Oil and Gas Corporate News Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) Ltd. (BUY, £2.75) (GKP, 147.50p, ▲ 1.03%) provided an operational update. The Company is in the commissioning phase of oil export operations from its Extended Well Test (EWT) facility close to Shaikan-1 and Shaikan-3. The commissioning phase, involving final preparations and customary checks and tests on all elements of the process, including loading and transportation logistics, as well as metering and receiving facilities, is underway in order to enable the Company to steadily ramp up export volumes to 5,000 bopd with an eight month target of over 10,000 bopd. To date just over 3,700 barrels of oil have been delivered to the storage tank facilities at the export pipeline injection point. Prior to commencing the commissioning phase the storage tank at the EWT facility was emptied of approximately 21,000 barrels of oil, which have been sold into the domestic market in order to allow preparations for oil export to commence. All volumes of oil are in addition to those previously reported in the Annual Results on 11 April 2011. Empyrean Energy (LON:EME) plc (EME, 7p, ► 0.0%) provided an operational update on its operations at the Sugarloaf Project within the Sugarkane Gas & Condensate Field, Texas. The PMT #1H well commenced production on 10 May 2011, Empyrean will provide a production update when this well has achieved 30 days of production. The fracture stimulation of the Davenport #1H well is now complete, the isolation plugs will shortly be drilled out, production tubing run and then the well will be unloaded and flowed to sales. The Best Huth #1H well reached a Total Depth of 16,159ft on May 19 2011. The fracture stimulation of this well is presently underway and once complete it will be unloaded and flowed to sales. The fracture stimulation of the Jordan #1H (3% WI) well is complete and it will shortly be unloaded to sales. The Best Fenner #1H well has been drilled and reached a total depth of 18,020 ft on the 27/04/11. This well has been successfully cased and will be fracture stimulated in due course. Gilley #1H (3% WI) - Following the completion of a modified stimulation on this well attempts were made to unload the well, however frac sand production is presently bridging across the completion and limiting flow. Further operations may be carried out on this well but it is now holding leases by production. Buehring #1H (3% WI) well has been on production for 60 days with total gas production of 45.8 mmscf and total condensate production of 31,085 barrels. Mining Corporate News Ath Resources (LON:ATH) plc (ATH, 49.50p, ► 0.0%) reported its Interim Results for the six months ended 3 April 2011. Revenue was GBP33.9 million (2010: GBP34.4 million), on sales of 706,000 tonnes (2010: 776,000 tonnes). The operating profit before exceptional items was up GBP2 million on the same period last year at GBP1.7 million (2010: loss GBP0.3 million). The average selling price increased to GBP48 per tonne (2010: GBP44 per tonne) helping to offset the impact of rising gas oil prices and lower volumes. However, current mining conditions at Muir Dean and the presence of heat affected coal at Netherton suggest volumes will now be lower than expected for the full year. In view of the above, the Board has decided to concentrate its mining effort on accessing higher quality, lower ratio coal. This has necessitated the write-off of a significant part of its work in progress balance and a reduced expectation for the year. Herencia (HER, 2.70p, ▼ 4.42%) is advised that it has intersected a broad 20 metre zone of mineralisation in diamond hole PTDD073 at the Company's 70% owned Paguanta Project located in northern Chile. PTDD073 was drilled to explore Patricia's southern-most 'New' vein, located approximately 100 metres south of Cathedral vein, and to collect metallurgical sample from the Cathedral vein itself for use in the Patricia Feasibility Study. The hole successfully intersected numerous zones of mineralisation in the Cathedral vein and then intersected a broad semi-massive sulphide brecciated vein containing sphalerite and galena. The 'New' vein now appears to be up to 750 metres in strike length with the deepest hole indicating a depth of mineralisation to 225 metres below surface. The best intersection includes 20 metres at 3.0% zinc, 1.4% lead and 80 g/t silver. Shanta Gold (LON:SHG) (SHG, 27.75, ▼ 5.13%) announced the results achieved during a recent infill drilling programme at its Luika Prospect in Tanzania. The Luika Prospect is located approximately 450m west-northwest of the Bauhinia Creek Prospect, where pre-stripping activities are already in progress. The Luika Prospect is scheduled to be the second open pit to be exploited at Shanta's New Luika Gold Mine. The drill programme was focussed on attaining a 25m pierce point spacing to a vertical depth of 50m along approximately 680m of mineralised strike extent which is intended to be exploited in the open pit. Significant intersections achieved include 10 m @ 9.32 g/t Au, 12 m @ 4.97 g/t Au and 20 m @ 2.68 g/t Au. Oilfield Services Corporate News Wood Group (WG, 641p, ▲ 0.39%) announced it has extended its contract with TAQA Bratani Limited for a further 5 years. Under the services contract Wood Group PSN will provide operations & maintenance support and engineering & construction services to TAQA's Cormorant Alpha, North Cormorant, Tern and Eider platforms in the Northern North Sea. The contract marks a continuation of the previous Duty Holder and integrated facility management services contract awarded to Wood Group in November 2008. Saipem (SPM, 35.62p, ▼ 0.47%) announced it has been awarded new E&C Offshore contracts in Egypt, in the North Sea and in Russia, worth in excess of $1 billion. In Egypt, Burullus Gas Company awarded Saipem the EPIC contract for new subsea developments in the area of the West Delta Deep Marine Concession, located about 90 kilometres offshore the Northwest Nile delta, at water depths between 400-1,000m. The development encompasses the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of a total of seven new subsea wellheads and relevant infrastructures, umbilicals and flowlines. Saipem has also been awarded contracts to operate in the Norwegian and British sectors of the North Sea, mainly relevant to the deployment of the Saipem 7000 vessel for platform transportation and installation, and to the deployment of the Castoro 7 vessel for the installation of subsea pipeline and structures. Among these contracts, some are EPIC and, in addition to the activities mentioned above, include engineering and procurement phases. Offshore activities will be performed in different periods during summer 2012 and 2013. In Russia, Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) awarded Saipem the contract for the expansion of the structures relevant to the CPC marine export terminal, near Yuhznaya Ozereyevka on the Black Sea shores in the Krasnodar region of the Russian Federation. The development includes the engineering, procurement and installation of a new offshore export pipeline for hydrocarbon transportation which will have a diameter of 42 inches and a length of about 5 kilometres and for the installation of a new offshore mooring system for hydrocarbon export. Offshore activities will be carried out during the second half of 2012 by the S355 vessel.Furthermore, Saipem has agreed to increase the scope of its work on existing contracts in the Caspian sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

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