Canadian oil exploration firm First Calgary managed to raise £16.6m for its Aim listing through broker Canaccord. This is not a bad feat in the current market, although expenses ran to more than £1m. The reasons for such investor enthusiasm, and what is a high market cap for an exploration play, centre on the group's interests in Algeria, which are held jointly with state oil company Sonatrach. The most important of these is a 49% stake in the Yacoub block, where it is estimated there are 4bn barrels of oil in lieu. First Calgary is responsible for all of the costs of the $12.8m seismic evaluation and drilling programme there, and intends to drill its first exploratory well later this year. It has other, relatively minor, interests in Algeria and Yemen.