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

Gav, lets put Riota into pewrspective.

If it's 111mph winds, it will be 1/3 as powerful as Katrina, the platforms in the Gulf are no doubt buil;t to expect such winds so although there may be a shutdown, I expect there to be no other real problems.

As regards landfall, well, we will have to wait and see but again the buildings and infrastucture must be geared for this type of storm.

Ever optomistic because I would not like a repeat of Katrina and this time I am sure it will not be.

I am hoping for 17p buy in for some more though.

SWW, neither would I like to see another hurricane hit the area, not good for anybody, especially those affected by Katrina. We only have to remeber the pictures from TV to see the damage it caused.

From memory and if I am wrong someone can correct me, but Katrina was a cat 4 hurricane with winds of around 140mph. So if and it's a big if this reaches cat 3 with 111 mph winds then it may not be as strong but still could present a problem. I understand BP and Shell have already evacuated staff from some of their platforms in the area. Also worth noting that when Katrina first came to everyone's attention, many forecasters thought it would miss the GoM, which it did not. As to what happens here, we will have to wait and see.

It wqas a cat 5...................

My keyboaord still can't speel

SWW

Was Cat 5 then downgraded to 4.

Pedantically yours,

Nam

Missed it.

I'll shut yup.

5000 posts soon. nothing else to say today...

SWW,

Welll we've had a military coupe, and then Hurricane Katrina, and survived, surely we deserve to be spared another one?

Clearly if it does hit Texas it will cause some concern, let's hope the course changes, or preferably it blows itself out.

Dont ask me.

I'm not sending them there..............

Part of an intresting read. Have Oil Stocks Finally Had it?

I'm Louis Navellier, and I'm not going to predict an oil
collapse. That would be foolish.

But I am worried, and you should be, too. Because the era of
cheap oil is over. Demand from China and India and the fallout
from Hurricane Katrina have proven that, despite what you've been
reading about new Alaskan oil reserves...new gas mileage standards...and
new oil wells coming on line.

Which is why investors who are selling their oil stocks-or
worse, selling them short-in anticipation of a collapse are going
to be in for the shock of their lives!

Shocked as oil prices correct slightly and skyrocket higher...
Shocked as they see oil profits explode again...
And, perhaps worst of all, shocked as they miss out on the
next-and most profitable-phase of the oil boom, as visionary
investors make a decade's worth of profits over the next two to
three years.

The effects will not be felt till after close on Friday, if it lanfalls along the Texas Coast.

Rita now upgraded to cat 4 hurricane. Oil and gas prices on the move upwards again.

Wednesday September 21, 2005 1:46 PM


AP Photo FLJC112

By MICHELLE SPITZER

Associated Press Writer

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Rita intensified into a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday with wind of 135 mph, deepening concerns that the storm could devastate coastal Texas and already-battered Louisiana by week's end.

Wednesday September 21, 2005 1:46 PM


AP Photo FLJC112

By MICHELLE SPITZER

Associated Press Writer

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Rita intensified into a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday with wind of 135 mph, deepening concerns that the storm could devastate coastal Texas and already-battered Louisiana by week's end.

Wednesday September 21, 2005 1:46 PM


AP Photo FLJC112

By MICHELLE SPITZER

Associated Press Writer

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Rita intensified into a Category 4 hurricane Wednesday with wind of 135 mph, deepening concerns that the storm could devastate coastal Texas and already-battered Louisiana by week's end.

But our ability to forecast wind speed is limited,'' Landsea said. He said the storm could strengthen to Category 5 with wind in excess of 155 mph or ease to Category 3, with wind less than 130 mph

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5292698,00.html

Rita reaches potentially catastrophic Category 5
GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Sept 21, 2005

Hurricane Rita strengthened on Wednesday into a powerful, intensely dangerous Category 5 storm as it headed toward the Texas coast and prompted evacuation orders for more than a million people.


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The storm had grown into the third most intense Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by internal pressure, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The hurricane center said Rita was a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds rising to 175 mph (281 kph) over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. That matched the peak strength over water of last months devastating Hurricane Katrina, which hit land as a Category 4 storm with 145-mph (233-kph) winds.

A hurricane watch was issued for the U.S. Gulf Coast from Fort Mansfield Texas, to Cameron, Louisiana. Rita was expected to come ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday as a major hurricane ... at (Category 3) or higher, hurricane center forecaster Robbie Berg said.

President George W. Bush declared emergencies for Texas and Louisiana.

Federal, state and local governments are coordinating their efforts to get ready, said Bush, who was heavily criticized for an ill-prepared federal response to Hurricane Katrina last month that killed more than 1,000 people.

We hope and pray that Hurricane Rita will not be a devastating storm, but weve got to be ready for the worst, Bush said.

Rita lashed the Florida Keys on Tuesday but did little damage to the vulnerable Florida islands.

Ritas path included the Texas coast southwest of Galveston, where in 1900

sorry about that!!







Ritas path included the Texas coast southwest of Galveston, where in 1900 at least 8,000 people died in the deadliest recorded U.S. hurricane.

Just last month, Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and killed at least 1,037 people.Financial markets reacted immediately to news the storm had gained strength, with the prospect of more destruction and oil-supply interruptions affecting everything from stocks and the dollar to oil prices.

MASSIVE EVACUATION ORDERED

Galveston, a city of about 58,000 people located on a barrier island, began evacuating residents on Tuesday. More than 50 miles (80 km) inland, Houston Mayor Bill White ordered an evacuation of residents in areas prone to storm surges or major floods.Officials said as many as 1.2 million people were expected to start leaving Houston, Americas fourth most populous city with about 2 million residents and an international center for the oil industry. The city was the most popular destination for evacuees from Katrina, which displaced about 1 million people, including nearly all of New Orleanss 450,000 residents.Stores in Houston quickly ran out of emergency supplies, plywood and food. The last major hurricane to hit Houston was Alicia in 1983, a Category 3 storm that killed 22 people. Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 caused extensive flooding in the city and killed more than 40 people across the United States. Texas Gov. Rick Perry urged Texans along a 300-mile (483 km) stretch comprising most of the states coastline, to leave. He said nursing home residents already were being evacuated.

The Mexican government issued a tropical storm watch for the countrys northeast coast from Rio San Fernando northward. Everyones scared, thats why were all leaving, Galveston Island resident Maria Stephens said, citing television images of Katrinas devastation. I saw the people at the shelters and the bodies floating in the water. I dont want that to be my family.NASA prepared to evacuate its Johnson Space Center in Houston and turn over control of the International Space Station to its Russian partners.

About 1,100 Katrina evacuees still in Houstons two mass shelters were being sent to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. Some Houston hospitals were evacuated.New Orleans, flooded by Katrina, was taking no chances.Mayor Ray Nagin said two busloads of people had been evacuated already and 500 other buses were ready. State officials said an estimated 9,700 residents of Cameron Parish on the Louisiana-Texas border were told to leave. They added that 2,662 people housed in shelters after Katrina were relocated to facilities farther north in the state, and 5,054 more were expected to be moved.

A FEMA spokesman said Rita was not expected to re-flood New Orleans if the storm stayed on its current westward course. GOVERNMENTS, OIL INDUSTRY RESPONDAt 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT), Ritas center was about 570 miles (917 km) east-southeast of Galveston and moving toward the west near 9 mph (14 kph), the hurricane center said.Taking lessons from problems after Katrina hit, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said authorities had positioned supplies and were checking on communications systems. The government sent Coast Guard Rear Adm. Larry Hereth to Texas to coordinate the response.I hope that by doing what the state officials and mayors are doing now ... getting people who are invalids out of the way, encouraging people to leave early, that when the storm hits, there will be property damage but hopefully there wont be a lot of people to rescue, Chertoff told MSNBC.Oil companies just starting to recover from Katrina evacuated Gulf oil rigs as Rita moved closer.

Four Texas refineries were shut down, even as four refineries remained shut in Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina.Together with the 5 percent of U.S. refinery capacity shut since Katrina, the four closed Texas refineries add up to about 11.5 percent of U.S. oil refining.A U.S. energy official said the risk of flooding at the Texas refineries was less than what Katrina posed in Louisiana, because they were on higher ground.U.S. light crude oil rose $1.15 per barrel to $67.35. The dollar weakened and U.S. stock prices amid concerns about the storms impact on energy costs and consumer spending.

While the tick up is welcome, I fear it will be very short lived.

cheers SWW! i disagree, 3 MM's raised their bids within one minute of eachother. i wager these close a touch higher than where they are now....

Hi prop.

We will see, is EVO one of the 3?

Still waiting to see the first buy over 18.75p...................

From ADVFN -

barryrog - 22 Sep'05 - 14:05 - 7210 of 7211

"latest estimates for tomorrow are 17.6m t/o, 6.9m pre tax and 0.40p eps".

If he is right they are great numbers, just need to hurricane to blow itself out before it goes much further and they will have a terrifc impact on the sp.

Lets hope that Rita turns out to be no where near as damaging to the area as some people are predicting, but it doesn't look too good right now. Hopefully tomorrows results will give us something more positive to talk about. No doubt Evo's will put out a new note as well.

The timing is awful, why couldn't they arrange the hurricane for another day?

I suspect it will be a cloud over proceedings.

More patience will be needed.

To cap it all, I've got bad wind too...........

There was a rare old fug over the sea wall this morning.

Not many people about, those that were there soon left after I arrived.

No staying power, that's just typical of the British Public nowadays.

Wimps, Cads and Bounders.