NORTHSEA OILANDGAS

Hotwell Occidental
makes, hurtbv
assetloss
fuitrim I t .
inEcuador
s,focK n
pness
TireCnNnorRn
il and gasproducer Oc-

hotbuy t
\-,
lcidental Petrrolerm
Gorp. said Friday its
secondquarter hcome de-
clined dueinpart to the seianre
SHAUN ofassetsbyEcuador.
Crueanr -' !ri
Dsn Bicknell,Ca[ary Herald Occidentalrecordedan after-
_
ifay lhilia I thouglrt is,briiliant',th is is J Uritti#i ldfi,i;'' tax loss of g'47 million US,
Antrim EnergyInc. presidentandGEostephenGreeriays. whichincludesthe endofits in-
'Carsewaycould vesffient in Ecuador,That lqss
Lh the l$nited be on produc- trate on greenerpastures. offset gains the company sau'
Seablew in at tiol by [xe 2oo7followed by "That's absolutely
true," he from higherproduction andgas
trytl 7,$q barrqlspcrds". full fieid dwelopinentin zoo8. said. "It's essentiallymeaning- andoil pricesin the quarter.
initial thryh{S_L.011l^.- The East Causewaysuccess less to a super-major,but very The companyreportednet in-
Ulthnint i'iffiItla,= follwer;bee{ry holes drilled meani4nd for smaller compa- cgmeof S8j7million, oi Etyl per
and CEO.*"ea4[iertUis yer, inchdhd one nieslihusf " ,. sharc,for the quarterendedlune
: withn&nEnergylnc. Like Western Canada the
After closing \lbdnesday at 30, compard wift *rS t billion,
Greer said Ant-rim deliber_ North Seais seeingrising cost ot f3l7 pr share,ayearago.
$3.22,. the calgary$aed c@- ately took smaler working in- pressuresas drillers scramble
'pary's Coreearnings,which exclude
ry+ gahed *qu! 1o terests in the higher-risk .ieus for rigs andother services. one-timeclnrges,gainsand tax
p"r
.*rt in^48 hours,i'briefo n
and held on to aiigger pi"ce oi According to the United benefits,gew to $277per sttare
firyFhryg$+85 , what it thought w:rs a more Kingdom Offshore Operators frorn $196.
Antrim owrts 65 $e1 ceqrtof promising leaI. Associatiorl opuating costs
the East causewaywell, urhich '"gvep6v.a our On averagg.analysts sur-
- hand well,,' ros,eabout 15per cent in 2oo5 veyed by Thomson forecast a
is locatednear the ShetlandIs- headded.
lnd are up 20per cent on a per- profit of gz.Z9per share.Rev-
!^*_. "U"g 5;o kilometres Since r9s4,, the compary/s barrel basissince 2oo4. enue jumped to S46 billion
northeastofscotland. stratery tub-been to foc'uson The U,.K.pumped about 3.2
..trigh-Iirp".t'; from $gg billion, topping the
. TF. go-million well was lLyr with the million bpd last year,making it averageconserurusestirnateof
drilled horizontally througb bigeest iotential to move its the uth-largest oil produceiin
seleralpros_pectiveSservoirs. stockpri".. $4.48billion \
theworld. Daity production of oil and \I
Greer said tpst psplts from-a
_ Part-of ttrat tactic is to hedge Greer said rigs and associ- gas ircreased to 6o9,ooo bar- l\
second ?,pinei[ the/same well bets by spreadingcashand ri- atedcostscantop i\
wouldbereleasednextweek $5oo,oooper rels of oil equivalent,an r8 per :t
sourcesiirto a viriety of t;- day.Although it seernscounter- cent incrqtse over the same
Based on the first test,_the jects
coynp_aryis- confident of an
- aroundthe globe. infiuitive, he's actudly hoping
In |une, Antr{m completed tf oil prices to fall so Antrim
quarterlast year.
Higher prices also sent earn-
I
equallyposi$vgrestilt the saleof non-coreproperties can pick up additional proper-
' "The ings from oil and gas salesup
well logs look real in Australia, Tanzania"tra trt" ties at lowerprices,
ggod,"saidBiu Ne$man"an an- czech Republicto focus otr At- "If 56per cent to $r.9j3billion
who covers the company gentina _ oil prices were to drop, The companysaidit remains
elyrl aia tne U.K that would position us very hopeful about the legal out-
for.Research capital corp. in Greer agreedthe Eastcause- well to take advantageof op-
uagary. come of its fryht rgainst fhe
'?otentially, if the play w:ly discovery could be the porrunities for the futtre,'he Ecuadoriangovernment.
rrvas "company mai<er"Antrim has said. 'We should be able
everdeveloped,it cpuldadda lot beenwaiiing for. to re-
Antrim stock rose 34 centsin cover what was taken away
of ralue to the company. . . the He compired the North sea Toronto on Friday, closing at from us," Ray lrani chairnlair
ontlook is very positive right to wester-n canada as a rela- $+64 on a relatively hearry
vol- and chief executive,told ana-
no\f,r." tively mature producing re_ ume of four million sbares. lysts on a conference c{ll.
Foilowing $di$onal driuirg gion-that has sein the,bi! ma- "From a legalpoint
to delineatethe discovery East jbrs sell off assetsto concen- seorczen@rHEHERALD.cANWEsr.coM of view, we
feel very goodaboutit."
t"
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