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PROACTIVE NEWS SUMMARY: Petroceltic International, Desire Pertroleum, Victoria Oil & Gas, Range Resources, Elementis, Charter International

Published: 02:59 29 Oct 2011 AEDT

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Closely followed exploration campaigns in the Falklands and the Kurdistan region of Iraq emerged among the main themes in today’s news coverage by Proactive Investors with two main stories dedicated to companies operating in those regions.

Proactive Investors interviewed Petroceltic International (LON:PCI) chief executive Brian O’Cathain, who 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 told Proactive Investors.

“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.”

Another report took a close look at the competent person’s report for a portion of Desire Pertroleum’s (LON:DES) acreage in the Falkland Islands.

The independent report examines 40 per cent of group’s northern licences, which includes some of the group’s joint venture acreage with Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH).

Desire said the report has identified 11 prospects in the area. It gives these prospects a ‘best’ estimate of gross recoverable resources totalling 638 million barrels of oil, of which 322 million barrels are net to Desire.

The group’s average prospect size is 71 million barrels. This is based on each of the eleven prospects being estimated between 15 and 132 million barrels of oil.

Another oil and gas small cap Victoria Oil & Gas (LON:VOG) also garnered attention today.

The company said this morning that it is on target to deliver first gas from its Logbaba condensate project in Cameroon by the end of the year.

The update was provided in the company’s annual results statement, which revealed VOG posted a pre-tax loss of US$4.6 million, down from US$6.1 million this time last year. The company is well funded with cash and equivalents of US$8.4 million.

For long-term followers of the company the Logbaba gas project is key, and investors will be pleased there have been no hitches bringing it into production - even though the rainy season has been “particularly wet”.

The group is building a gas pipeline that will eventually circle the city of Doula, Cameroon’s industrial hub.

Sticking with oil and gas, Range Resources (LON:RRL) and Red Emperor (LON:RMP) said the Mukhiani Well has encountered hard rock at shallower depths than initially anticipated.

They are awaiting the results of Vertical Seismic Profiling carried out to test whether the hard rock is volcanic overthrust, or represents the basement of the well.

If it does turn out to be the basement rock then drilling will not continue, the pair said.

“While if (the VMS) indicates it is a volcanic overthrust, a decision will be made whether to proceed drilling after reassessing the likely lithography and target potential,” the pair said in separate stock exchange statements,” they added.

Away from resource stocks, a few midcaps released interim management statements today. Among them was chemicals firm Elementis (LON:ELM) said today that trading during the third quarter was ahead of that for the same period in 2010 with all three of the group’s businesses showing improved earnings.

“Specialty Products has a greater geographic breadth, a more impressive new product pipeline and a stronger team than in prior years, and the new Chromium model is proving to be more resilient than in the past,” said David Dutro, the firm’s chief executive. “Consequently, we remain confident that full year earnings, before exceptional items, will be in line with our expectations.”

Elementis added that its group cash flow continues to be strong and “it is likely that the balance sheet will show a net cash position at the end of the year”.

Fellow FTSE 250 constituent Charter International (LON:CHTR), which has recently agreed to be taken over by Maryland-based Colfax Corporation, reported revenue growth at both its divisions for the third quarter.

The engineering group said trading has been in line with expectations as order intake remained strong compared to 2010, particularly from customers in the power and oil and gas industries.

Sales at Charter’s welding and cutting business ESAB climbed to £340.8 million in the quarter to end September from £288.8 million for the same period of 2010, while Howden, its applications engineering business, saw its revenues climb from £126.4 million to £156.9 million.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

11 hours, 42 minutes ago