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

DB raise oil price for this year to $66. Oil stocks should reverse.

That's around 20% above the previous price. Oil producing companies should gain 40% by year end IMO

I think volume in the US was the highest ever last night. Am I right?

RNS! - Amevscap have been buying again!


RNS Number:3387E
Sterling Energy PLC
09 June 2006


Sterling Energy PLC (the "Company")

Holding in Company



The Company was informed on 7 June 2006 by AMVESCAP PLC ("AMVESCAP") that,
following the purchase of 523,101 ordinary shares of 1p each of the Company
("Ordinary Shares"), AMVESCAP has an interest in of 364,771,670 Ordinary Shares,
representing 25.94 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company.


The above interest is held as follows:
Registered Name Number of
ordinary shares
held

Bank of New York (Brussels) 575,145
JP Morgan Chase 1,497,200
Chase Nominees Limited 43,703,280
Bank of New York 1,398,982
Bank of Ireland (Dublin) Nominees Limited 2,400,000
Vidacos Nominees Limited 311,922,664
Japan Trustee Services Bank 39,498
State Street Trust & Banking Co (London) 1,258,000
Trust and Custody Services JP 76,901
Northern Trust Company (London) 1,900,000

Total 364,771,670

The AMVESCAP also informed the Company that the above holding included the
holding of INVESCO Perpetual UK ICVC Series (UKICVC) ("INVVESCO") who are
interested in 198,478,823 Ordinary Shares representing 14.11 per cent of the
issued share capital of the Company.


9 June 2006


This information is provided by RNS

Gearing up for possible future bid then???

r88avre,

Amevscap are a fund manager, so not them, but their stake will be strategic in any bid!

26% of any company is one hell of a slice, and especially of a minnow such as this ..... a t/o would be lovely, but current non-reaction of sp indicates otherwise.

Yeah it's an impressive stake. I'm not shorting any stocks, but as cynic writes on the alkane energy thread I think it's best to do nothing I think until the market is clearer. I might be wrong. But I've sold most of my shares. it should be said i've never owned sey but have had tlw and others. As for 60$ oil not being in the price, well maybe but the important question is does sey have hedging in place. If they've hedged their future contracts on oil delivery at a guaranteed lower price then it doesn't matter what the price of oil is. The info will be in the results,certainly some companies are trying to unwind hedged positions, as the oil price stays high but you can't do it overnight.

As I am a bit of novice here I would be interested to know what the term hedging mean?

The company (SEY) sells some or all of its oil production forward at a predetermined price ...... This protects against a fall in the price of crude but of course loses any additional profit over and above the price at which they have contracted to sell.

saintserf,

They sold some of the GO gas at a hedged price, but they do not have a hedge in place for the majority of Ching oil to my knowledge.

What happened to the price today? We appear to have taken a late dive for some reason. That plus a late trade for over 6 million shares. I topped my holding at 25p. I am now wishing that I had sold the lot.

Pondie .... prob no reason at all other than peeps tidying away their positions ahead of w/e ..... My own feeling is that this share should be worth quite a bit (no idea how much) more, especially as Amvescap clearly think it's worth having a 25% holding ...... However, the stock is currently out of favour with the punters, so shall just sit on the relatively small holding I have

I put this on the board a few days back

Starts:-
Posted by remus98 on advfn 26/5/2006

"This has been on the http://www.africaintelligence.com site for a few days. I've tried to speak to SEY and have emailed them but no one avaiable to speak to me.

"AFRICA ENERGY INTELLIGENCE N417 - 24/05/2006
OIL & GAS
Sterling Braces for Change
Africa Energy Intelligence understands the Mauritanian government is seeking to re-negotiate the stakes of Britain's Sterling in the Chinguetti field in Mauritania's offshore. (...).
[ 354 words ] [ 4 ] Read the article"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Followed by this yesterday.


Mauritanian deal to be renegotiated?

So says remus 98 on advfn thread.

remus said, "SEY did ring me back eventually and mentioned the meeting above which he said would be in the coming week. He didn't know how it would go and quoted Gordon Brown's 10% shock, they just had to negotiate but some of the amendments were to bring the agreement into line with standard oil documentation...........

http://www.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=10427549

I ask, is this the reason?

Funny time for Amvescap to buy more if it is the reason.

Personally I would not panic, as any renegotiation is better than a total unravelling of the deal.

Of course the Mauritanian Governmet is no longer as poor as it was.

DYOR etc

There is no big mystery why the share price has gone down. Sterling has very small earnings but a large expectation value placed on the Company mainly in respect of Mauritania.

Unfortunately the bad news out of Chinquetti 75 to 41 thousand barrels a day and the renegotiation of the previously agreed contract with Woodside when markets are jittery is the last thing you need. Furthermore Oil is not expected out of Tiof until 2009 at the earliest. As a Hardman shareholder I am also suffering some pain.

Evening gents

SEY have hedged $38 lowest limit they can recieve anything over $45 has a reduction of $4 put on it so at present $70-$4 SEY would recieve $66. Hope that is clear.

SAR`s RNS now has anyone noticed. 1: They did not have to put out that RNS. It was niether on a % threshold nor had it taken them through one from the previous RNS ??

2: Low and behold a 6 million trade appears at the end of the day.

3: It is the first time I have seen a list of holdings for each firm / Fund I notice from memory Invesco London have now gone and transfered thier holding to Invesco Perpetual. I would love to know who exactly VIDOCAS NOMINEES ARE?

Few points being missed Mauritanian Goverment stated quite clearly THEY WILL HONOUR ALL INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS. Woodside caught with a bribe??? but still had the option to go through the agreed procedure to resolve the issue.That is why they faced the music

SEY payed a $15 million bonus clearly stated and up front. Are we saying that SEY bribed the last goverment to get the deal? or are we saying that the $15 million was above board but did not reach the treasury (SEY`s fault then).What about the JV`s $100 million bonus?

The worst will be 5% on oil above $55 same as Woodside but I personnel do not think it is that obvious. Tie backs is were the issue lies IMHO and I am hopeing that we will get clarification on this issue at the AGM.

Regards
Have a good weekend

This is the real reason for the drop off..........
FT.com

Equator Exploration rose 12.3 per cent to 114p amid talk that fellow oil and gas explorer Sterling Energy was considering a bid for the company, attracted by Equators Nigerian concessions and cash pile. Sterling shares eased 6.4 per cent to 22p.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/543e05c4-f789-11da-9481-0000779e2340.html

Morning SWW

Good find & nice fit from what I have just read.

Regards

Could be a very good deal for HW. KBC Peel Hunt put a target of 500p on EEL as recently as March (ancient history in current market conditions). My understanding is that EEL's current market cap is almost entirley covered by their net cash, so the enterprise assets are in the price for free. Even allowing a bid premium on the current bombed out price, SEY could get ot below NAV at 171 p per share. Exciting times.
Having felt thoroughly dejected at close of play on Friday I am now feeling very chipper again. Roll on monday, bring it on....

Morning SWW,

Many thanks for that, still not sure why we would sell off so quickly though, I see that speculation as positive for SEY.

Harry did a great deal for SEY with the Fusion, and I'm sure he would achieve another one if this goes ahead.

Like pondy, that article has put a spring back in my step!