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

But what exactly is the 'X' trade... cos it's a lot of shares ! Anyone know any details ? Thanks in advance.

'X' Cross at the Same Price
A transaction was effected as an agency cross or a riskless principal transaction at the same price and on the same terms (this requires one trade report).

And we are all the wiser for that explanation, I'm sure. Translation anyone?

sd

guys, Westmount energy sold their stock directly to Invesco. Oriel Securities crossed the stock from the seller to the buyer and showed it as such to the market. can't be simpler than that!

rgds
PT

That's simple.

Have not looked for the figures but Invesco must own a really huge wad by now.

enormous wad.

Amvescap bought the 40million they now hold 21.47%.

Good to see Amvescap add another 40m to their already substantial holding. That's just shy of 300m they now hold.

Article on Reuters SA yesterday about Madagascar, SEY get mentioned. Old news but nice to get mentioned along side the majors

"Madagascar, located off the southeast coast of Africa, is known to have oil and gas reserves, but they are inadequately mapped and drilling there is only at an exploratory stage.

However, interest from the oil giants is growing rapidly, spurred by record highs in world oil prices, which last month breached $70 a barrel.

A promising seismic study conducted in 2004 by privately held U.S. exploration company Vanco Energy has also generated a rush of interest.

In July, US oil major Exxon Mobil boosted its oil and gas presence in Madagascar by taking a 70 percent interest in two licences held by small UK-listed oil explorer Sterling Energy."

http://za.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2005-09-29T143009Z_01_ALL952261_RTRIDST_0_OZABS-ENERGY-MADAGASCAR-20050929.XML&archived=False

This is showing up on Digital Look but not on Money AM's news or on UK-Wire for some reason. It came out at 14.45.

Sterling Energy PLC
30 September 2005


Sterling Energy PLC (the "Company")

Holding in Company


The Company was informed on 30 September 2005 that, following the purchase of
36,286,568 ordinary shares of 1p each ("Ordinary Shares") on 29 September 2005,
Invesco Perpetual UK Investment Series (UK ICVC) is the beneficial owner of
176,548,480 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 12.67 per cent. of the
issued share capital of the Company. The above holding is held in the registered
name Vidacos Nominees Limited.

30 September 2005




This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

http://www.digitallook.com/cgi-bin/digital/security.cgi?csi=50019&action=news&story_id=547889&rns=1

So between them both they hold over 30%.

Now all they need is a cash shell?

This confuses me. Are Amvescap and Invesco by any chance related? I think we should be told.

Pond Life,

It looks as if Invesco Perpetual is indeed one of Amvescap's brands.

http://www.amvescap.com/amvescap/about/about_brands.html

And Invesco Perpetual

From doing a bit of googling, it seems that this Invesco Perpetual UK Investment Series contains a lot of smaller sub-funds within it. Some of Invesco's funds are listed here. Had a quick look through them, but none of them list SEY as one of their main holdings, although they all do have quite a few companies in each fund and the pdf's may be out of date.

Invesco Funds

gav,

Good research, thanks for sharing it.

Interesting days!

One wonders if some stake building is going on?

gav,
My thanks also. This clears up the situation nicely. Some posters here and elsewhere were under the impression that both Amvescap and Invesco had big holdings - now we know that they are one and the same. Even so I think that it is a good sign when someone wants to pay 20p per share for 40,000,000. It shows a degree of confidence. (mild understatement)

No problem guys. you're welcome. Interesting times indeed I think and as Pondy points out, a vote of confidence that someone is prepared to splash out 8m on 40m shares. I wonder if it's safe to assume that should the sp fall back a few pence or so then Mr 40m would come in for some more, and would WTE be keen to let a large block or indeed all of them go?

so we now have a placement level of 17p and a block placed at 20p. a vote of confidence indeed. long and may add.

rgds
PT

Prop,

the three largest trades were all buys, nice couple to finish off the day with too!


03/10/05 11:25 20.0 300,000 19.5 20.25 Buy
03/10/05 15:52 20.25 785,301 19.25 20.25 Buy
03/10/05 16:27 20.125 282,308 9.5 20.25 Buy

prop,

Looks like the Berge Helene will be on her way to West Africa soon!

----------------------------------------------

Hardman Resources Limited
04 October 2005



STOCK EXCHANGE / MEDIA RELEASE

RELEASE DATE: 4 October 2005

AUSTRALIAN CONTACT: Simon Potter
Hardman Resources Ltd
+61 8 9261 7600

LONDON CONTACT: Patrick Handley
Brunswick Group
+44 207 404 5959

RE: MAURITANIA DRILLING PROGRAMME
WEEKLY PROGRESS REPORT


Hardman Resources Limited ('Hardman') provides the following progress report on
its Mauritania offshore activities:

PSC area B: Tevet-2 Appraisal/Exploration Well

The Tevet-2 well was drilled to a depth of 3041meters by the Stena Tay drilling
rig, where 9-5/8' casing was set. As of midnight on 3rd October, the well was
drilling ahead at 3692m and was on track to intersect the Cretaceous Exploration
target at a planned total depth (TD) of 3965m. The Tevet-2 well is located 2.5
kilometres to the South of the Miocene discovery well Tevet-1, and lies in a
water depth of 466m.

Chinguetti Development Wells

The 'West Navigator' drill-ship has successfully finished drilling, well
completion and flow-testing operations, on the Chinguetti production and water
injection wells. Consequently, as scheduled, the drill-ship was released from
Mauritania at the end of its contract period, at 20:30 hrs on the 29 September
2005. The completion of this phase of operations and the successful clean-up of
all producing wells marks a significant milestone for the project. The
Chinguetti field is due to come on stream in the first quarter of 2006 at a
forecast rate of 75,000 barrels of oil per day

Chinguetti FPSO 'Berge Helene'

The refurbishment of the Chinguetti FPSO, the 'Berge Helene' was completed on 28
September 2005 at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore. The vessel is currently
anchored in deep water off Singapore where commissioning activities are being
undertaken prior to the voyage to Mauritania. Once in the field final hook-up
operations will be completed ahead of production start-up.

All reported depths (except water depth) are referenced to the rig rotary table
(RT). Hydrocarbon shows will only be reported after all required logs have been
run and evaluated, although Hardman will release weekly updates on the
exploration drilling campaign.

Hardman interests in PSC's A, B and the Chinguetti field are:

PSC B PSC A Chinguetti Field (EEA)
Woodside (operator) 53.846% 53.846% 47.384%
Hardman 21.6% 24.3% 19.008%
BG Group 11.63% 13.084% 10.234%
Fusion/Premier 9.231% 4.615% 8.123%
ROC 3.693% 4.155% 3.250%
Groupe Projet Chinguetti - - 12.000%


All reported depths (except water depth) are referenced to the rig rotary table
(RT). Hydrocarbon shows will be only be reported after all required logs have
been run and evaluated, although Hardman will release weekly updates on the
exploration drilling campaign.

Times and dates refer to GMT (Mauritania time), 8 hours behind Western Standard
Time, Perth
Australia.




SIMON POTTER
MANAGING DIRECTOR

Note: In accordance with Australian Stock Exchange Limited listing requirements,
the geological information supplied in this report has been based on information
provided by geologists who have had in excess of five years experience in their
field of activity.

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

AVZ can control the price and buy at lower levels. Over 20p cannot be sustained without any news. IMO
I hold though