Oil & Gas News
Circle Oil (LON:COP) (BUY, 90p) (COP LN, 24.0p, ? 4.92%) today announced an update regarding the construction of the new pipeline and associated infrastructure for its Rharb Basin permits in Morocco and a Senior management appointment in Egypt. The construction phase of the new Sebou (DRJ) - Kenitra pipeline has been successfully completed. The pipeline is now undergoing pressure testing prior to commissioning and the start-up of increased gas delivery to local industry, which is expected to be completed by the end of January. The total length of the pipeline is 55km pipeline with a design capacity of 23.5mmscf/d. The pipeline has been connected to seven of the ten potential producing wells, with tie-in for the remaining wells scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2012.
Circle Oil also announced the appointment of Mr. Tarek Elbarkatawy as General Manager for Circle Oil Egypt Ltd. Tarek holds a BSc. in Petroleum Engineering from Cairo University and a Management and Business Administration diploma from the Cambridge International College, UK. He has approximately 24 years of diversified Oil and Gas experience in both E&P and Service Companies. Tarek will be based in Cairo and will manage Circle's Egyptian operations and liaise with its partners, Egyptian Government entities and the State energy company, EGPC. Along with other senior Circle staff and our country managers, he will contribute to identifying, evaluating and securing new business opportunities in Circle's geographic areas of interest.
Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH) PLC (BUY, 600p) (RKH LN, 291.5p, ? 7.76%) announced 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 Rockhoppers 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. During that period, Rockhopper operated ten wells, conducted two Drill Stem Tests, two short offset sidetracks and collected in excess of 450m of core with the Ocean Guardian for a total of 397 days. It resulted in seven successful wells of our ten drilled, with three oil discoveries, three gas discoveries, multiple successful Sea Lion appraisal wells and a successful appraisal…
