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Oil and gas news summary: Dragon Oil, Red Emperor, Sterling Energy, Circe Oil, SacOil, Global Petroleum

Published: 11:00 23 Jul 2011 BST

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It appears that Dragon Oil’s (LON:DGO) expansion drilling is proving to be successful as the company this week revealed a 25 percent rise production in the six months ended 30 June 2011, to around 58,000 barrels of oil per day. Seven new development wells were drilled on the Cheleken oilfield, offshore Turkmenistan, during the first half. In total the group plans to complete twelve development wells this year.

Red Emperor Resources (LON:RMP, ASX:RMP)
said this week it knows no specific reason for the recent spike in the share price, which has risen 20 percent. It did, however, acknowledge the growing media interest in the stock after the spudding of the first well in Georgia on the 13 July 2011.

Oil firm Sterling Energy (

LON:SEY) remains “well placed” despite its recent disappointment in Kurdistan, according to the company’s chairman.

In a statement issued along with the firm’s interim results, chairman Alastair Beardsall pointed out that with its Sangaw North-1 exploration well in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the company had had the opportunity to test a very large upside potential with limited exposure to costs and that “the risk of unsuccessful wells is inherent in oil and gas production”.

Circle Oil (LON:COP)
says its plans for the NW Gemsa concession in Egypt remain on track after it revealed a successful result for the Al Amir SE-8X water injection well. This well was aimed at supporting production from other wells on the Al Amir SE field.

Shares in SacOil (LON:SAC, JSE:SAC) received a vote of confidence from its executive director Colin Bird, who bought £12,500 worth of shares. The Africa focused oil explorer said this morning that Bird purchased 200,000 shares at a price of 6.25 pence on the open market.

After an absence of nearly two years, oil shale business TomCo (LON:TOM) is back on London’s Alternative Investment Market. Shares in the firm, which were placed at one pence per share to raise £3.5 million for the business, recommenced trading on AIM this week.

Global Petroleum Ltd (LON:GBP)
said the latest Leighton Olmos vertical production well, Peeler No. 3, has reached its total vertical depth of 2,774 metres, and will be tied in as a producer. Global has a 15 percent working interest and a 11.25 percent net revenue interest in Peeler No. 3.

AIM-listed Ascent Resources (LON:AST) says it has raised €552,525 to advance its Italian projects through the placing of convertible loan notes. The company said this week that the notes were placed with existing creditors in Italy with the option to issue a further €70,000 in the future.

Shares in Kazakhstan-focused junior Max Petroleum (LON:MXP) released a production update from its Zhana Makat field this week. The ZMA-ET1 well there is currently producing at a stable rate of around 650 bopd barrels of oil per day (bopd), said the company.

Africa-focused oil and gas firm Afren PLC (LON:AFR) has cut its 2011 production guidance as a result of facilities stoppages and also said its output level at the end of the year would be lower than previously forecast. The company, which mainly operates in Nigeria, now expects average production in 2011 to be between 25,000 and 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd). It had forcast 40,000 boepd in May.

Chariot Oil & Gas (LON:CHAR)
told investors this week that its discussions to secure a rig for the planned drilling operations at its Namibian assets continue and the company is on track with the timeline.

Matra Petroleum (LON:MTA)
shares shed over 35 percent on Wednesday as it revealed that technical problems have hindered its work-over operations on well-12 on the Sokolovskoe oilfield in Russia.

Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG)
said this week that it has received the necessary approvals to deepen its Barchiz-1 exploration well on its 100 percent EPI-3 Brates block in Romania. This is aimed at testing the target thought to lie beneath the current 1,450m depth of the well, said the company in an update about its Romanian operations and their timings over the next six months.

Providence Resources (LON:PVR)
said it started operations for its 3D seismic acquisition project in the Frontier Exploration Licence (FEL) 4/08 in the Porcupine Basin, off the west coast of Ireland. Using a vessel supplied by Polarcus Ltd, the 200 sq km 3D survey is expected to run for approximately 15 days.

Leni Gas & Oil (LON:LGO)
is on track to achieve daily production at the upper end of its targeted 300-to-500 barrels of oil per day range from two of its key oilfields in Spain, according to house broker Shore Capital.

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