worth a read...?4 Mar 2012 00:18
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2011/10/invest749.htm
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2011/10/invest749.htm
Petroceltic chasing "Shaikan-type" play in Iraqi Kurdistan, says chief executive 29.10.2011
By Jamie Ashcroft - Proactive Investors UK
October 29, 2011
Petroceltic (LON:PCI) chief executive Brian O’Cathain said the company was “very fortunate” to grab its highly prospective acreage in Kurdistan.
And he reckons the door has now slammed shut on smaller firms attempting stake their claim in this emerging oil territory.
In late July the junior explorer teamed up with American firm Hess Corp (NYSE:HES) to snap up two licences in the semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq, which was recently described as “the last great oil frontier” by former BP boss Tony Hayward.
“We were delighted to pick up the two blocks,” O’Cathain said in an interview with Proactive Investors.
Petoceltic's new Kurdistan acreage is just a few kilometres from Gulf Keystone's major Shaikan oil discovery.
“They are excellent blocks with five anticlines – three on one and two on the other – any one of which could potentially contain in excess of 1 billion barrels of oil in place.
“It is the same petroleum system and target horizon as in the adjacent Gulf Keystone’s Shaikan block.
“It is the Shaikan type play that we are chasing, particularly in the Triassic which has been proved up by Gulf Keystone, and other Operators in the area.”
“We are only a few kilometres away from Shaikan so we are very optimistic.”
He added: “The Kurdistan assets have the potential to be absolutely huge for Petroceltic, even though our equity in the projects is relatively modest at 20 per cent.
“The fact that we have 20 per cent of what could potentially be 4 or 5 major discoveries is very significant.
“We are very excited about it and we are delighted to have acquired these assets just before the door effectively closed for smaller companies.”
A wave of similar deals followed Petroceltic’s move into Kurdistan, though the investments were being made by larger explorers. Murphy, Marathon, Hess, TAQA, Repsol, and Maersk are now all involved in the area.
And Vallares’ L3 billion merger with Turkish firm Genel give us a hint of things to come as this particular niche in the oil sector consolidates.
“I don’t think there’ll many more small companies getting the chance to enter Kurdistan now,” O’Cathain said.
“I think any future activity will revolve around consolidation, rather than new entrants.”