BG. Gas prices over 14% up recently with more to come - global LNG expanding and further exploration rights --- about to break out.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=989336

dikytree.

Starting to look undervalued here.....with big prospects being turned into production.....I'm expecting a rebound back to above 11 soon as long as crude holds up....

I see the Shell bid is doing the rounds again!

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/959a13e2-ab5c-11df-abee-00144feabdc0.html



Oil bid talk sees BG stand firm in a falling market

By Michael Hunter

Published: August 19 2010 09:23 | Last updated: August 19 2010 20:41

BG Group stood firm against a falling London market amid renewed rumours of oil sector consolidation.

BG was in focus on talk that it had been targeted by two possible bidders willing to pay at least 16 a share. Such a price tag would value BG at nearly 54bn.

Petrobras, Gazprom, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell have been cited as potential predators for BG in the past, traders said.

Sterlings weakness may also work in a bidders favour with BG stock down 40 per cent in dollar terms in slightly more than two years.

Investors difficulty in valuing BGs important fields in Brazil, Kazakhstan and Australia made it a credible takeover target, analysts said.

JPMorgan Cazenove has estimated that the shares, down 0.6 per cent to 10.30 yesterday, stand at a 30 per cent discount to net asset value.

From another BB:
"What is firing this stock is the Brazilian assets, that are due to be valued in November. BG, Shell, Exxon, and a few others, signed on to the Brazilian leases before the government then stamped down on such generous terms. Basically, the government did not realize it was sitting on gigantic petroleum reserves. The markets makers want to pick up the stock as cheaply as they can before any formal announcement. This has the makings of a singular event. Be wary, but there is a lot of promise on the upside. Brazil is the future, not Greenland."

London Evening Standard
Drama surrounds BG as City chatter has Shell ready to lunge

Today, the City's biggest gossips were talking up the chances of a bid for the oil explorer of 18-a-share.

So who was the rumoured predator? Step forward Royal Dutch Shell, the oil titan who is said to be keen to increase its oil and gas reserves in Australia. Shell is often thought the most likely to pounce on BG, although most of the sector's biggest names - including Petrobas, ExxonMobil and China's Sinopec - have been mooted as potential suitors in the past.

Investors seemed keen on today's yarn, however, with BG surging 63p to 1182p. Almost 8.5 million shares changed hands by 11.15, above the average daily trade. BG was also helped higher by news that Repsol, its Spanish partner in its Brazilian operations, had announced a $17.8 billion (11.2 billion) tie-up with Sinopec to develop its projects in the area.

From the Sunday Times:
"Last week brought a twist. Shares in the 40 billion company rose on speculation that CNOOC, Chinas state-owned gas giant, could be sizing it up. The conventional wisdom is that such a bid is extremely unlikely. Beijng taking control of one of Britains business behemoths? Surely not.

But the thinking behind it throws up some interesting questions. BG is focused on three growth areas: the gas-rich coal seams of Australia; the giant oil fields in the deep water off Brazil; and shale gas resources in the American south and Midwest.

Now consider what China has been up to. Two weeks ago Sinopec, CNOOCs sister company, paid $7.1 billion (4.4 billion) for a minority stake in Repsol, the Spanish oil group that owns rights to the Brazilian deepwater fields.

Ten days later, CNOOC paid $1 billion for part of a giant shale field in Texas. Last year it signed a 20-year deal to take gas from BGs coal-seam gas project in Australia. Maybe the rumour-mongers have a point?

It is no secret that the worlds most populous nation is desperate to get its hands on oil. The 50 billion that BG would fetch is too rich for just about anyone except the Chinese government.

The trick is for BGs chief executive, Frank Chapman, to close the valuation gap between the price at which bankers think he would be willing to sell call it 18 a share and its current trading price of 11.67.

He may have trouble doing that by simply staying the course. If BG meets his rosiest projections, in a decade the company will be producing 1.6m barrels of oil and gas a day up from an average 644,000 last year.

Making that leap depends on the tricky business of exploiting its vast resources deep under the ocean and in tight geological formations on land. BP has demonstrated the perils that await. Unsurprisingly, investors are nervous.

One option suggested by analysts at HSBC would be to reduce risk, and costs, by selling a minority stake in BGs Brazilian arm to, say, the Chinese. A 40% stake would, on the Repsol multiple, yield $15 billion half of which could go back to investors through a special dividend. That would certainly give a bump to BGs shares. As Chapman knows well, the best defence is a high share price."

Tanzania exploration well encounters hydrocarbons
TIDMBG.

RNS Number : 8661U

Bg Group plc

22 October 2010


News Release

22 October 2010

Tanzania exploration well encounters hydrocarbons

Bg Group (60%) today announced that the Pweza-1 exploration well, located in Block 4 approximately 85 kilometres offshore southern Tanzania and in a water depth of 1 400 metres, has demonstrated the presence of a working hydrocarbon system after encountering gas-bearing sands.

In May 2010, BG Group received consent from the government of the United Republic of Tanzania to farm-in to interests held by Ophir Energy plc (as operator) offshore southern Tanzania in Blocks 1, 3 and 4 of the Mafia Deep Offshore Basin and northern portion of the Ruvuma Basin.

Pweza-1 is the first of a three-well initial work programme planned for Blocks 1, 3 and 4. The programme also includes the acquisition of 4 000 square kilometres of 3D seismic data. BG Group has the option to assume operatorship of all three Blocks upon completion of the initial work programme.

StockMarketWire.com
BG Group has today confirmed that the ninth Tupi well, offshore of Rio de Janeiro, was successful, confirming the presence of a light oil accumulation.

The well was drilled at a water depth of 2 152 metres, approximately 295 kilometres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro State, and 11 kilometres southeast of well 3-RJS-646 (3-BRSA-496), where drill stem testing is being conducted in pre-salt reservoirs.

Oil samples taken during wireline tests in well 3-RJS-678 confirmed the presence of a light (approximately 28 degree API) oil accumulation. The well encountered a 128-metre reservoir section and located the oil/water contact in the Tupi accumulation at the deepest of the potential depths previously being considered, further reducing uncertainty in estimating hydrocarbon volumes for the Tupi area.

StockMarketWire.com
BG Group has started production from the first permanent floating production, storage and offloading vessel on the Tupi field in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil.

The FPSO 'Cidade de Angra dos Reis' - which is initially connected to well RJS-660 (known as Tupi-P1) - is expected to produce up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day and up to 177 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

The Tupi-P1 FPSO is located close to the 3-RJS-646 well (Tupi Sul) where the FPSO 'Cidade de Sao Vicente' has been conducting an extended well test since May 2009.

The EWT has produced 7 million barrels of oil to date.

BG Group CEO Frank Chapman said: "The extensive exploration and appraisal programme, and subsequent analysis to date, confirms the huge resource potential, excellent reservoir characteristics and robust economics of the Tupi/Iracema discovery.

"Extended well testing and the commissioning of the first permanent Tupi facilities, delivers tangible momentum and certainty to our development plans in a play that underpins a substantial part of BG Group's growth plan extending over the next decade."

3rd Quarter Results


RNS Number : 4192V
BG GROUP plc
02 November 2010

BG Group plc
2010 THIRD QUARTER RESULTS

Third Quarter Business Performance(a) Highlights
� Earnings per share of 28.9 cents, up 27% year-on-year
� Queensland Curtis LNG project sanctioned following Federal environmental
approval
� Capex guidance for two-year period 2011-12 increased from $16.5 billion to
$18.5 billion
� First production from 100 000 bopd FPSO facility on Tupi field, offshore
Brazil
� Certified gross resources upgrade of 2.7 bboe to Tupi, Iracema and Guar�
fields, offshore Brazil
� UK government approves first phase of Jasmine development
BG Group's Chief Executive, Frank Chapman said:
"Alongside a set of good quarterly results, we have made significant progress in
the delivery of our growth plans for the decade ahead. In Brazil, we have
brought onstream the first Tupi permanent facilities and we have announced a
very significant resources upgrade on the Tupi, Iracema and Guar� fields. In
Australia, we have realised a pivotal strategic objective with the sanction of
the Queensland Curtis LNG project. This further globalises our LNG business by
establishing a new and material source of equity LNG in the Asia-Pacific arena."
BG Group has today announced a certified upgrade to gross resources on Tupi,
Iracema and Guar�. This is available online at www.bg-group.com

BG reports substantial Brazilian resource upgrade


Oi and gas producer, BG Group has reported a 2.7 billion barrels of oil upgrade to fields offshore Brazil.

BG Group's new aggregate best estimate of economically recoverable gross resources for these fields amounts to 10.8 billion boe, representing a 34% increase to the 8.1 billion boe mid-point of the Group's previous indicative resource range.

.

Second Tanzanian well also discovers gas.
"BG Group today announced that its second Tanzanian exploration well, Chewa-1, has also discovered gas. The well, located in Block 4 approximately 80 kilometres offshore southern Tanzania in a water depth of around 1 300 metres, is some eight kilometres north-west of BG Group's Pweza-1 gas discovery announced in October*.

Chewa-1, operated by Ophir Energy plc (40%), is the second of a three-well initial work programme planned for Blocks 1, 3 and 4 offshore southern Tanzania. The initial work programme also includes the acquisition of 4 000 square kilometres of 3D seismic data. BG Group (60%) has the option to assume operatorship of all three Blocks upon completion of the initial work programme.

BG Group Chief Executive Frank Chapman said: "This is an encouraging start to our campaign in Tanzania. We have a large acreage position to explore and an extensive exploration programme will be needed to assess the full potential of this new play."

BG Group announces update on Tupi and Guarfields

BG Group today announced an update on the Tupi and Guarfields in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. The update relates to the first two Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels on the Tupi field and the first FPSO on the Guarfield.

The first FPSO on the Tupi field has a production capacity of 100 000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and up to 177 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd). It commenced production in
October 2010. The second FPSO on the Tupi field is due onstream in 2013 and will have a production capacity of 120 000 bopd and 177 mmscfd of gas. A similar FPSO will be deployed on Guarand is also due onstream in 2013. All three FPSOs will be leased.

StockMarketWire.com
BG Group has made a gas discovery at its first well in China.

The discovery was made on block 64/11 offshore China after the Lingshui 22-1-1 exploration well encountered gas-bearing sands.

The well is in the deepwater Qiongdongnan Basin in the South China Sea, approximately 130 kilometres offshore and in a water depth of 1338 metres.

BG Group will now conduct further analysis of the well results to increase understanding of the hydrocarbon potential in the block.

CEO Frank Chapman said: "This is an encouraging result from our first well offshore China, where our licence area encompasses three blocks spanning some 15 000 square kilometres adjacent to large and rapidly growing Chinese gas markets."

BG Group plans to continue its exploration programme in 2011, with a second well to be completed early in the year and the acquisition of 1500 square kilometres of 3D seismic data on block 63/16.

StockMarketWire.com
BG Group has confirmed that the 11th well on the BM-S-11 concession in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, was successful.

The well - designated as 3-BRSA-865A-RJS and informally known as Tupi W - was drilled at a water depth of 2139 metres, approximately 275 kilometres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro State, and 11 kilometres northwest of the original Tupi discovery well.

Oil samples taken during wireline tests confirmed the presence of a light oil accumulation (approximately 28 API).

The well encountered a 90-metre reservoir section on the western flank of Tupi helping further delineate the size and quality of the field.

Further testing will now be conducted on the 3-RJS-677A well and if those results confirm the initial productivity data, the consortium will consider the allocation of a floating production, storage and offloading vessel to the west area of Tupi.

StockMarketWire.com
A declaration of commerciality has been filed for the Tupi and Iracema areas offshore Brazil, BG Group said today (29 December).

The declaration has been filed with the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels by BG Group's partner, Petroleo Brasileiro, as the operator of BM-S-11 block in Santos Basin.

The names 'Lula' and 'Cernambi' have been suggested for Tupi and Iracema respectively.

Evaluation and development plans for both fields are also being submitted with the DoC to ANP.

The DoC notification to the ANP also includes the operator's estimates of total recoverable volumes associated with the initial stage of development of the two fields.

The DoC was made after the execution of the exploration and appraisal program in the area which started with the first well drilled in October 2006.

The 11 wells drilled in both areas and the extended well test within the Tupi area, which started in April 2009, provided the main information for the basis for the volume estimates and development plans for the Lula and Cernambi fields.

StockMarketWire.com
BG Group upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche, TP raised to 1500p from 1330p.

BG Group has confirmed a new discovery of light oil in block BM-S-9 in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil.

The discovery well 3-BRSA-861-SPS - informally known as Carioca North-East - is located in a water depth of 2 151 metres, approximately 275 kilometres off the coast of S Paulo state and nine kilometres north-east of the original Carioca discovery well.

Initial analysis of the discovery has confirmed the presence of a light oil accumulation (approximately 26 API) in a 200-metre reservoir section.

Drilling on Carioca North-East has been concluded and drill stem tests will be conducted in due course.

BG Group has a 30% interest in block BM-S-9 which is comprised of two appraisal areas - Guarand Carioca (Petrobras 45%, operator and Repsol 25%).

Blue Chip Bulletin: BG Group venture confirms quality oil site

http://www.whatinvestment.co.uk/trading/share-dealing/uk-companies/1606523/blue-chip-bulletin-bg-group-venture-confirms-quality-oil-site.thtml