Rough day yet again for small cap oil and gas investors

More pain for AIM oil and gas investors.

Rockhopper -6% 245p (52 week range 141p-393p)

Investors continue to wait with baited breath for an update on its farm-in agreement which is due some time in Q3 this year. In the meantime, the shares have had a rough time over the last few weeks.

Gulfsands Petroleum -2.8%, 82.5p (52 week range 82p-226p)

Gulfsands Petroleum released disappointing news from its Chorbane licence in Tunisia in which it has a 40% interest, announcing that despite good flow rates from the two reservoir zones, the fluids did not contain any oil.The initial interpretation from the well site indicated that the recovered fluid is a mixture of water, spent acid and drilling mud filtrate.

Ithaca Energy -13% 95p (52 week range 89p -202p)

Ithaca Energy had a rough day too as it announced that one of its four production wells on the Athena field were not flowing oil due to a suspected downhole restriction reducing production by 1,125 barrels a day (net to the company). Testing has shown that there were no issues with the integrity of the well or performance of the reservoir and it is most likely due to a blockage in the production tubing. Best case, the well could be cleared by hydraulic means, worst case, a rig-based workover could be required with resolution delayed until the end of 2012. After the end of takeover talks a few weeks ago, this extra piece of news is very unwelcome but not unknown in the early life of a new field. 

Borders and Southern 65p -5% (52 week range 43p -131p)

Investors are waiting with anticipation for the results of the current Stebbing well which is due for completion any time now and also the results of the gas condensate analysis from the previous Darwin East well in the South Falklands basin. The AGM is on Friday so you might expect the board to deliver results by then barring any technical issues with the rig or analysis.

Xcite Energy 77p  -2% (52 week range 79p-210p)

Xcite Energy stumbles along at 52 week lows despite last week’s news that Reserves Based Lending (RBL) had been secured for the phase 1b development of the Bentley field. With a significant placing at 80p announced this month prior to the RBL deal, this is proving a major drag on the share price and underscores the disappointment of a such a large issue of shares at this low price. Why the board didn’t secure a farm in way back in 2010/11 begs many questions. The only bright spot at the moment is the 116 mm barrels 2P reserves and the on plan extended well test being drilled by the Rowan Norway rig which has encountered a larger than expected oil reservoir and no technical issues.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum 154p -8% ( 52 week range 100p-425p)

Gulf Keystone continues to plummet. It was over 400p in February on takeover rumours and a potential FTSE 100 listing.