Story from early July like around 7/3/12 and I don't know if its been posted here? great read though...
STOCKS FOCUSED ON KENYAN OIL FALL OFF AN EAST AFRICAN RIFT VALLEY CLIFF
For much of this year Kenyan oil explorer stocks have been as hot as any on the market with the recent discovery of oil in Kenya by the Tullow(TLW.L) and Africa Oil (AOI.V) consortium heralded as being of great significance.
Over the last four weeks or so the merger arrangements between Taipan Resources(TPN.V) and Lion Petroleum have caught the headlines. The stock, when not subject to a trading halt, has remained relatively steady at about 0.60 cents a share as has the share price of the much large AFREN (AFR.L) which has an 80% interest in one of the two Lion Kenyan Blocks affected by this merger.
Another explorer in Kenya is Vanoil (VEL.V) which also has an interest in Rwanda. Over recent weeks Vanoil has successfully raised funds by private placement at a price of
.60 but has yet to come up with a resource estimate concerning its Kenyan assets. Warrants are exercisable at $1.00 - $1.50 depending upon timing.
Vanoil has announced the formation of a strategic partnership with Global Mining Investment Corporation(GMC) with those associated with it moving into the Vanoil management benefiting at Options exerisiable at
.80. GMC had a role advising Ivanhoe Mines and its affiliates whilst under the stewardship of Robert Friedland and before the effective takeover of Ivanhoe by Rio Tinto.
All new Vanoil senior management hold positions with Ivanhoe Capital Corp(ICC) whose founder and owner is Robert Friedland. ICC have offices in London, Beijing and Singapore. They are associated with Ivanhoe Energy and Ivanhoe Australia and two private companies – iPulse and Ivanplats which had plans to go public and has interests in copper in the Congo.
At the end of May Vanoil’s share price hit a high of $1.20 but has since declined by about 50% to
.61 cents.
Africa Oil Corporation (AOI.V)has been a leading light in the market this year...until recently. Africa Oil has large land assets in Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali and Somaliland through its 51% interest in Horn Petroleum (HRN.V). Shares rose from $1.5 in January to a high of $11.35 at the end of May yet have dropped back to a close on Friday of $7.84. Investors have been eagerly awaiting further news about results concerning the joint discovery with Tullow and from a well currently being drilled in Somaliland. Africa Oil has six concessions in Kenya Block 9 being 100% owned with no farm-in agreement as yet in place.
Simba Energy (SMB.V) has it’s principal asset in Kenya backed up by another in Guinea and potential assets in Mali, Ghana and Liberia. On June 12th Simba announced a very positive independent resource report concerning its 100% owned Kenyan asset in anticipation of which its shares reached yearly high of
.27. A subsequently published Ubika Research report valued Simba at
.81 cents per share. Yet since that time the share price has fallen dramatically to a Friday close on
.135.
On Friday a series of complaints to the Ontario Securities Commission commenced in relation to trading patterns with an emphasis on Simba Energy.
There appears to be no logical reason to explain the recent trading activity concerning Africa Oil, Vanoil and Simba. It may be prices have been driven down for good reason in that farm-in arrangements are potentially imminent for all three companies. In addition it stands out that none of the international majors has a foothold in on-shore East African assets it may be that takeover activity is on the horizon.
Charles Bell, occasional independent journalist. Charles has a small interest in both Simba Energy and Africa Oil Corp.