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

Thats the way..........

That means they can time it for the usual Tuesday update from Hardman.

Looks like better news form Mauritania!

Plaudits to poster car973 'over the road'

-----------------------------


"Mauritania ready to pump first oil
Email Print Normal font Large font February 20, 2006 - 7:34AM

Mauritania will produce its first oil by the end of this week and hopes to pump 300,000 barrels per day within three to four years, a senior state oil executive said.

Production should begin at the offshore Chinguetti field, operated by Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd, on Wednesday although last minute technical glitches could push the start-up back a couple of days.

"The 24th (of February) is the deadline," Ismail Abdel Vetah, director of operations for national oil company SMH, told Reuters in an interview in the capital, Nouakchott.

"There are a few last-minute technical issues on some well-heads, some seals which have leaked, but they are small problems," he said.

The Chinguetti project, one of five oil discoveries made off Mauritania's shores since 2001, will make the Islamic Republic Africa's newest oil producer and is forecast to yield 75,000 barrels per day.

Australia's Hardman Resources Ltd, one of the partners in the Chinguetti project, has said production from the field - thought to contain up to 120 million barrels of oil - will reach peak rates in April.

But preparations for the start of production have been overshadowed by a dispute with Woodside over amendments to production sharing contracts signed by a former oil minister, now in prison on fraud charges.

Mauritania, whose military rulers took power in a bloodless coup six months ago, says the changes were illegal and will reduce the share of the state in oil revenue.

Abdel Vetah said the amendments will cost Mauritania $US1 billion ($A1.35 billion) over the next 10 years if they are not annulled. He said the two sides have three months to resolve the dispute or else it will go to the International Chamber of Commerce.

"Mauritania has lived all of its life without petrol - we can hold out to have all our rights," he said. "We are patient but intransigent."

Woodside says it believes the amendments, approved by the previous Mauritanian government and passed into law in 2005, are valid and binding on all parties.

Abdel Vetah said Mauritania should be producing 300,000 barrels per day in three to four years, once three other fields in the same basin - Walata (formerly known as Tiof), Tevet and Labeidna - come on line.

"Walata is the most advanced. There are 300 million barrels of recoverable oil, so almost three times as much as Chinguetti," Abdel Vetah said.

"But it's a field with a very complicated geology. Woodside wants to drill one or two more wells to better understand how it behaves before embarking on a production plan."

Initial drilling suggested Tevet held 60 million to 70 million barrels of recoverable oil while Labeidna held around 60 million. A fourth field, Banda, was thought to contain about 50 million barrels, Abdel Vetah said.

Mauritania, a barren country straddling black and Arab Africa, is hoping oil finds under its eastern desert will catapult it into the major league of crude producers.

"Currently Mauritania has oil reserves estimated at around 600 million barrels, all offshore. Offshore there are not going to be any mammoth finds," Abdel Vetah said.

"What will make Mauritania a major oil producer is the Taoudeni basin."

Six oil companies, including France's Total, Spain's Repsol, and China's state-owned CNPC, have signed contracts for Taoudeni, a vast onshore basin roughly the size of France that stretches into neighbouring Mali.

"By 2007 the Chinese plan to have wells in this zone. They'll probably be the first," Abdel Vetah said.

He said Mauritania also had two trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, but that the amount was not sufficient to warrant commercial exploitation in liquefied natural gas form."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Business/Mauritania-ready-to-pump-first-oil/2006/02/20/1140283971847.html

great post. thx Andy

prop,

Pleasure.

Absolutely amazed to see SEY down this morning!

There have been a couple of 1 million sells, but with production imminent, I cannot understand why anyone is selling.

Another week or so and the price will surely be 25p?

Value will out in the end.

Andy, good report, thanks and share your exasperation on this share, compared to e.g. CHP going great guns on a set of promises, no oil flowing yet.
What is it that holds SEY back in the face of hard cashflow and the above reported prospects? Have institutions not yet digested (or forgiven?) the massive dilution when they raised $97m to buy their interest in the Mauritanian govt's share?
Ideas welcome.

sd

Stockdog,

I have no idea, but as you rightly say other oilers are shooting up on vague results and no idea of value, yet SEY remains static when it's on the brink of an additional 400% turnover, due to start any day now!

Quite incredible, but I'm holding for the longer term, so once production is actually confirmed as commencing, at such a high oil price, I expect some broker upgrades.

Agreed Andy

With 120mb estimated for Ching and another 175mb estiamted for the other three fiellds offshore Maurie, there should be a reasonable payback from the $97m investment over the next 4.5 years (120mb divided by 75kbpd?).

Probably the most interesting question is where SEY will deply its new cashflow - dividends, God forbid?

Watching and waiting - could have put it all on CHP!

sd

C'ant believe SP down another 0.5p today! However, thanks to your posts Andy am very happy to sit on this one til it hatches!

Anything happening here lately?

Decided to stay as seawallwalker, I sound slightly more like I knw what I am on about.

(emphasis on slightly).

Night all, may be oil tomorrow.

Madagascar looking good for this year, 2 d seismic.

Ray A,

Me neither!

It seems all those junior oilers with more hope and promise than measurable resources are climbing cliffs, and boring PRODUCERS with substantial cashflow, (soon to be greatly enhanced!) and PROFITS are unloved by the market!

Someone on iii has said production commences tomorrow, for the sake of the SP, let's hope it does!

I honestly believe value will be recognised in the end.

SWW,

I prefer the name, as you righty say, SWW gives the impression of a deep thinker walking beside the ocean pondering his next profitable investment!

poo bear on the otherhand...

Welcome back, let's hope your return coincides with a change in our recet fortunes here!

When having a grumble or three about the SEY share price we tend to forget that it is capitalised at more than several of these shooting stars added together. Add up EME, MRP, CHP and quite a few others and you still won't get anywhere near SEY's market cap.
We are still undervalued - if I didn't think that then I wouldn't hold, but until the oil starts to flow and until Tiof is finally declared commercial then the SP won't reflect reality. I can wait, although I agree that it is frustrating.

Posted by Chingachgook on Advfn.

from the Australian press on Monday

Production should begin at the offshore Chinguetti field, operated by Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd, on Wednesday although last minute technical glitches could push the start-up back a couple of days.

"The 24th (of February) is the deadline," Ismail Abdel Vetah, director of operations for national oil company SMH, told Reuters in an interview in the capital, Nouakchott.

"There are a few last-minute technical issues on some well-heads, some seals which have leaked, but they are small problems," he said.

2006 AAP

I found this recent article from Barclays Stockbrokers om another site.

Plaudits to gheluvelt.
---------------------------

Barclays Stockbrokers 'smart investor' magazine received today, containing an article on the oil sector; excerpts follow:

"Paul Mumford, fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management admits that with so many [oil] stocks to choose from he tends to cherry pick ....

Mumford mentions Roc Oil (ROC) which is producing revenues from the beginning of 2006 in Western Australia. "They also have an interest off West Africa, an option in Angola and an interest in China. Some of these things are fairly low risk because they are just options, whereas if they exercised them, it will be because they have actually found something rather than just being speculative."

"Then there is Sterling Energy, which has got some Texas production. You have again got West African interest and, of particular note, it has a holding in Madagascar which it hasn't exploited as yet, but is one that the major companies could be interested in. There is also a company called Nautical Petroleum (NPE), which is a North Sea heavy oil producer. It owns blocks that already have oil in them and its exploration is basically to ramp up its production in the heavy oil area."

"If you are looking for a slightly larger play, you have got Dana Petroleum (DNX), which has got a decent cash flow and some pretty good prospects spread around the place," Mumford continues. "Then you have the larger ones still, like Burren Energy (BUR) and Premier Oil (PMO), which I haven't actually got a holidng in, but still make a pretty sensible investment."

The following were all listed as "ones to watch":
Sibir Energy, Sterling Energy, White Nile, Star Energy, Roc Oil, Nautical Petroleum, Dana Petroleum, Burren Energy, PRemier Oil, Total, BP.

Andy,
I wonder just how long ago that article was written. SEY has already done a deal with Exxon on the Madagascar licence.
Interesting also that he plugs White Nile - if ever a share was held up with hype and hope, then this is it.

source: yahoo finance

Mauritania set to start pumping oil on Friday

Click to enlarge photo

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) - Offshore oil production in Mauritania is due to officially start Friday, the head of the country oil production company said.

Aboubekrine Ould Merouani, of the Societe Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures (SMH) told AFP officially production begins Friday "but a period of two to three days of uncertainty is foreseen, even if technically all is set."

The government of Mauritania hopes to produce some 75,000 barrels of oil a day and expects to earn about 200 million dollars per year in oil exports.

Production should begin at the Chinguetti offshore field operated by Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd (Berlin: WOPA.BE - news) .

No official ceremonies are planned for the launch of the historic and lucrative business, which is set to see Mauritania join the club of other African oil producing countries such as Nigeria, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Angola.

Of late, the government has been in dispute with Woodside Mauritania, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Australian-listed firm, over amendments to its initial deal with the ousted regime of Maaouiya Ould Taya.

Former oil minister Zeidane Ould Hmeida has been detained on charges of serious economic crimes and court proceedings opened this week.

Judicial investigators have also probed members of the former regime and parliamentarians over the amendments.

Mauritania's Prime Minister Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar this week renewed the military junta's pledge to ensure that revenues from oil and other natural resources benefit the local population.

"We want to avoid making mistakes committed in countries whose people have been unable to benefit from their natural resources by having a system to guarantee transparency in managing our mineral reserves," Ould Boubacar said when he set up a national committee to oversee the exploitation of resources.

Mauritania, where the military overthrew an unpopular regime in August last year, has pledged a return to open democratic rule in 2007.

Bon accord, n'est pas?

oui!

Some very big buys about this pm.

84 million as I write in 20 minutes.

As Euro says on the other channel, very bullish and should underpin the sp at 23p for a bit.

i don't hold sey atm i did- but that is some buying?. reasons?.any of you in goo?- interesting prospect http://www.goldoilplc.com