The Smallcap Oil & Gas round-up

Aminex;

Announced an update on drilling of the Ntorya-1 exploration well in the Ruvuma Basin onshore in Tanzania. The well was spudded on the 22 December 2011. Following successful installation of the top drive to the rig the well is now drilling ahead at a depth of 620 metres.  The target interval of the well is approximately 1,800 to 1,900 metres depth.  Ntorya-1 is expected to reach total depth in late January 2012. Aminex estimates that the Ntorya Prospect has a probability of success of around 20%, with mean recoverable resource potential of 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Circle Oil;

Released two operating updates this week. Copy’s of which can be viewed by clicking the link.. http://www.circleoil.net/

DEO Petroleum;

An oil and gas development and production company focused on the UK Continental Shelf region of the North Sea, has finalised the amalgamation agreement to combine the Licence P218 Block 15/21a Gamma Sub Area (“Gamma”) and Block 15/21g (“Spaniards”) areas. The parties to the agreement will now effect the relevant transfer documentation.  A firm commitment well is expected to be drilled by Encore (Operator) in the third quarter of the year. DEO has a carried interest of 12.62% and will make no cash contribution to the dry-hole cost of the first well.  The remaining Gamma/Spaniards equity is held by Encore (28%), Nautical Petroleum (21%), Serica Energy (21%), Faroe Petroleum (8.4%), Maersk Oil (5.74%), and Atlantic Petroleum (3.24%).

Empyrean Energy;

Reported this week that an accelerated drilling programme will be carried out on its Texas-based Sugarloaf project this year under the supervision of the new project operator, Marathon Oil. Empyrean described the move as very positive and said it was progressing discussions with a number of institutions regarding a reserves-based debt funding facility so that it can participate in all future wells in Marathon’s drilling programme. Sugarloaf is an Eagle Ford Shale liquids-rich producing field within the Sugarkane Gas & Condensate Field. Empyrean holds a 3% working interest in the project where 24 wells are currently in production within contiguous leases covering an area of approximately 24,000 acres. This area is considered to be one of the premium shale plays in North America.

Falkland Oil & Gas;

The oil and gas exploration company operating in the South and East Falkland basins, announced today that it has conditionally placed 112,764,675 new ordinary shares of 0.002 pence in the capital of the Company at a price of 43 pence per share to raise £48.5 million before expenses.  The net proceeds of the Placing will allow FOGL to undertake its preferred drilling strategy on its upcoming two well drilling programme.

Faroe Petroleum;

An independent oil and gas company, has begun drilling on the Kalvklumpen Prospect, the good news came 24  hours after Faroe reported that they had  abandoned drilling work on a second side-track well on its Butch discovery in the Norwegian North Sea after encountering technical difficulties. The side-track well on the Butch South West exploration prospect was brought to a close short of its exploration objective because of hole instability problems encountered whilst drilling the section above the main reservoir. The Kalvklumpen Prospect, in which Faroe has a 20% interest, is situated east of the abandoned Frøy Field and the recent Atla discovery. The drilling operation, which is set to take between 30-35 days, will be undertaken by Det Norske Oljeselskap as operator using the Songa Delta drilling rig. Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: “We are pleased to announce the spudding of the Kavlklumpen well, the first of our multi-well 2012 exploration drilling programme.  Meanwhile, the Norwegian Butch discovery well is being brought to a close and operations on the Norwegian T-Rex exploration well continue.”

Enegi Oil;

It’s been another good week for Enegi as the company announced that Schlumberger has mobilised equipment and personnel to the Garden Hill South (‘GHS’) property and the next stage of the workover has now commenced with flow tests being conducted and chemically conditioned crude being pumped down the PaP#1-ST#3 well. Photographs of operations at GHS have been posted on the Company website at www.enegioil.com/operations/image-bank.  More will be added as the workover progresses. As well as facilitating preparation for commercial production, the workover is expected to provide further data that will enable the Company to complete the Development Plan for GHS with the objective being to significantly enhance the ultimate recovery of hydrocarbons from the reservoir.

Global Energy Development;

The Latin America focused petroleum exploitation and production company said that the Peruvian government has officially approved and authorised the assignment of 60% of the Peruvian Block 95 License Contract (“Block 95 Contract”) to Gran Tierra Energy, Inc. through Supreme Decree No. 050-2011-EM published on 29 December 2011.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum;

It’s been an exciting week for holders of GKP as news & takeover whispers circulated. The company provided an update on its ongoing exploration and appraisal programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which includes the Shaikan block, a major discovery with independently audited gross oil-in-place volumes of between 8 billion barrels to 13.4 billion barrels calculated on the P90 to P10 basis with a mean value of 10.5 billion barrels. The company also confirmed that the Third Party Assignment Options held by the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq under the terms of Article 4 of the respective Production Sharing Contracts remain valid and exercisable.

Ithaca Energy;

Reported news this week that export production reached 1,595,039 barrels of oil equivalent last year, representing an average rate of 4,370 barrels per day net to the company. The daily production average has since risen to a current level of approximately 5,010 barrels net as a result of a workover recently completed at the Beatrice Bravo platform. The company reiterated that full year production guidance for 2012 would be issued once the BW Athena Floating Production, Storage and Offtake vessel is hooked up in the Athena field, which is currently under development. The FPSO is undergoing final phases of conversion work in Dubai Dry Dock World and commissioning is understood to be underway ahead of the sail-away from Dubai in mid-February. Ithaca’s 2011 export production volumes came from the operated Beatrice, Jacky and Anglia fields and from the non-operated Topaz, Cook and Broom fields.

Max Petroleum;

Announced yet another operational update on its activities in the Blocks A&E Licence area in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Max has matured three additional prospects into its drillable post-salt prospect inventory based upon its technical review of new 3D seismic data acquired over five leads in Block E in late 2011. The new prospects include Dossor North West, Eskene North, and Baichonas West, all of which are four-way, Triassic rim prospects. The Baichonas West prospect also includes a four-way Jurassic closure as a secondary target. The remaining two leads are still under technical evaluation and could mature into drillable prospects at a later date. The Company has removed two prospects located in Block A from the drillable portfolio based on further technical review. Kainar was dropped from the inventory after a reassessment of risk based on the results of drilling the Zhalgyz South prospect in October 2011 and the Company reclassified the Karasai Prospect as a lead pending the drilling and evaluation of the adjacent Karasai South Prospect.

New World Oil and Gas;

A company focussed on making investments in the oil and gas sector, has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent with Danica Resources ApS, granting the Company a 90-day exclusivity period in which to undertake due diligence and complete a Competent Person’s Report on a 6,400 sq km oil and gas concession, Licence No. 1/08, located in the productive Western Baltic region of the South Permian Basin of Denmark.  This Licence is in addition to the Danica Jutland Project that includes Licences No. 1/09 and 2/09.

Pantheon Resources;

The ailing AIM-quoted oil and gas exploration company makes the following announcement.  Pantheon has been informed by the operator of the Tyler County Joint Venture, Vision Gas Resources LLC, that negotiations for a farm-out and restructuring continue. Pantheon will continue to provide updates to shareholders as soon as there is any firm new information. Such deals remain confidential and the outcome of these negotiations cannot be predicted in advance.

Rockhopper Exploration;

The North Falkland Basin oil and gas exploration company, announces that the Ocean Guardian drilling unit has been towed successfully from the 14/15-4 well location and is now off hire to Rockhopper. 14/15-4 was the final well in Rockhopper’s first North Falkland Basin drilling campaign, which has lasted from 16 April 2010 to 8 January 2012. The Company estimates that it will have over USD $100 million of cash resources available once all charges for completing the drilling campaign have been accounted for.

San Leon;

Announced that is has established connectivity between its two test wells in its Tarfaya Oil Shale project.  Injection water has been observed in three wells, including pilot Well A and Well B drilled by the Company as part of the pilot project, and the pre-existing Star 12 core hole.  Several transmissivity and static formation pressure tests were performed to identify the origin of the water which have confirmed connectivity between the two pilot test wells which are ~10 meters apart.  Operations have been temporarily suspended pending continued technical analysis and forward operational planning.

Solo Oil;

(See Aminex entry)