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

In 2007 Sterling has also participated in the c18,000 ft Brown 1 well ('Thunder
Stud') and which has reached target depth, has recently been logged and is being
evaluated.

To date in 2007, WEC has participated in the drilling of nine wells with seven
successful, one dry hole and one currently being evaluated.

The market is as unimpressed, as I am.

Looks like a placement coming to clear the dbt from the Whittier deal.

......Increased cash flow is seen coming from the company's recently completed acquisition of Whittier Energy Corp, and it also said it will seek to refinance the debt incurred from the acquisition.

Borrowed from a post by 'fido' on AD---
Someone likes SEY:

Dolmen Stockbrokers - 16 May 2007
Todays Recommendation
Sterling Energy (15p) Cash profit quadruples Stuart Draper
Target : 28p (24/08/06 ; previously 34p, issued 17/05/06)
2006 results : This morning, Sterling Energy announced its
results for the year ended 31/12/06. The results showed very
strong year on year cash flow growth, with the companys 2006
cash operating profit (EBITDA) of $56.2m representing a more
than quadrupling on the 2005 comparative of $11.6m. This was
12% stronger than the consensus forecast for 2006 EBITDA of c.
$50m. With this group EBITDA expected to grow to c.$65m this
year and to c.$75m in 2008, there is major upside potential for
the share price now from the allocation of this cash flow to
fund successful low risk drilling to grow group 2p reserves.
Chinguetti discounted : As expected, given last years reserve
write-down at Chinguetti, there was a non-cash write down of
$57.3m in relation to the $170m of net asset value reported as
at 30/06/06 as a result of the revised Chinguetti reserves of
51m bbls announced in January. However, even assuming an oil
price of only $50/bbl, the 8% Chinguetti holding and royalty
interest is still worth c.55m.
Proven reserves : Valuing the companys separate 5.28% Tiof
royalty on 359m barrels, which remains unaffected, gives
60m, as does its Tevet royalty worth c.5.5m, giving a total
oil value for Sterling of c.120m. Sterlings Banda gas royalty in
Mauritania is still worth 42m. The value of its proven and
probable gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico has doubled to
180m following the Whittier acquisition, as has its 3P Gulf of
Mexico gas reserves risked at 50%, to 74m, giving a total gas
value for Sterling now of 296m. In January, Sterling announced
the acquisition of onshore US Gulf Coast exploration and
production company, Whittier Energy, for $188m. The
acquisition c.doubled Sterlings reserves, production and cash
flow, and was financed using the companys net cash balance of
$56.5m, a completed placing of new shares at 16p to raise a
further $50m, plus a new $100m bank debt facility.
Major upside : When Sterlings liquid assets such as its Forum
Energy 14.7% shareholding worth 3m, and its new net debt of
c.53m are also taken into account, the groups NAV increases
to 366m, or 23.4p for each of the 1,566m shares now in issue.
We had previously conservatively valued Sterlings entire
additional exploration licences at Madagascar, Gabon, Guinea,
Bissau and Cameroon at 65m, adding a further 4.2p per share
to our valuation, to underpin our current 12 month price target
of 28p (87% upside) : BUY.

How nice to see someone other than EVO saying BUY and target of.......

I think I will watch a while longer to see how much of this upside they can extract.

High volume today, which is nice to see.

I hope this is the start of the turn around for SEY, the volume today: 27,350,875.

wowee! heavy volume and +0.25p .... that really is impressive!!

Ignore him goal. As is plain for everyone else to see you stated that you hoped it was the start of a turnaround, not that it was an impressive day. Why do some people have to be so negative, all of the time?

simple .... because so many get overexcited for nothing, pile into some share of questionable quality and then are surprsied when all suddenly goes sour ..... time to get excited when there is is REAL news or REAL action .... at least the likes of SER is just about profitable or VML which is perhaps worth following for it's chart pattern or seemingly genuine prospects .... i hold neither by the way

that is not to say that SEY will not eventually come good again, but it has a lot of market confidence to rebuild.

cynic, sometimes you do make some good points but as I have said in the past I think you have named yourself most suitably.

it was intentionally so, though the real me may surprise you somehwat!

Got a piccie?

To the point and posted on oibarrel on the ......

"17.05.2007
Sterling Energy Puts Chinguetti Behind It And Looks Forward To Substantial Production Cash Flow From Its New US Assets
If 2006 was dominated by the underperforming Chinguetti field in Mauritania for London-listed Sterling Energy, 2007, as reflected in its recently released preliminary results for 2006, is about the growth and cash generation it is expecting from its neat takeover in the US.

Sterling has not drawn a line under Mauritania completely because the news from there has improved recently. But that Mauritania has been a disappointment and not the cash cow once envisaged has been well documented. The field was originally meant to produce 75,000 barrels a day but for various reasons this fell to 30,000 barrels a day by the end of 2006, and continued to fall. Sterling has two interests through the Mauritania government, and the bottom line is that Sterling wrote down its reserves from 50 million boe and made a non-cash impairment payment of US$57 million. Its share of production fell to around 1,400 boepd, contributing to a total group production of 3,400 boepd (the rest coming from shallow water assets in the Gulf of Mexico).

Chinguettis operator Woodside has now upgraded reserves to 62 million so there could be incremental development which will push Sterlings production total up. But the key is that the company has received US$66 million in sales revenue from Chinguetti with a further US$9 million to come. The group has more or less washed its face on Chinguetti. And the cash will help with its expansion in the US. Earlier this year Sterling announced it was taking over US Nasdaq-quoted Whittier Energy Corporation.

Sterling has paid US$145 million (approximately 74 million) plus the assumption of an estimated US$43 million (approximately 22 million) for the entire issued and about to be issued share capital of the gas producer. The purchase has been funded from approximately equal amounts of existing cash (Sterling has about US$80 million in its war chest, it is thought), plus new equity and debt. For this purpose 26 million (approximately US$50 million) gross has been raised through an institutional placing of 163,250,000 new ordinary shares at 16p a share and a new US$100 million debt facility was arranged with Natixis.

Sterling paid a premium of 26 per cent to the closing price of Whittier on January 18th 2007 and a value of US$15.8 per boe (US$2.6 per mcfge), but, given the price gas is fetching the US, this is probably not high and the benefits cannot be gainsaid.

Sterlings current production will almost certainly double from 3,400 boepd to 6,500 boepd. 2P (proven and probable) reserves are estimated to increase from 12.9 million barrels of oil to 24.8 million. Annualised cash flow from operations is estimated to rise from US$35 million to US$80 million. The company expects pay back from operations within four years. This year there will be 35 development and exploration wells.

The point that Sterling CEO Harry Wilson makes is that the acquisition de-risks a large part of production while significantly increasing the scale of cash generation, allowing the company to build its portfolio of exploration projects. The wells are all onshore and thus cheaper than the offshore operations in the Gulf and a lot cheaper than operating offshore Mauritania.

However, Harry Wilson has never made any secret of the fact he and his team, which have been together a long time and built other successful oil and gas businesses, do not consider Sterling to be just a cash flow business and are still looking for big step ups through exploration. Apart from Chinguetti, two wells in Guinea Bissau were disappointing. Four wells are planning in Africa, two of them later this year. In Gabon the Themis well planned for Q3 is targeting a 13 million barrel oil prospect and is carried. In AGC there is a carried exploration well for Q4 to appraise the heavy oil and test light oil.

Further ahead in Madagascar there is an Exxon carry. New seismic data on large offshore basins has been encouraging - new plays are being identified. Exxon seems likely to drill a well on the Majunga block in 2008. In Kurdistan an MoU was signed in 2006 and a manager and office has been set up preparatory to some fast track seismic. "

This comment stuck out at me...........

"........The group has more or less washed its face on Chinguetti..........."

So now as if we did not iknow, there is the reason why the sp is stuck at these levels!

Chinguetti production is totally discounted from the price currently.

It will take some of the other busy areas of activity to shift the sp up if they are a success, as Chinguetti will take a little longer.

No reason to assume they will not succeed sooner rather than later now though.

Thunderstud, game on results as soon as tomorrow!

Kurdistan, PSC formed news any time soon.

Whittier acquisitions have a bit to do to pay for itself imo at the 26% premium paid.

I do not see this going backwards unless Thunderstud fails and it is increasingly looking like it won't!

when are we going to no about thunder stud ,

Wait.

Soon.

Maybe today, maybe now may be tomorrow.

My Missus says I have crystal balls, but don't believe all she says.

Sterling Energy PLC (the 'Company')

Holding in Company

The Company received a notification on 21 May 2007 that as of 18 May 2007 Royal
Bank of Scotland Plc, as Trustee of the Merrill Lynch UK Special Situations
Fund, had an interest in 49,056,250 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company
('Ordinary Shares'). This interest represents approximately 3.13 per cent. of
the issued ordinary share capital of the Company, being 1,566,200,558 Ordinary
Shares.

anything going on here of late?

I think something positive might be going on here - at last.

Some positive news for a change:

Sterling Energy announces that petrophysical analysis indicates that multiple pay horizons have been encountered in the Brown1 well ('Thunder Stud') in south Louisiana, for which it is operator (15.0 % WI, 10.8% NRI).

Sterling also announces an increase in its US bank facilities and that an updated Group presentation is available on its website (www.sterlingenergyplc.co.uk) in advance of a planned series of institutional presentations.

The Brown1 reached its target depth of c17,900 feet, was logged and a 5-1/2' production liner has been set. A series of production tests on these zones are planned for later in the year when equipment is available. All new information, including from the testing, will need to be evaluated and incorporated into Sterling's geological interpretation, following which the commercial potential of the well and of the whole project will become clearer.

Sterling's US bank facilities have also been increased by $6.8 million to a total of $61.5 million. This is principally as a result of the successful onshore drilling by the former Whittier company since the start of the year. These facilities are secured against the Whittier assets, which were acquired in late March 2007. Currently, Sterling has Group cash balances of c$37 million and undrawn bank facilities of c$19 million.

Harry Wilson, CEO of Sterling said 'We are very pleased with the initial results of the Whittier deal and the drilling in the US so far this year. Our strengthened team there has the ability to deliver consistent production and reserve increases through drilling and acquisition. Our growing cash flow should help to unlock and expand the upside potential in our international portfolio.'