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

Thanks Andy, I hope you're well. Obviously sticking with SEY is not without its risks but as you say, patience may be a virtue and the work in Kurdistan is promising.

All quiet on here for a week. Have you all sold up and moved on?

Another stake increase by AMVESCAP. Surely a bid can't be too far away now?

Sterling Energy PLC (the 'Company')

Holding in Company

The Company was informed on 30 November 2006 by AMVESCAP PLC ('AMVESCAP') that, following the purchase of 1,964,136 ordinary shares of 1p each ('Ordinary Shares'), INVESCO Perpetual UK Investment Series (UK ICVC), are the beneficial
owner of 266,984,458 Ordinary Shares representing 19.03 per cent. of the issued
share capital of the Company of 1,402,950,558 Ordinary Shares.

The above purchase increases AMVESCAP's interest, within the meaning of Part VI
of the Act, to 407,242,907 Ordinary Shares representing 29.03 per cent. of the
issued share capital of the Company.

Pondie ..... haven't been a holder of SEY for some months now, but certainly that Amvescap holding is interesting as almost certainly being used as a nominee ..... unless I am much mistaken >29.9% means t/o must be tabled ..... however, that does not necessarily mean a premium

Have you all sold up and moved on?

Yes

Nah! Just getting interesting, don't you think?

No

FWIW I reckon SEY is in play and the various stakes are being hawked around to try to find a buyer. I don't hold any shares now, but I do have a March 07 spread bet that is seriously under the water at present. I am hoping that it will be taken out sometime in the next 4 months to save my bacon. I need 22p to break even and from here that's just about enough of a bid premium. It is does go for just 22p then AMVESCAP and others will be out of pocket on a large proportion of their holding.

Pondy - I hope it works out for you.

I do not expect them to be taken out any time soon however.

Sterling still need to obtain clarification that there will not be any further downgrades in Chinguetti, they need Chinguetti 18 to actually work and produce around 10kbopd as advertised, there's not much else short term, and a buyer would want something else.

The GOM assets are nice for a GOM based firm but would any of those want the rest?

Doubt it.

Madagascar is a nice possibility, but that's too far away to make much difference in the near term.

I have no confidence short term, but have an eye on middle to long, but I still don't think I will come back here, other stocks are much less agro.

Good luck with your sb, I'll be watching.

I tend to agree. I opened my long after a day of high volume trading and high volatility which, I thought signalled the bottom and the start of better times. Wrong again! Having held SEY in quantity for a couple of years, I was like a drunk coming back for more. Today, there are much better prospects around. Looks like I'll have to get my money back somewhere else, but I might as well hold on for the time being. I truly don't think that it's going down any further from here - famous last words.

SWW - apropos your post on my charting thread, I can't see any signal. Its just bouncing around on its support level and needs to break and hold 19 for me to get excited. The only 'buy' signal I've seen recently is the repeated attempts by Shares mag to get it going - 'Screaming Buy' etc. Somehow I just don't see it.

Pondy you about hit the nail on the head.

I too was a drunk coming back for more.......... fido did me a favour in the end, his obnoxious posts made me eventually see sense, and examine exactly why I was interested in Sterling.

Well, I suppose I will always be interested but my money is elsewhere and doing a darn site better than this.

The bottom line is now Mauritania, which is holding Sterling back.

That place is the graveyard of 2 companies now if I include Fusion Oil & Gas, alongside of Hardman Resources.

I am not impressed, I held those as well as Sterling.

I am not saying it will do Sterling in, it is just impeding their progress.

I'm glad to have gone cold turkey on it.

Time to shut up!

I have held Sey for three years and have bought in and out from May.
What keeps me going with the stock is that
Amvescap own 20% of it and they seem to keep buying.
Any views.

They actually control over 29% of it. It is only the bid prospect that makes SEY interesting at the present time. The stake is being hawked around in the market at trying to find someone who might want to bid for the company. The current share price perhaps indicates that there have been no takers.

Pond life,

Whilst there is a story going around that SEY are being offered to the market, until officially announced, IMO, it is only a rumour, and the management seem to be carrying on with not only running the business as a going concern, but also checking out new licences in Cameroon, participating in new wells being drilled in Texas, buying into a low risk drill program onshore USA, and trying to obtain a PSC in Kurdistan.

I would rather SEY stay independent for a while longer, and have the potential to reap the benefits of Kurdistan and Madagascar.

I think some of the directors options are out of the money at this price, and AMEVSCAP may well be down too, so I cannot imagine a takeover being agreed at around this price.

"...Chinguetti production averaged around 27,700 bopd for October 2006, and is
currently around 23,000 bopd following significant disruptions to production in
November related to unplanned facilities shutdowns during the month........."

http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200612050700072373N.html

We have had two pieces of seemingly bad news today, so why has the SP been up most of the day. The answer is that in both cases the news is historic and they are out of the way. People on this board have constantly asked why when there has been heavy buying of Sterlings shares over the last few months that the price did nothing. The answer is Westmounts selling of 40 million shares. Westmount is an investment company and would have had no regard to Sterlings prospects. When the problem of Ching started they would have made the decision to sell regardless of future prospects. They gave the MM`s the OK to sell 40 million on a protracted sale over all this time and so all the buying that has taken place has been against a 40 million overhang, and that is why the SP has done nothing. The good news is that the announcing of the trade means that it is now complete and normal buisiness can resume.
The other bad news is the 23,000 bopd at Ching. Again this is historic and shows that work is being done on the field in preparation for drilling of the first remedial well due to spud shortly.
Both these pieces of news will have been known by the MM`s and explain why the SP has been weak. With this news out of the way the SP has shown some sign of relief and may now factor in the better news on its way.
Going forward we have the remedial drilling and works that will lift production at Ching back up again in the very near future.
You also have a congress vote today that may open up more areas of the GOM to drilling and will be of most benifit to Louisiana.
In december you have the spudding of the Thunder Stud well in Louisiana. This will target 133 million cubic feet if gas, with 30 million net to Sterling. As I said before Louisiana is becoming a powerhouse for gas and oil and Sterling are going to see huge benifit.
More importantly I am expecting news of a PSC for Sterling in Kurdistan in the near future as most all of Kurdistans demands seem to have been agreed by Iraqs Federal government-see link below.
Hopefully we have now seen the floor and with the Westmount disposal being taken up by other institutions that have more a mind for the future, we can look forward to better times.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=930179

Fido,
Surely the Westmount sale is very old news. I seem to recall an RNS about this early on in the year when the SP was starting its rise.

I did say that the news was historic, but the point remains the same.
It is now time to look forward not back.
Ching should now be on the increase.
GOM is powering ahead.
Kurdistan is near.
Madagascar will follow.

It is very old news.

http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/20050930113200Z2326.html
"Amvescap PLC


FORM SAR 3

DISCLOSURE OF ACQUISITIONS

(Rule 3 of The Rules Governing Substantial Acquisitions of Shares)


Name of acquirer AMVESCAP PLC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beneficial owner, if different from above DISCRETIONARY MANAGED CLIENTS OF AMVESCAP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Names of any other persons acting by
agreement or understanding (see SAR 5)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Company dealt in STERLING ENERGY PLC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class of voting shares (eg ordinary shares) ORDINARY 1P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date of acquisition 29 SEPTEMBER 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Number of shares acquired 40,000,000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of rights over shares acquired #
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nature of rights over shares
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"

However Westmount still hold 30 million shares.

I can see why fido has referred to it, as Westmount only refer to it today in their finals for the period ending June 2006.

Westmount finals.

"WESTMOUNT ENERGY LIMITED

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2006


The Board of Westmount Energy Limited, the Jersey, Channel Islands based
independent oil and gas investment company ('the Company') today announces the
preliminary results of the Company and its subsidiary ('the Group') for the year
ended 30 June 2006. Highlights are as follows:


Turnover from discontinued operations in the North Sea 1,118 (2005:
137,925).

Profit before tax of 4,759,631, profit after tax 4,292,357 (2005:
Profit before tax of 485,867, profit after tax 461,362).

Basic earnings per share of 57.19p (2005: 6.14p).

Diluted earnings per share of 56.20p (2005: 6.14p).

The results for the year ended 30 June 2006 include the surplus realised
on the termination of the Group's overriding royalty interest relating to
Licence P241 North Sea amounting to 1,706,201 and the profit realised on
the disposal of 40 million of the Company's shareholding of 70 million
Ordinary Shares of Sterling Energy plc amounting to 3,189,999."

Isn't it lovely to keep wearing rose tinted spectacles in this garden.

Never mind the real world.

The real world consists of the constant noise of drilling in the GOM, to be followed by Ching and Kurdistan. All will be filling the coffers of Sterling with very real millions.