Penny Shares Guide

Lansdowne Oil and Gas Plc is an Irish independent oil and gas exploration company. An operator of its own exploration drilling, the company is not involved in any production drilling activities. The company’s business is solely in exploration and appraisal. So far it has been very geographically focused, pursuing opportunities in the North Celtic Sea Basin (NCEB) off Ireland’s southern cost. It holds rights to three standard licences and one licensing option. The agreements mainly covers the shallow waters of the NCSB that is proven in oil and gas prone.

North Celtic Sea vs. North Sea

Lansdowne Oil and Gas Plc has purposely targeted the Irish offshore shallow shelf areas for exploration and exploitation. Comparing to the busy activities in the neighboring North Sea, the proven oil and gas productive NCSB is still relatively under explored. Besides, shallow water drilling always provides a low cost environment. Considering both factors, the company expects to achieve higher returns on investments in the medium term. With a knowledgeable and experienced management team and the technical force that is supported by the company’s comprehensive database, Lansdowne is very competitive within the industry in the North Celtic Sea region.

Long Term Commercial Oil vs. Near Term Shallow Gas

Lansdowne Oil and Gas Plc continually evaluates drillable and quality prospects on its licensed areas. Three oil exploration wells have been successfully drilled and tested with positive oil flows. The drilling areas are proven oil productive horizons that are right beneath a gas field discovered in the 1970s. The company’s gas exploration and appraisal assets sit on both sides of a gas field operated by the integrated oil giant, Marathon Oil of U.S. other gas positions also include some identified Jurassic exploration targets.

Shares of Lansdowne Oil and Gas Plc (LOGP) are listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market and were at 5.50p as of 10 August 2010.

Pantheon Resources Plc, incorporated in the UK, is a small, independent oil and gas exploration and production company operating mainly in the U.S. Its principal area of focus is in the onshore Gulf of Mexico region, specifically Texas and Louisiana. Such places offer lower drilling and development costs than offshore and other less-known, unproven territories. The lead times to commercial production are therefore shorter. These are the factors that the company must consider as a small player with limited capital. But a series of fund raising activities has been implemented and successful in addition to the £10 million IPO in 2006. The funds have allowed the company to pursue a portfolio of diverse projects with different risk profiles. The company’s strategy is committing to both high risk/high reward, under-explored plays with potentially high impact and lower to moderate risk, extension/development plays with current drilling success.

Projects Intended for Future Payoff

Pantheon Resources Plc initially focussed on deep geological plays with potential for major growth in reserves and production. Two farm-in agreements that the company entered into early on are the Texas Padre Island project and the South Louisiana project, both of which are large, high quality natural gas plays in the under-explored deep sections of the Gulf of Mexico region. Two wells have been drilled so far without success on Padre Island, which is near Corpus Christie, Texas, with one well later plugged and abandoned for being non-prospective on deep reservoirs and the other bringing on-stream only moderate production and shut in eventually. The South Louisiana project has experienced similar results as for now. The first well was abandoned for mechanical reasons after the drill pipe stuck in the hole twice unable to reach deeper and second well found non-commercial quantities of natural gas.

Projects Concerned with Current Cash Flow

Out of the total five projects in which the company holds various interests, the other three projects were later entered into in a shift in focus from high risk deep play to low risk development play. Two such projects are in Texas, the Tyler County project and the Project Wharton, and the third one in Louisiana, the Bullseye project. North of the company’s Tyler County project, there has been drilling success by two operators that will also operate, with interests, the company’s wells here. The area is considered an old play first discovered in the 1930s. Early success has been achieved at Project Wharton, which spread out from Houston to Corpus Christie. The project operator has a long, successful drilling history in the Gulf region. Drilling for the Bullseye project has been conducted in areas that were discovered by a predecessor of ExxonMobil back in 1944 and is producing positive cash flow from two wells with more on the play.

Shares (PANR) of Pantheon Resources Plc are listed on LSE’s AIM sub-market and were at 23.50p as of 12 July 2010.