looks like its hit oil, don't know whats gonna happen, any idea's ???

You have more chance of winning the lottery than see NOP start drilling before Chrismas. Not MWs words mine. They are still in the process of obtaining a drill. More like the end January begining of Feb depending on the weather methinks.

From the other place, original source Oilbarrel.com

09.12.2004
New OFEX Company ATI Oil Eyes Neglected Italian Oil And Gas Riches
ATI Oil, which was spun out of AIM-quoted Northern Petroleum and offers investors exposure to Italys oil and gas sector, has joined Londons OFEX market buoyed by the proceeds of a private placing. The 500,000 fundraising, completed prior to the float, will be used to fund the start-ups costs over the next 18 months.

Northern decided to spin off its Italian assets after it received approaches from a number of European investors keen to secure a foothold in Italy, which is Europes third largest producer of oil and gas. Northern, an onshore UK player now gearing up for a two-well drilling programme on the Isle of Wight, saw the opportunity to create a separate company specifically holding its Italian interests. Northern will hold 38.72 per cent of ATIs enlarged ordinary share capital and the new companys board includes chairman Derek Musgrove, managing director of Northern, finance director Christopher Foss, currently financial controller and company secretary of Northern, plus technical director Barry Lonsdale, who has worked as an exploration geologist for 34 years and since 1987 has been a principal partner in Italmin Petroli S.r.L in Italy.

Northern has spent many years battling slow-moving Italian bureaucracy to secure its acreage position in Italy, which comprises some 8,450 sq km, equivalent to the size of 40 North Sea blocks. As a result of Northerns tenacity, ATI now holds a 50 per cent interest in 16 licences and applications both onshore and offshore Italy. The offshore areas could hold a billion barrel resource base yet have not been explored since the 1980s. And the onshore Po Valley acreage promises quick returns on investment: the company has identified seven prospects, each in the order of 60 to 100 billion cubic feet of gas, in a highly industrialised area with an existing network of pipelines.

The activity for the immediate future will be to fast-track seven Po Valley gas prospects to the point of drilling and to undertake sufficient seismic reprocessing to fully establish the prospectivity of the three offshore licences with the highest upside potential, Musgrove told oilbarrel.com last month.

Musgrove believes these opportunities to be greatly superior to most of those now being chased in the highly competitive North Sea environment.

In the meantime, Northern Petroleum has started site preparation on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England ahead of drilling the Sandhills-2 and Bouldnor Copse-1 wells. Both wells are targeting the Great Oolite formation, in which oil was discovered in 1982 by the BG-operated Sandhills-1 well. BG didnt test the well, however, because at that time the Oolite was not considered to be a viable reservoir in the area. Northern has developed a new interpretation of the Oolite, which has been verified by consultants, and reckons the Great Oolite in Bouldnor Copse will be a western extension of the structure at Sandhills.

Bouldnor Copse-1 will also target the deeper Sherwood Sandstone formation, which hosts the prolific oil producing reservoir at BPs Wytch Farm complex on the mainland. In the Bouldnor Copse-1 well, the Great Oolite formation could hold up to 15 million barrels of oil and the Sherwood Sandstone between 30 and 120 million barrels.

From UK Analyst

Northern Petroleum - The Trading Buy for Christmas at 10.5p
argues Tom Winnifrith of www.t1ps.com
I first tipped Northern Petroleum (NOP) a couple of years ago on www.t1ps.com when its shares stood at 2.75p. Initially I looked like a right Charlie as they drifted back towards 2p. But the fundamentals were right so while some ignored my advice and implemented a stop loss strategy others simply bought more. Today the shares now trade at 10.5p - more than 1 in 6 of my tips have doubled or more and Northern is one of my top tips over the past four years.

For long term investors on t1ps.com the stance is now "hold", I am not urging them to buy more. But for short term traders looking for a Christmas punt Northern is ideal. Incidentally, there will be at least one new tip published on www.t1ps.com tonight if you are looking for other ideas.

The Valuation and the Assets

At 10.5p Northern is capitalised at 28 million pounds and it has a number of really very interesting assets.

The "safest" is its net cash - 5 million pounds. Then it owns 38% of Ofex listed ATI which owns 50% of 16 Italian exploration licenses. The other 50% of those licenses is owned by Northern Petroleum. Thus the Ofex market is putting a very clear value on those assets - with ATI at 10.25p it is capitalised at 9.3 million pounds. I happen to think it undervalued but using that figure we can value Northern's Italian interests at 6.3 million pounds.

Then there is Spain where Northern is generating cash but also has exploration upside. I'd value Spain at 2 million pounds but I am lead to believe that it is working on a farm-out deal which could crystallise the value of its Spanish assets at a number significantly greater than that. Then there is Guyane (French Guyana to you and me) where Northern holds a 1.25% stake in some offshore acreage where Hardman Resources has a 97.5% stake and is operator. The acreage contains six prospects which according to old 2D seismic shot in the seventies could be very large indeed. Plausibly the lead prospect alone (it is called Matamata) could hold 30 million barrels net to Northern. Now old 2D seismic is not very reliable so let's give this a 1 in 10 risk weighting and ignore the other 5 leads altogether. That still values Northern's interest at, at least, 3 million pounds.

In the UK, Northern has a 5% stake in Avington in Hampshire which - based on drill data to date - must be worth at least 3 million pounds. It also has a spread of acreage across the South of England which had a tangible value which will rise significantly if there are other finds made of an Avington size or bigger over the coming months. This acreage (excluding that on the Isle of Wight and in Southern Dorset which I shall turn to shortly) would be worth several million pounds if it were the sole asset of another E&P company. Let's call it 3 million pounds and be cautious.

Then there is the Iow/Dorset acreage where Northern's interests range from 46.75% to 70%. A two well drill programme starts here in January. Based on wells drilled in the past and seismic work Northern reckons that the acreage could contain a net recoverable 135 million barrels of oil to Northern. We shall see. At this stage and ahead of drilling one might use a 1 in 20 risk weighting and at 2 pounds per barrel in the ground that would value this asset at 13.5 million pounds.

So that gives a current sum of the parts valuation of 32.8 million which is why I am suggesting that long term investors would be crackers to sell.

So why a trading buy?

Quite simply because the next two months will be terribly exciting. In Italy, AIM listed Grove is currently drilling a well bang next door to one of ATI's lead prospects. If that well comes good, ATI will be re-rated and that alters the Northern sum-of the parts valuation significantly. And in the UK as drilling starts on the IoW there is the potential for a huge re-rating. Let us assume that the IoW reserves are even 1 fifth the size that Northern suggests. But if they become proven reserves then as the risk weighting is slashed their value to Northern races ahead from 13.5 million pounds to perhaps 40.5 million pounds. That is the potential.

At this stage I am making no predictions as to how the Northern drilling campaign will fare. But as it starts you can bet that there will be increased market excitement as traders and investors speculate on the potential upside. And that will drive a significant short-term re-rating of t5he Northern share price.

In summary. If you are a t1ps member sitting on a huge gain, hang tight on Northern and I shall provide a fresh long term tip (or perhaps two) later on today. But if you are a short term speculator looking for a cracking pre-Christmas trade (albeit with obvious risks attached), Northern Petroleum is, at 10.5p, that trade.

Key Data

EPIC: NOP
Market: AIM
Spread: 10-11p
NMS: 25,000
Market Cap: 28 million pounds

IMHO Northern is the share for 2005. I have held this share since 4p and took another load at 9p when I could only see NOP going up. When NOP really get going you are all going to be fighting for shares. At the current price of 10.5p it is still way under valued,on the next bit of good news it is going to start to really fly. So look to the Northern star this Christmas and IMHO you will not be disappointed. DYOR

hi
Watch this share early New Year, their connection with Libya is being overlooked.

What is the connection with Libya?

This may be of interest

Shares
20 January 2005
Oil on your doorstep
"...London-headquartered Northern Petroleum (NOP:AIM) has been one of the busiest explorers. Northern currently has nine operating licences (where Northern does the drilling itself) and three non-operated ones (where a third party handles the drill bit) along the southern English coastline. It was also recently awarded five licences in the 12th onshore licencing round, including in the Solent and Kent..."


Shares
13 January 2005
Tip for the top

Does anybody know when Sandhills2 will be ready to drill? 'cos there's only one week left in Jan!

Lets hope they find lots of the black stuff!

I took a look at the site today. They've prepared a large flat area, but no rig yet. Perhaps they have trouble getting one?

Thanks Niels. I'm sure it be worth waiting for.

Immediate Release 02 February 2005

Northern Petroleum Plc

('Northern' or the 'Company')

Re. New Application and Drilling Update

New Application to Drill in Hampshire

Northern has today submitted an Application for Planning Consent for the
drilling of the Hedge End-2 well from a site towards Botley owned by the
Hampshire District Council. The well will test an oil discovery made in 1988
which was cored and logged but not tested, a decision believed to have been
taken due to poor core recovery and the oil market conditions at the time. More
recently Northern has materially revised the methods for interpretation of logs
in the Great Oolite formations in the Weald Basin and as a result believes that
Hedge End-1 was an oil discovery of 50 to 125 million barrels of oil in place.
The substantial range of the estimates is due to the Hedge End-1 well being
drilled entirely above the oil water contact. Northern is the licence Operator
holding a 50% interest.

Isle of Wight - Update

Northern also announces that final agreement has been reached with The
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding the site
from which the Bouldnor Copse-1 well will be drilled. Planning Approval having
already been granted on October 26th 2004.

Site clearance work will begin shortly under the control of The Forestry
Commission and site construction thereafter on a schedule that should permit
the drilling of Bouldnor Copse-1 immediately following completion of operations
at the Sandhills-2 well-site.

The Bouldnor Copse-1 exploration well on licence PEDL 089 in which Northern
hold a 70.0% interest will be drilled to test prospects at both Jurassic (Great
Oolite) and Triassic (Sherwood Sandstone) levels with an estimate of greater
than 200 million barrels of oil in place with an upside potential of almost 400
million barrels, but extending into three other licences of which Northern is
the Operator holding interests between 57.5% and 66.125%.

Northern is also pleased to announce that at the Sandhills-2 site on PEDL 113
the main site construction phase is complete. The timing of drilling operations
will be announced once the drilling rig contract, currently under negotiation,
has been concluded. Northern will hold a 57.5% interest in the licence.

Spain - Update

Northern also announces that in Spain, where its 100% subsidiary, Northern
Petroleum Exploration Limited is the Operator and has a 45% interest in the
Ayoluengo oil field, a programme to perforate previously untapped formations
within the production intervals has been agreed with partners. The programme is
to be undertaken in two phases and involves all of the currently producing oil
wells. This is viewed by Northern as a welcomed positive commitment by partners
to increasing production at Ayoluengo in conjunction with an ongoing cost
cutting programme and could lead to an increase in production of between 25%
and 100%.

-Ends-

For further information please contact,

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director

Northern Petroleum

Tel. 020 7743 6080

Dynamite

R u holding these as well, have you got any more of mine? CSH,JKX,BUR,FTO, PET,WTE and DGO all oil & gas.

AVM,TMC,CDN and the best of all Griffin mining [GFM ] OH' and FOGL.

Aldwick...had NOP since 4p and more at 8p. I don't have any more of your shares...I did have JKX at 36p but I sold out too soon at 46p ;-( I have learnt it to hold on when I see the potential NOP has plenty of that.
Di

agree [hd]

any idea of the target price,last time it was 30 pence.

Rig contract signed for Sandhills-2. There should be some sp movement now.

not to sure about hampshire have a look at this www.say-no.co.uk

Lets's hope the presentation on 1st March goes well.

Amities / slt . Ex Bristol based stockbrokers, Wills and co, whose extensive expertise was not so long ago concentrated in exclusively dealing with small IPO s listing on the OFEX facility have now attained a clearing house in Pershing Sec. and moved into the city of London, and now deal in all manner of stocks.However,thier specialist knowledge of micro/smallcaps is second to none; and consequently often have thier brains picked by bigger houses whose knowledge in any listed entity with a m/c below 250m stg is utterly lacking.l do it myself on occassion . :-)) ..My point merely being that they waxed lyrical about NOP at the 2.5/3p level in the autumn of 2003 and i suspect bought heavily ; but totally lost interest at 10p citing lack of impetus from the market and a lot of good news having already been factored into the s/p .Of that i am not quite so sure; and while i must agree it is painful watching NOP break through this 10p level without incessant aggresive selling l remain confident and am content to hold until at least drilling results from two back to back wells are made known .Junior oil companies constitutes 65% of my portfolio.And have paid remarkable dividends. ..What with April futures sitting pretty at $53 55c p/b ,supply tight, capacity running at 94.7%,high rotary rig count, continual interuption to supply and bottleneck in said production, and second strong quater demand anticipated ( again) oil is only going one way.China and lndias appetite is insatiable and coupled with oil delineation paves the way for small minnows such as NOP to break into the market. The prospect of a few hundred million barrels of unhedged sweet crude oil sitting on your doorstep it is not one to be ignored. NOP also have a fractional farm in agreement with Hardmans of Oz regarding a potential l blln field in coastal French Guiana in South America .But with Hardmans having such a diverse portfolio and up to thier eyes in coastal West Africa i would not imagine this prospect to be left on hold until 2006 at least. By then NOP may be in such a fiscal position to exercise this farm in arrangement with HNR ......a'bientot bonne chance , sois sages , @+ J

Isle of Wight County Press today reports that Northern Petroleum is applying for planning consent for a third borehole on the Island. The hole will be drilled in the event they strike oil in either of the two first holes. The site would be known as "Sandhills 3".

The paper also reports that Graham Heard, exploration manager for Northern, said he expected the rig to arrive in about a month.

Amities /What with rotary rig count at current levels(acc. to Baker-Hughes up 16.2% in the Americas and 10.1% in the rest of the world) there is a chronic shortage of avaialable rigs. Hence delays globally.. The statement from NOP can only be viewed with optimism and prudence should they make a strike.As if operating from strenth and with foresight.Prerequisite geologies supported by more than impressive seismic data more than suggests the presence of hydrocarbons ; and subsequently i have quite a few with a basket price of 4.25 and 6.25 and 8.25 ( the last buy being a little impetous) respectively.They seem to have a army of support at 9.5 ; but that illusive "price tag" of 10p+ is encountering strong resistance . l fully anticipate a drilling update reg. drilling inception to be the very impetus to take it convincingly through the 10p s/p ,and then wait some more for results The waiting game . ,,,,et...Alors !! qui sait ?. a'bientot @+ J