Smallcap Oil & Gas round-up with a sprinkling of miners! Updating as you read!

Aurelian Oil & Gas;

Held it’s AGM and announced that all resolutions were passed by shareholders.

Bahamas Petroleum;

Announced that it has signed a contract with Fugro N.V. to undertake a high resolution seabed survey on the Company’s licence area. The survey will begin in early June; taking approximately six weeks to complete; and will also be used for the 3D seismic survey being undertaken by CGGVeritas. Dr. Paul Crevello, CEO of Bahamas Petroleum, said: “We are pleased to have signed this contract with Fugro and look forward to receiving the results of the seabed survey in due course, which will be applied towards the hydrocarbon seep detection and environmental assessment of the area. This is another important step in the Company’s exploration programme.” The company also added the AGM notice and the Company’s annual report with accounts for the year ended 31 December 2010 have been  posted to shareholders and are available for download from the Company’s website at www.bpcplc.com.

Cadogan Petroleum;

Announced that Ian Baron and Gordon Stein had increased their holdings in the company via Director dealing notices.

Caza Oil & Gas;

Released further news that as a result of purchases of a total of 3,000,000 common shares in the Company between 19th and 24th May 2011, the Junior Oils Trust now holds 14,000,000 shares in the Company representing 8.52 per cent. of the issued shares of the Company.

Chariot Oil & Gas;

Has been notified that, as of 24 May 2011, Citigroup Global Markets UK Equity Limited has an interest in 21,764,872 ordinary shares in the Company, representing 12.02% of the Company’s issued ordinary share capital.

Circle Oil;

Released operating updates from Egypt & Morroco .   Geyad-3.(Egypt) The main objective for this well was to appraise and bring into production the oil bearing Shagar and Rahmi sandstones of the Kareem Formation. The Shagar sands were encountered from 5,333 to 5,347 ft MD with 14 ft of net oil pay.  Shagar interval was tested at a sustained rate of 1,316 bopd and 1.26 MMscf/d of gas on a 24/64″ choke and the well will be completed for production. The underlying Rahmi sands were encountered but found to be of poor reservoir quality and were not tested. A secondary objective of the Belayim sands in Geyad-3 well was also encountered with 5 ft of calculated net pay, but it was decided not to test this interval at the present time. Morocco Circle announced the commencement of surveying work and mobilisation for the new seismic acquisition campaign within their permits in the Rharb Basin. The campaign is scheduled to acquire a further 120 square kilometres of 3D data as well as 24 full fold line kilometres of 2D and is expected to last 4-5 months.The data will be subsequently processed and interpreted for use in the identification and prioritisation of drilling targets for the third drilling campaign presently scheduled to commence in early 2012.

Cove Energy;

Released their final results for the year ended Dec’ 2010 copies of which can be read by clicking this link www.cove–energy.com

Egdon Resources;

Released some much needed good news today. The Keddington-4 well was drilled as a re-entry and horizontal sidetrack from the Keddington-1Z “donor” well, during April 2011 and encountered a total of 120 metres of the primary reservoir Unit 1 sandstone and 65 metres of Unit 2. Site reinstatement works have been completed and the Keddington-4 well commenced pumping operations on Monday 23 May 2011 at 08.30 hours.  The well began free-flowing oil and gas through an adjustable choke and the pump was shut-off. The well has been shut-in periodically to observe pressure behaviour.  Free-flowing production over a flowing period of 68 hours to 07.30 on 27 May 2011 has yielded 647 barrels of oil along with 1,106,300 cubic feet of gas on a minimum choke setting.  The production rate for the 24 hours to 07.30 hours on 27 May 2011 was measured at 234 barrels of oil per day  and 518,000 cubic feet of gas per day.  No formation water has been observed to date.

It is intended to continue to produce the Keddington-4 well over the coming few weeks to determine the optimum rate and methods of producing the well.  Production from the adjacent Keddington-3z well, which was producing at constrained rates of 100 bopd and 650,000 cfg/d prior to being shut-in during the drilling operations, will resume in the coming weeks once stable production has been established from Keddington-4. We will provide further updates once stable oil and gas rates for the field are established. Egdon holds a 75% operated interest in PEDL005(Remainder). The joint venture partners are Terrain Energy Limited (15%) and Alba Resources Limited (10%), a wholly owned subsidiary of Nautical Petroleum plc (AIM: NPE).

Empyrean Energy;

An oil and gas explorer and producer established to finance the exploration, development and production of energy resource projects in geopolitically stable environments, announces its results for the year ended 31 March 2011. Highlights of which were, Continued growth in revenue and number of wells participated in;  Independent reserves report at the Sugarloaf Project underpinning management valuation;  Independent reserves report estimates net future revenues at the Sugarloaf Project to total US$179.7 million; Potential for further growth of 1P and 2P reserves at the Sugarloaf Project as on-going drilling and field  development program continues; Hercules Project – stable production and a number of development well locations;

EnCore Oil;

Announced  A volte-face, on their much vaunted XEO flotation. In light of current market conditions, exacerbated by the uncertain investment climate created following the recent tax changes, the Board has decided to cancel the flotation of XEO Exploration and the related offer to EnCore shareholders. While The Directors of Europa Oil & Gas also suffered a setback with the decision of the Planning Committee of Surrey County Council to refuse planning
permission for the UK onshore Holmwood-1 exploration well. Europa will appeal the decision on the grounds that the decision to refuse was not made
purely on the facts of the case. Paul Barrett said that, “We believe the proposal submitted to the Council was technically strong, fully supported by the County’s own Planning Officers and as such the refusal is thought likely to be overturned on appeal.”

Global Petroleum;

Updated the market on Tyler Ranch EFS #2H, the second Eagle Ford horizontal well in which Global Petroleum has an interest, is now due to commence drilling by mid June, due to the late arrival of the rig from another operator. The company also updated on the Jupiter sale and purchase agreement. Jupiter is conditional on the satisfaction of a number of conditions precedent, including due diligence investigations, obtaining necessary consents from governmental authorities, a report from an independent expert that the transaction is fair and reasonable to Global shareholders, and shareholder approval at a General Meeting.

Gold Oil;

Whose primarly focus on opportunities in Latin America, provided an update on its operations on Block Z34, offshore Peru. On 25^th May, 2011 Gold Oil signed a Letter of Intent with BGP Geoexplorer PTE Ltd with regard to the acquisition of a marine 3D seismic survey over Block Z34 offshore Peru.  The survey is for a total of 500 sq km over the southern part of the licence area.  As previously announced, the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines has recently approved the environmental permit  covering Block Z34 for shooting a maximum of 808 sq km of 3D seismic offshore.  This initial survey comprises the first phase of 3D seismic over the licence and a further (approx. 1,100 sq km) will be required to evaluate the northern area of this large and prospective block.The vessel, the “BGP Pioneer”, is currently alongside Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and will mobilise shortly to the operations area.  Steaming time to Peru will be approximately 20 days and it is expected, therefore, that the vessel will commence operations, after local clearances,  around early July 2011. Total acquisition time is expected to be approximately 30 days from commencement of operations.

Gulf Keystone;

Is organizing a series of visits to the Company’s headquarters and various operations within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by a number of analysts, media representatives and investors. The visits are scheduled to take place in the period between 23^rd May and 2^nd June 2011. No new material information pertaining to the Company’s operations and activities will be provided during the visit.

Leed Petroleum;

The troubled oil and gas exploration and production company, announced that, further to the announcement on 6 May 2011, Leed Petroleum sold all of its oil and gas assets to a private company for US$16,000,000. This sale constitutes a sale of substantially all of the assets of Company. All of the proceeds from the sale will be used to satisfy debt owed to Unicredit Bank AG.Following on from that,

Leni Gas & Oil;

Announced resumption of operations in the Gulf of Mexico following the recent announcements by Leed Petroleum. Leni also announced further details of the well work-over operations being performed at its 100% owned Ayoluengo and Hontomin Oilfields in Northern Spain. As planned, Société de Maintenance Pétrolière and Services Pétrolièrs Schlumberger  were mobilised to the field in the week of the 26^th April 2011.   The SMP-2 rig and the Schlumberger wireline unit have been used in tandem with the Company-owned Cardwell work-over rig to advance work on two wells simultaneously.

Max Petroleum;

Announced an operational update of its activities in the Blocks A&E Licence area in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Asanketken.Due to ongoing performance issues with the drilling rig and contractor combined with a poor and deteriorating condition of the uncased wellbore below 2000 metres, Max has decided to complete the ASK-1 well as a Jurassic producer and drill a second well both to test the prospect’s Triassic potential and further appraise the Company’s previously announced Jurassic discovery. The Company plans to begin drilling the ASK-2 well in July 2011 using the IDECO rig currently drilling the NARS-1 exploration well in the Narmundunak South prospect on Block E. The Company has terminated the drilling contract for the Sun ZJ-40 rig currently drilling ASK-1 and will release the rig immediately upon completion of drilling operations on the well. In addition, the Company has released the Sun ZJ-30 rig after it completed drilling operations on the ZMA-ET2 appraisal well in the Zhana Makat Field. In addition to targeting the primary Triassic prospect, the ASK-2 well will test additional Jurassic reservoirs potentially trapped by the same sealing fault as the Jurassic reservoirs discovered in ASK-1, previously announced on 1 April 2011. The Company estimates that the productive reservoirs seen in ASK-1, contain between a range of 4 to 7 million barrels of oil in place with expected oil recovery factors ranging from 35 to 40%. The Company expects to place the ASK-1 well on test production in approximately 60-90 days upon receipt of the requisite government approvals.

Northern Petroleum;
Hit the buffers today with a Reserves and Production Operations Update. Northern announced that it will be revising its 2011 production
forecasts and is making changes to reserve estimates in the Netherlands. The adjustments concern three of the five gas fields operated by Northern.
The revisions to reserves follow an ongoing economic and technical evaluation. Reprocessing of the 3D seismic data over Geesbrug and Wijk en Aalburg fields, plus much of the rest of the Netherlands acreage has been underway for some time. When it has been received and interpreted, the static and dynamic field models will be updated with the production data later this year, it will then be possible to make a further assessment of the reserves. Northern has not asyet had the opportunity to review these reserve adjustments with joint venture partners but believes it to be prudent to make a reserves revision now. Down 40% at the time of writing.

Oilex;

Were advised by the Operator that the La Rocca-1 exploration well has reached total depth of 4,864 metres after drilling through the Intra Mungaroo Formation channel sandstone primary objective. There are no indications of gas in the LWD and mud log data and final wireline logs will now be run.

Range Resources;

Released a company update ahead of their AGM. Texas. Work is being completed on the North Chapman Ranch fracture stimulation  program, where results have seen a dramatic increase to oil and gas flow rates from the Russell-Bevly #1 well. Work has now been completed on the uppermost zone of the Russell-Bevly, where indications are that the frac was a complete success, with 150,000 lbs. of frac sand having been pumped into the formation. Stabilised flow rates are approximately 3.5 MMcfd and 350 Bopd from the one zone alone. Work will now move back to the Smith well. In the East Clarksville field, Range and its partners await the arrival of frac equipment and crews to begin work on the recently drilled Ross 3H horizontal well. Frac work is expected to begin within the next 2 weeks.  Trinidad. Following on from the recently announced agreement that sees Range acquiring 100% of SOCA Petroleum the Company, along with operations teams in Dallas and Trinidad, is currently finalizing an aggressive work program that is expected to see a rapid increase in production from the existing reserve base as it moves towards its targetedproduction rate of 4,000 bopd from existing P1 and P2 reserves (currently production is 650-700 bopd). The program will also target the deeper (and potentially bigger) Herrera formation and untested areas not currently forming part of the current reserve base.

Rare Earth Minerals;

The rare earth minerals and metals projects investment company announces that the Company has completed the placing as announced on 5 May 2011. The Company has raised gross proceeds of £2.1m  through the issue of 300,000,000 new ordinary shares at a placing price of 0.7 pence per share. Application has been made for the new shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will take place on 27 May 2011.

Roxi Petroleum;

Announces that copies of the 2010 Annual Report and Accounts, Notice of AGM and Proxy Voting form have been sent to all registered shareholders and are now available for viewing on the Company’s website, www.roxipetroleum.com. The Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of Buchanan, 107 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6DN at 11:00am on Monday 27 June 2011.

Sefton Resources;

Released their unaudited prelims’ for Dec 2010 the highlights of which were as follows; Q3 2010 restructured board of highly experienced oil and gas company Directors. Year-end (12/31/10) proved reserves total 3.8 million bbls, with a value of $80.6 million (US – PV10),Raised equity capital, amended and extended credit facility.Engaged London based investor relations team and additional brokers. Outperformed AIM Oil & Gas Index by approximately 60% through April 2011.  Initiated continuous steam pilot program at Tapia oil field and engaged Dr. Farouq Ali to evaluate Tapia steam flood potential. Commenced Kansas infrastructure development. Engaged Dr. Nafi Onat to evaluate the resource potential of East Kansas assets.Jim Ellerton, CEO and Acting Chairman said: “We achieved a great deal in 2010 to execute our strategy to maximise the revenues from our existing assets and have also made strategic investments which we anticipate will deliver significant returns over the longer term. We now have in place a very strong management team and are well financed to develop the projects we have in hand.  Furthermore, we are excited by the future prospects which we believe will be demonstrated by the analysis undertaken by Dr Farouk Ali and Dr Nafi Onat and are confident that these will demonstrate improved reserves and potential production, which will generate strong returns for shareholders”

Solo Oil;

Said it was pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding Heads of Agreement with Reef Resources Ltd  to earn a 38.1 % direct working interest in the Ausable Field and surrounding properties in  South Western Ontario.

Sound Oil;

The upstream oil and gas company with assets in Indonesia and Italy,  announced its audited final results for the year ended 31 December 2010.

Sterling Energy;

Yet again disappointed the faithful with a downbeat Kurdistan operations update. The Sangaw North-1 well has been drilled to a total depth of 4,190 metres, within the Triassic Kurra Chine formation. Wireline logs have been run across the open hole section and are currently being interpreted. The joint-venture partnership has elected, based on gas shows while drilling, to conduct a flow test across the open hole section. The flow test, including preparatory operations, is expected to take approximately three weeks to complete. Further flow testing may be undertaken depending on the results of the first flow test and interpretation of the drilling and petrophysical data acquired in the well.

Xcite Energy;

Announced its results for the 3 months ended March 31, 2011. The first quarter of 2011 has enabled the Company to progress its plans for the First Stage Production programme on the Bentley field, with the signing of the Rowan Norway harsh environment, deep water jack-up rig and the planning that has been undertaken with a number of the Company’s contractors and service providers to support the use of the rig in the field for the FSP. In parallel, work was undertaken with respect to the recently announced reserves assessment report, together with the field development plan for the FSP that is expected to be submitted to the Department of Energy and Climate Change shortly. The Company’s unaudited Financial Results for the 3 Months Ended March 31, 2011 can be found at the following link: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/2106H_-2011-5-24.pdf