Brokerman Dan: Buy Matra Petroleum at 1.15p – Bet On Barskiy for 2013
It’s been an exceptional January 2013 for the Brokerman Daniel website, notably with stunning news from Nostra Terra (LSE:NTOG) my previous free share tip here on onefreesharetip.com
So hot-footing across from the USA we change tack to revisit one of my favourite feisty Russian oilers. Yes it’s Matra Petroleum. (LSE:MTA) It’s taken months & months of knocking on the Matra door but finally it was opened. Persistence can pay off.
No doubt traders will be all over the stock this year but it’s as an investment opportunity I write the article.
Having interviewed the Matra CEO, Maxim Barskiy this week I am as convinced as ever that Matra could be destined to be one of the stellar small cap performers this year. I jumped in at the deep end & asked the CEO how he envisaged Matra going forward in 2013 & if he was “committed” to the company? It was refreshing to see how he dealt with the questions. Barskiy exudes confidence and is a skilled orator. I was left in no doubt of his commitment to Matra.
Barskiy is a cool customer who does not get flustered no matter how much you try to rile him. He is assured & confident. His ability to succeed should not be under-estimated. A penny share oil company Matra may well be at this time, but not for long. Make no mistake. Maxim Barskiy is 100% committed to Matra. The ex-heir apparent to the TNK-BP throne now feels that his future is allied to Matra. Remember an important pointer to investment is that Barskiy is the former deputy CEO of TNK-BP, the No3 oil company in Russia. He is a proven winner and as I’ve said many times re’ investment it is the capabilities of management that PI’s should first look too before investing. The new Board of Matra is packed with exceptionally gifted individuals.
Barskiy has a plan & he’s been busy behind the scenes implementing it, surrounding himself with a proven oil management team. This is exactly what happened at West Siberian Resources where he helped turn the previously struggling group into one of Russia’s most successful independent oil companies, increasing its market capitalisation from less than $100m in 2004 to $3bn by the time it merged to create Alliance Oil in 2008. Of course times change, there are less independent assets in Russia and the tax position can be quite hard on upstream exploration. Opportunities still exist in regions including the Volga-Urals area, where Matra operates while other parts of the Russian Federation still enjoy special tax breaks. Barskiy is quite capable of navigating around Russian Bureaucracy. I’d expect that the Barskiy plan involves investment outside of Russia where profits per barrel can be 3/4 times those in Russia.
Of course Russian oil plays are not without risk – read this tale of woe by my friend Tom Winnifrith on another Russian AIM listed oil play HERE if you are in any doubt. The key ingredient is to have a man at the helm who knows how to the play the system and who is heavily invested himself. That is why Matra is a winner.
Funding.
Maxim says that funding for 2013 isn’t an issue all is well with the company finances, he has personally invested £4.6 million pounds. Matra is debt free and producing approx 70bopd. With significant upside forecast for 2013.
Seismic News
Seismic interpretation is virtually complete and it can only be a matter of weeks before we get a glimpse of the potential oil in place at Sokolovskoe. (News in Feb’) I asked Maxim if he thought the field was capable of producing over 2000bopd. His response was to point me to the neighbouring Mayorskoe Field where production from 3 wells is approx’ 3,000 bopd. The field is producing from the same geology as Sokolovskoe. Remember the oil is already there, this isn’t a question of finding the oil. It’s a question of how quickly the company can proceed to the Full Field Development Plan with improved CPR & increasing production, which should increase the current 15 million barrel reserves into the classification of proven reserves. It’s a simple equation, increasing reserves with oil production increases the share price. Production is set to increase in 2013. Proven reserves could double or quadruple. It really is all to play for.
With the implementation of the acquisition led growth strategy with a focus on Emerging Markets and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) tied into the development of a balanced portfolio with production, appraisal and exploration potential. There’s a lot of news in the pipeline so get ready for a thrilling investment ride. This could be one of the most spectacular performers of 2013.
Get yourself a slice of the Matra pie today; don’t delay. At these prices (1.15p) the stock represents fantastic value for small investors. 10p could easily be reached this year. The sky really is the limit here. The shares could just as easily reach 10p as they could 20p! Bet on Barskiy to succeed.
Viva
BrokerMan Dan.
70bopd is pretty dissapointing.
I thought previously their wells tested at several hundreds of barrels per day???
It’s a start. Read the 2012 FD NOTE good place to start. “Operational problems causing water influx has resulted in disappointing performance from wells A-12 and A-13, although
the well control and recent seismic re-processing and re-interpretation indicate that both were drilled on the flanks of the
field. Despite an independent estimate of 15MMbbl of 2C resources, the Company needs to demonstrate commerciality of
the field, which in turn requires sustained oil production rates from future wells.
In our valuation we have applied a PoS factor of 70% to the 2C resource base, which we believe is conservative and
sufficiently accounts for the technical and operational risks. We believe this level of risking is appropriate until the
management has demonstrated satisfactory correlation between the geological model and well control.
Water ingress into production intervals has been an issue for both A-12 and A-13 wells and the management has stated its
plan to complete the wells above the OWC. However, we understand that in A-12 side-track the water ingress may have
actually originated from Frankski horizon above the Aphonenski oil producing interval due to a poor cement job and
completion. In our opinion this was very unfortunate and we consider the likelihood of this happening again to be small,
especially if you take into account the fact that the wells were drilled for solely exploration purposes. Future wells will be
designed as production wells thus avoid such technical problems.”
Thanks for the info Dan