Companies: VOG   

Fallen AIM star Victoria Oil & Gas is stepping up Siberian operations after meeting licence terms for its West Medvezhye project.

The company, where Middle East group Noor Petroleum took a 29.7 per cent stake in February, has accompanied news that the Russian authorities have confirmed its full licence compliance with an official estimate of proven reserves at West Medvezhye. These suggest the presence of 39.6 million barrels of oil in place, with recoverable reserves of 11.9 million barrels at one well, no 103.

Victoria, which restructured its board last month by bringing in ex-Abu Dhabi National Oil production boss and Noor Capital director Rashed Saif Al-Siwaidi and others, says the Russian licence confirmation is expected to trigger the start of an ’18-year production phase’ at West Medvezhye. The company is also testing exploration targets at another well there, no 105, using Blackwatch Petroleum Services of Aberdeen and GeoDynamics Research Laboratories of Italy, pioneer of a new exploration technique, ‘passive seismics’.

Shares in Victoria Oil & Gas, chaired by seasoned Russia and central Asia hand Kevin Foo, soared from virtually nowhere to 266p, two years ago, buoyed by its Siberian potential. But repeated delays and technical setbacks, coupled with nervousness about
Russian treatment of successful overseas explorers, provoked a collapse to 11.75p last December.

The shares have now bounced to 28.5p, valuing the company at nearly £79 million. Executive director George Donne, one of the February intake, says the company will need no new funding this year and the price could well rally further under the new regime.

Victoria Oil & Gas	AIM	£11.24m	3.95p	-0.04p
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Other company articles:
Victoria gets go-ahead			31/03/2008
VOG turning the corner?			11/01/2008
VOG hits a dry hole			10/08/2007
VOG still finds the going hard			20/07/2007
Victoria switches attention to Kemerkol			05/04/2007