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

If my info is correct, northern iraq is now quite stable ...... It also seems that there is huge reconstruction work already started both north and south, despite the very severe internal conflicts, cargo often being brought in via india to get round any trade embargos that may exist ...... for sure some of the major oil and wellhead service companies are getting up a head of steam.

an interesting area for investment, though i would not recommend visiting your sites!

fido, cynic,

From what I have read the Kurd region in northern Iraq is very stabe politically, and SEY will be joining other western companies already active in the region, so country risk in this area of Iraq seems much lower than in the areas south such as Basra and Baghdad.

I think it's an interesting prospect for SEY, and quite a brave decision too.

When I read other people speculating that SEY is "up for sale", I think about the prospects and exploration opportunities they already have, and they have now added Iraq, and I have come to the conclusion that they may well indeed be "up for sale", but not at the current price, and not now!

If SEY strike oil in Madagascar or Iraq, we could see a much higher share price, and I'm sure Harry and the other directors are striving for just such a scenario, so why give it all away for so little now?

Andy,
My view that SEY could be up for sale is not speculation on my part. I am just repeating what Harry himself has said on several occasions. That - plus AMVESCAP and 25% of the shares.

With regard Kirdistan there seems to be a completly different way of thinking to the rest of the country. Rather than press the self distruct button like the rest of the country, Kirdistan seems to realise that if it gets its act together then the future for Kirdistan and its people could be very rosy indeed.To acheive its aim it is attracting large volumes of international investment and the benifits can already be seen with the likes of its international airport which can take the worlds largest aircraft and Turkey have just started flights into Kirdistan.

Take a look at the following link for background information but you will see that Kirdistan is being transformed.

http://www.krg.org

One thing worthy of note if the fact that Kirdistan like Mauritania seem to want to deal with the small oil companies to the exclusion of the big boys. Its probably because letting in the like of BP etc would mean loosing too much control for a small country. What this does do however is to make it exceedinly profitable for the small guys who are let in and can get established. If you look at Mauritania, it is basicly Sterling that is developing Mauritania`s oil industry as the country has no experience itself and Sterling are providing training to government officials. This puts Sterling in a first class position with regard future licences and Mauritania`s oil industry development which is set to quadruple in two years.
Sterling`s team seem to have excellent working relationships with the governments in which they work and if deals can come out of the MOU in Iraq (they have the right to negotiate a PSA) then the outlook for profits in that country, like Mauritania, are massive.

Pond life,

As the saying goes, everything has it's price, but I don't think Harry intends selling at this price!

They are still active in the exploration arena, and any positive result there has the potential to add considerable value to SEY, and, of couse, the director's holdings.

Amevscap are key to future events, but they will want to maximise their gain too, IMO.

I think SEY will want a higher price, time will tell.

In the meantime sp making nice steady gains, firm market for the stock, could see 40p soon.

One thing that I said before that know one has picked up on is the fact that becoming established in Kirdistan is very much considered by international investors as being a precuser to getting into the rest of Iraq when the time is right. That means that in the time they are doing their feild studies and negotiating a PSA for Kirdistan they will almost certainly be keeping an eye on Iraq as a whole and will be in a good position to make a move on some of the massive feilds in the south when the time is right.
To put it into perpective, Iraq holds the 4th largest reserves of oil in the world and the area where Sterling are doing their feild studies is virtually unexplored. That means that they should be able to negotiate a good PSA deal in Kirdistan and still be able to be in a good position to take advantage of any opportunities with the proven massive fields of the south. This will be made all the more easier by their director links with Petrel Resources in the south. Either way, whether its Kirdistan, Mauritania, Africa or where ever, you can understand why the chairman said in the last results that in all his decades in the industry he has never been so optimistic about the future.

"The chairman said in the last results that in all his decades in the industry he has never been so optimistic about the future."

That said Fido, 40p is but a small stepping stone.

All buys from 14.37, should be about due another uptick.

opto me old mucker 40p is a mear skip and jump away as imho i think sey will start moving in twos or threes soon

SEY moving in twos and threes? I can but dream.

If you don't have a dream then how..........

As a Dragon Oil veteren I can remember when its SP was 10p and people debated every quarter pence rise or fall. Now a move of ten pence or so doesn`t even raise an eyebrow.

Congrats to the people on this board for being in sey. It's probably been reported on already that it was a "play of the week" in shares this week. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad when shares does this. It means people are just picking up on a company's potential or it means it's a bit late and it's only being featured because it's gone up so much and entered the spotlight. For example, Wolfson was a play of the week in November at 260, so that's done well but I remember Tadpole being a play of the week over 2 years ago at 21p and now it's 2.1p so basically it seems pretty irrelevant what shares thinks as it depends on the quality of the company. A tip from the IC seems to have more effect on a sp er. Tullow was one of their plays over a month ago and has since risen meteorically.

I have to congratulate the last poster on his comment about dragon at 10p. From the little I understand about shares the ability of successful stock picking is being able to envisage something in the future that others can't imagine at the present time. This is how you get the ten baggers etc. So when I bought Victoria oil at 55p and sold it again at 50 it was a ten percent drop but now at 2.50 each 5p movement only equals 2% as opposed to 10%.

So now according to Fido's post every time dragon moves up 10 p it's equivalent to 5% but if you bought at 10p it's another "bagger" or 100%. This would have been quite difficult to imagine when dragon was at 10p I guess. I think this is what Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet are alluding to when they talk about themselves as being "long term greedy". They're not looking to move in and out because the real winners come from long, long term holds of years when the old price seemed unbelievable. Nothing but a distant memory. And in Peter Lynch's case it's then the case to start looking for more companies which could have an "unenvisageable" rise. But I think it's a difficult skill trying to imagine or visualise something in the future that seems ridiculous and far-fetched at the time.

Saintserf,
Sterling like Dragon are a long term hold. I can remember when Dragon moved from 20p to 40p and everyone bailed out thinking they had sold at the top. Dragon at 2.00 are now a 20 bagger and the best bit is that my own personal long term target is 12.68.
Likewise Sterling are a long term play as seen by their prospects in Kirdistan which will take a couple of years to come about, but the market always moves well before so you are looking at a lot of near term upside as well as Mauritania`s oil market quadruples within 2 years.

Not far now almost a double bagger for me,

40 opto,,make it a 1!!

OK Dave :-)

To aLL,

I was in SEY in Sep 05 and sold in Feb for personal reasons. Do you think its worth getting back in???

Saintserf, Fido, thank you for talking some of the best investment common sense I have read in a long time. Am now sitting with a smile on my face imagining the days when people won't bat an eyelid at a 2p rise on BLR - nice if it happens!!

Meaning no disrespect to other posters here, as lots of you have made some very interesting comments. Am not in SEY, by the way, but like to drop in regularly to get a feel of opinions.