourth largest island has big reserves of oil that are profitable to extract at current prices.

It expects to have production of around 60,000 barrels a day in the next 3-4 years, much of it coming from offshore blocs on the northwest coast.

Razaka said that in one of the blocs, Exxon had teamed up with privately held American explorer firm, Vanco Energy, and Norway's Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) .

"The offshore prospecting works undertaken off Mahajanga, in the northwest of Madagascar, will be launched at the beginning of the year," Razaka said.

Besides Exxon and Norway's Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) , which has its own concession in addition to its venture with Exxon, the government says it is negotiating with other oil giants.

These include Chevron Texaco (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) (RDSb.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) , Total (TOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Norway's Statoil (STL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) and China's National Petroleum Corporation.

The impoverished island of 17 million is also being explored by mining companies looking for gold, gemstones, nickel and titanium.

Madagascar, an island off the southeast coast of Africa, is known to have oil and gas reserves, but they are poorly mapped and drilling remains at an exploratory stage

Production commences February 17th

"Production will begin Feb. 17 at the offshore Chinguetti oil field, located 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Nouakchott in the Atlantic Ocean, said Aboubakr Ould Marouani, director of the state-run Mauritanian Hydrocarbon Company, which is charged with overseeing oil sales.

Oil will be loaded onto ships and exported beginning in mid-March, Marouani said.

The offshore field is operated by Woodside Energy of Australia.

Mauritanian officials say production is expected average about 75,000 barrels of oil a day for nine years."


ee(tmf)

lovely jubley

poo bear,


Cheers for that.

Surprised at only a .25p rise for that news personally, effectively production is starting early.

Now .5p
Good volume again today, with the best part of 5 million shares traded in four parcels. Some major moves are afoot.

What great news-75,000 barrels a day for 9 years,non stop prodn. let the show begin

What great news-75,000 barrels a day for 9 years,non stop prodn. let the show begin

someone know what 75kbpd is worth as Sey's share - is it 8% royalty? do they get a bonus for going on stream? too tired to look it up - apologies.

sd

Stockdog - it actually works out to nearer 12%(assume 12%), with the Premier Royalty added to the GOM deal.

It's mega, 75000barrelsx365days a yearx$45(approx)bblx12/100(percentx9years=

$133,042,500 gross, then apply extraction costs, transportation costs and taxes.

Woodside are in dispute with the Mauritanian Government, does ot affect Chinguetti production.

Woodside dispute

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. has been advised by the Mauritanian Government that it disputes
amendments to four offshore production sharing contracts operated by the companys whollyowned
subsidiary, Woodside Mauritania Pty Ltd.
The amendments, which are supplementary to the production sharing contracts, were negotiated
with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and approved by the Mauritanian Government and the
Mauritanian Parliament before becoming law in 2005. Woodside is confident that the amendments
are proper, valid and binding on all parties.
Woodside Mauritania Pty Ltd is in discussions with the Mauritanian Government to explore ways of
resolving the dispute.
Woodside welcomes the Governments willingness to address the matter under the dispute
resolution procedures of the production sharing contracts. If the dispute cannot be resolved
through discussion, the parties are likely to begin arbitration under the contract terms.
The dispute does not affect the Chinguetti project which remains on schedule to produce first oil
this month.
Woodside operates the Chinguetti Joint Venture and the four offshore production sharing contracts
on behalf of several joint venturers, including Hardman, BG, Premier, ROC Oil, Fusion, Petronas,
Dana Petroleum, Energy Africa and the Government-owned SociMauritanienne des
Hydrocarbures.

Interesting, poo. Hopefully this won't affect the share price today. There were a lot of big deals going through yesterday. A buy bot was working, buying parcels of 50,000 shares at 23.5p Every few seconds another buy would tick through and if the price tripped up to 23.75p then the buys would astop until the price came down again. Clearly there was a large seller feeding the market and at the close of play this was identified by a sale of 6,000,000 + shares.
The price ticked up another notch at the close, so let's hope that the seller has cleared and we can make more progress from here.
Perhaps one or two large holders are nervous of the possible dispute with the Mauritanian government. If they got wind of an RNS out today this could have triggered selling. If the price doesn't tank today then they clearly got it wrong.

Pondy - what is apparent is this was leaked the day before in Oz.

Shorts increased overnight to many tens of millions, then this announcement.

FWIW here Hardman was particularly badly hit on the sp front initially, then crept back up as the message was read properly.

We knew this was coming, so I fail to see why there was any reaction other than a small percentage.

If Sterling do fall back, it will be tempoary imo.

Last 2 items found, they have not had a mention in Mauritania.

Now where's that GOM gas well being drilled?

Due now!

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Morning all,fires burning well here and still a very happy holder.

Up another notch at the close, having been 24.25 - 24.5 for a moment or two. This still has further to run next week. Clearly the large seller at 23.5 was holding the market back and has now cleared. Onwards and upwards.

A great week all SEY share holders, same next week please.

goal

SEY tipped as a BUY in the Buisiness today, accoprding to a poster on another board.

Here's the link to the Business report;



http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?Aim%20Investor&StoryID=6950C52E-F938-4031-A918-584CA7897961&SectionID=9A21BE85-0186-496A-9DFF-7C2F0883CFC3



Aim Investor
By Andrew Griffiths
05 February 2006


SHARES in Sterling Energy, one of the strongest hydrocarbon plays on Aim, have jumped after an announcement that production from the offshore Chinguetti field in Mauritania should start as planned in March 2006.

Sterling has an 8% interest in the field and described the event as a milestone that will transform the company. Add this to a sliding-scale royalty over 5% more of the field worth nearly $7 a barrel and promising other discoveries, and you can see why investors are starting to get excited.

Last October, an adjacent well discovered oil, helping to confirm Sterlings estimate of a field of 50m barrels. If declared commercial, Sterling would benefit from its royalty interest and tariff income as production is expected to be transported through a tie-back to the Chinguetti facilities.

A further exploration well is expected by the end of the year, and four or five more wells in 2006. Due to its royalty interest, Sterling pays no costs for any of these wells.

Sterling came to Aim in October 2002 by reversing into the oil production and exploration company LEPCO. At that time its main revenue-generating assets were offshore oil and gas production facilities in the US Gulf of Mexico. Since then, it has expanded into West Africa, through its acquisition of Fusion Oil & Gas and increased its presence in the Gulf through the acquisition of five gas fields.

Sterlings strategy is straightforward: it uses cash-flow from the low-risk Gulf assets to drive exploration elsewhere. Exploration activities are higher risk, but the company saves money by partnering with production businesses that bear most of the costs of extracting the oil and gas that Sterling finds.

Independent consulting engineers have upgraded Sterlings proven and probable US reserves by 5%. Of the total, 60% are in the proven category.

Sterlings production has been affected by Hurricane Rita although gas prices have since been markedly higher.

A farm-out deal with ExxonMobil for the Ambilobe and Ampasindava offshore licences in Madagascar adds to the gravitas. ExxonMobil will pay for a significant exploration work programme in return for a 70% interest in the licences. Chief executive Harry Wilson suggested rising cash-flows would allow Sterling to be bolder in exploration and selectively add further production assets.

Interim results to June 2005 showed sales of 6.7m and a pre-tax profit of 3.3m and earnings per share of 0.17p compared to 0.15p in the previous year. The shares were recommended at 13p. A strong hold.

Andrew Griffiths is managing editor of the Aim & Ofex Newsletter www.aimnewsletter.co.uk