From the SH Energy Summary Feb 21, 2014..........
Bankers Petroleum Ltd. (BNK) lost a cent to $4.75 on 2.32 million shares after releasing its year-end reserve report. (This movement does not seem like much, but the stock is up from $4.29 at the beginning of the week, so the market already knew.) Although the total 2P reserve base was essentially unchanged, the after-tax net present value of those reserves increased by 20 per cent, mainly thanks to the reduced diluent blend (bringing down costs) and general processing improvements (bringing up the sales value of the crude). Almost all of the reserves are in the Patos-Marinza heavy oil field in Albania. The values are based on the assumption that Bankers and the government of Albania, which recently introduced new taxes related to oil and gas production, will reach an agreement on offsets. (Bankers' contract specifies that if the company has to pay a new tax, it must be able recover that money some other way.) In a conference call this morning, management said discussions with the government have been "very positive" and there should be "an outcome here very shortly." Another bit of information Bankers expects to release in the next few months has to do with EOR (enhanced oil recovery -- in this case, water and polymer floods). The company's EOR pilots have been on injection for close to a year, so they are starting to show production responses. Management said the company will be ready to discuss the results in July.