http://www.falklands-oil.com/

http://www.rockhopperexploration.co.uk

http://www.argosresources.com/




Rockhopper was established in 2004 with a strategy to invest in and undertake an offshore oil exploration programme in the North Falkland Basin. It was floated on AIM in August 2005. Rockhopper was the first company to make a commercial oil discovery in the Falklands. Today Rockhopper is the largest acreage holder in the North Falkland Basin, with interests in the Greater Mediterranean region.

Any concession to Argentina will be seen as a relaxation of the British position on the FIs - which is one of self-determination.

Unlke Brazil Argentina is virtually bankrupt and has neither the capability for armed conflict nor the financial reserves. Chile is still a thorn in her side and, despite Britain's best efforts to alienate the country (Pinochet?), remains an ally.

Not sure why we want to dock ships in Chile Aldwickk. Mare harbour is fine for support vessels, large ships can use Stanley and Berkely Sound has been surveyed for just such work. It can take rigs etc but lacks the on-shore facilities at present.

Argentina will continue to rattle sabres and attempt to gain sway amongst neighbours but IMHO that will be all.

Let's face it - IF ( and it is a big 'if') a global producer decides to buy in, their immense clout will ensure that things happen quickly.

I see Discussion continued regarding potential Port locations........ Members agreed that three sites only should be considered for further investigation - Navy Point (Port William), FIPASS and Mare Harbour.

aldo - glad geography is to be made compulsory to 16!

Navy Point is fine (lived there for a while!) but has limited hinterland and road access, FIPASS has the adjacent area to expand and has exisitng dock areas that are readily accesible to Stanley. Mare Harbour is very close to the MP airport for personnel transfers and also has space for expansion.

Cynic

Were else is the nearest friendly South American country ?

there are surely countries on east coast that are not attached to mercosur and therefore do not entail sailing around cape horn

the mercosur ban is only affecting falkland islands flagged vessels so what is the "flap" about, ever heard of "flags of convenience"?

you're right and there areften ways around these things with covert cooperation, even if argentina itelf is ruled out for domestic political reasons

Just to make Proselene happy over Christmas
Falklands invaded!

With modern shipping there is no need to call at ports in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Adequate fuel oil is available in the Falklands and in Ascension if required.
As Halifax points out the ban only refers to Falkland Island registered ships - however Argentina has banned all ships going to or from the Falklands. To my mind a shot in the foot by Argentina because the busy tourist trade to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands is increasingly being serviced by Chile or via Stanley! This year is one of the busiest years of tourism for the region.

Going by the graph : is this about to jump up to 300p ?......might be about to, at long last ?.

I think this is about ready to surge !....300p here we come perhaps...

Like a recoiled spring....

Virtually all of the Falklands flagged ships are fishing boats, mainly Spanish, therefore the shipping issue with Argentina doesn't pose any real problem with the Oil Expo side of things, because they don't need to use S. America.

The shipping ban is a huge problem for the fishing industry though because they use Montevideo for laying up the fishing boats out of season and a lot of fish gets transhipped though the container network there.

Apart from the fishing fleet there are 3 local ships, fishery patrol and inter island cargo ship which are under the Falklands register and the shipping ban poses a problem for them in the form of dry docking facilites...normally they are drydocked either in Montevideo or Punta Arenas...all three went to Punta during this last year.

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Looks like the coring was not exciting - nothing said about it at all, perhaps why this RNS is dumped on a half day before the holiday ?

Thats it then, next RNS is rig off hire and demob paid for - then thats it for drilling in the north for a long time.

Exploration excitement moves south, to BOR and FOGL.

given that sp is slightly stronger, i should imagine it found out all that it needed to and was as much a cheap exercise to complete their obligations - as the rns implies - than anything else

StockMarketWire.com
Rockhopper Exploration has confirmed that coring and logging operations at well 14/15-4z have been successfully completed.

The sidetrack well 14/15-4z (approximately 12.5m from the main well bore), was drilled to a total depth of 2555m md. A total 115m of core was cut through the hydrocarbon bearing Beverley, Casper South, Casper and Sea Lion reservoirs bringing the total amount of core cut during the entire drilling campaign to 455m (1493ft).

Drilling of the well has completed the commitments required to earn the 60% interest and operatorship of licence PL004b. The well will now be plugged and abandoned as planned and a further announcement will be issued when the rig is off hire.

I did not expect anymore detail in the RNS that was given. The previous coring RNS was similar to this one.
I do though expect that the delay in the coring completion was that they probably went down deeper than they initially intended.
The total amount of coring samples is impressive.
If you look at the coring figures at well 14/10, the total depth was 2600m with total coring of 60m. The total depth at 14/15 was 2555m, some 45m less than 14/10 and yet the coring sample was 115m, some 55m or nearly double that of 14/10.
I might be reading something into this that is not there, but to me it looks like they found sufficient positive coring to decide they required the additional amount.
If the coring had negative indications, I feel they would not have spent the extra money and time on extracting the extra samples.
Looking forward to the CPR RNS and the Farm in details re production that I am certain will come.

Pro how sad are you that you even posted on christmas day on the FOGL thread.....very sad.

interesting action today on rkh, afr and gkp

manquarie put out a strong upgrade today on rkh and afr but no mention of gkp
afr is up, but the books are evenly balanced
rkh is having a little burst for glory but on low volume - unless there is more hidden behind the scenes
gkp is nicely ahead with a strong order book at 3:1 (like yesterday)