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.

...or a huge erection

or someone placing the candle indelicately

Blimey !....why the drop with good news....I suggested profit taking but this is ridiculous....

Looks like lit of punters been taken by the big boys who are getting your shares cheap on good news watch the bounce tomrrow

one would like to think so, but though sp is currently bouncing, the order book remains weak

My friend trust me u don't c everything

i certainly see that the bears have had a field day today with 44m traded!

Just having a read up on the RNS, some points i am unclear about one of them is this.

Premier and Rockhopper have also agreed to pursue jointly exploration opportunities in the Falkland Islands and analogous plays in selected areas offshore Southern Africa.

which plays in Africa,is it a 60/40 split in Africa



Any views?

presumably the bits that once joined together in pangaea, though i guess it's barely at the gestation period yet

A long way off ....that drilling......very surprised at the drop......a small drop perhaps but this has been slaughtered today......might as well give up the stockmarket the way things have been going......I'm going mainly for FOGL now.....

I think Pangaea is a bit too general - more likely Gondwana :-)

happy to be corrected ..... i now note pangaea was the forerunner etc etc
anyway, even longer ago than when i was a young lad!

.

Thats what happens when u let a clown run your country....

http://en.mercopress.com/2012/07/14/argentina-has-three-annual-inflation-estimates-9.9-23.96-and-30#comments

Argentina has three annual inflation estimates: 9.9%; 23.96% and 30%
Argentina's government reported Friday that consumer prices rose by 0.7% in June. The estimate, published by national statistics agency, Indec, indicates that in the first half of 2012 inflation reached 5.1% and 9.9% in the last twelve months.

For those with time on their hands, this is worth a quick read to understand PMO's stance on the FI potential:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/9400365/Premier-Oil-braves-Falklands-hostility-from-Argentina.html

Barking up the wrong tree here ......will be years before any oil is out of the ground.....but all the excitement (if any) is with the southern licences.....good longterm investment RKH but no drilling for perhaps two years : that's the problem....

if your logic had much merit, PMO would have bought into the souther basin; they didn't just make some silly schoolboy geographical error

Harry that was a good artical.....

A big step for RKH going from explore to a producer, would like a bit more meat on the bone to chew over with Africa interests.
Wish I had a crystal ball to see in the future of RKH in 5 years time as it looks bloody interesting.
Now PMO has joined the boys down there it will open the gates for others to follow at lot easier.

looks cheap at todays price


Premier Oil’s (LON:PMO) US$1 billion Falklands foray has prompted one City house to downgrade, though others are much more optimistic about the potential of the deal with Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH).

Premier announced yesterday it is acquiring a 60 per cent stake and operatorship of Rockhopper’s Sea Lion field with an initial down-payment of US$231 million.

It has also agreed to pay exploration and development costs running to US$770 million.

“[The] assets change Premier's risk-reward profile, reducing leverage to exploration, pushing positive free cash flow out to 2017 and increasing exposure to one Falklands field development,” said Liberum Capital’s Andrew Whittock, as he moved Premier to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’.

A better reflection of opinion in the Square Mile came from Will Arnstein, oil and gas analyst at FinnCap who raised his target price by 30 pence to 410 pence and repeated his ‘buy’ advice.
He described the acquisition as “highly attractive”, saying it added significant discovered resources at a very low up-front cost.

“While geographically distant from its existing operations, the assets complement the strategy, adding future production growth at a time when the existing portfolio is forecast to go into decline – thereby removing reinvestment risk without stretching the balance sheet today,” Arnstein said.

Elsewhere, RBC Capital Markets said the Sea Lion development segued well with the Premier’s cash flow profile.

The field is expected to be on-stream 2017 (and will produce 80,000 barrels at its peak), which means the majority of the estimated US$2 billion capex required for development will be needed from 2015 onwards.

“This fits with Premier's maximum cashflow generation with production at 100,000 barrels of oil a day from the existing portfolio,” said RBC’s Nathan Piper.

He rates the stock a ‘buy’ and has raised his price target to 750 pence a share from 680 pence previously after adjusting his net asset valuation of the company in the wake of the deal.

Barclays note:
"Rockhopper’s farm-out to Premier, in our view, is a major step forward in the progression to first oil of the company’s key assets, the Sea Lion field in the North Falkland basin. With US$722m of carried development capex, plus US$231m in cash and a stand-by financing facility also provided by Premier, Rockhopper is fully funded to first oil and beyond. Premier, which is taking over operatorship, also brings much needed technical expertise. Despite this, the terms were below what we had assumed in our model and, as a result, we reduce our NAV by 175p to 415p. This is primarily driven by a lower residual interest that Rockhopper has retained in the basin at 40% instead of 60% (-100p). In line with Premier’s estimates, we are also factoring a delayed first oil (-40p), and a revised resource estimate (-35p). In addition, given a lack of catalysts over the next 12 months that could lead to a re-rating of the shares, we have applied a 15% discount to our NAV, reducing our price target to 350p from 590p. This also reflects a deteriorating political risk outlook in the near term that we believe is likely to follow this transaction. With 41% potential upside vs 46% average upside for our European E&P coverage, we downgrade the shares to 2-EW from 1-OW.
New NAV: Although we did not expect an over-crowded dataroom due to the political tensions between the Falklands and Argentina, Rockhopper’s 60% sale looks to be a reflection of few companies being willing or capable of taking on such a development, equivalent to a distressed sale. In our NAV, we reduce our resource estimate from 420MMbl (gross) to 370MMbl. Our number was ahead of the CPR (381MMbl), as we had assumed better recovery factors (RFs) at 33%. We believe the RFs are still valid, but Premier carries a lower volume in-place than the CPR, hence the reduction in resources. Finally, our NAV excludes any exploration upside in region of ca 300MMbl, based on Premier’s estimates."