This is taken from Oilbarrel in the UK and should hopefully set...

This is taken from Oilbarrel in the UK and should hopefully set the scene for your trading today. An RNS regarding RB1 TD and the new investment in the Americas.


Range Resources Adds Another Texas Project To Its Growing Portfolio, And Eyes Opportunities Elsewhere In The Americas


Having started to make its name as a frontier explorer ? and it doesn?t come much more frontier than Somalia ? Range Resources is now busy demonstrating that it can actually offer investors some low risk reserves and steady production from a former frontier ? Texas. Range, which is listed on London?s AIM and the ASX, made its first investment in the US in September 2009, buying a 25 per cent interest in the North Chapman Ranch project in Nueces County, an investment which has, so far, been vindicated by results.
Now the dual-listed company has acquired a 13.56 per cent interest in 1,570 gross acres in Red River County, also in Texas, for US$254,000. The acreage is home to a recent shallow oil discovery in the Cotton Valley formation that could hold four to six million barrels of gross recoverable reserves. A horizontal appraisal well is set to drill next month.

The East Texas Cotton Valley oil accumulation was discovered in March 2008 when a 5,500 feet vertical well encountered more than 100 feet of gross oil pay. It was immediately placed into production. A horizontal appraisal well of December 2008 encountered good quality reservoir in a 1,500 feet lateral section but was badly damaged during completion. If successful, next month?s horizontal well could trigger a 20 well development programme, with each well targeting more than 220,000 barrels of oil. With horizontal well costs estimated at US$1.57 million, gross finding and development costs are expected to be less than US$7.15 per barrel which looks very robust at current oil prices.

In the meantime, the company continues to work up its North Chapman ranch acreage. Here, the joint venture is currently drilling the US$3.8 million Russell Bevly-1 appraisal well, a follow-up to the nearby Smith-1 well. That well, which came onstream in February 2010, just three months after confirmation of a commercial discovery, proved a real success for Range, striking 215 billion cubic feet of gas, 16 million barrels of oil and 15 million barrels of natural gas liquids (gross). This is a significant resource in the heart of the Texan onshore oil and gas industry and is quite a coup for Range, which has a 25 per cent stake in the Smith-1 well and 20 per cent of the Russell Bevly-1 well. Smith-1, which delivered initial production of 3.3 million cubic feet per day and 290 bpd, is now being fracced, with results due imminently.

A successful frac job would really show the potential of this project, delivering real returns for a reasonably small outlay. Range?s executive director Peter Landau says an initial investment of US$1.8 million to drill, test and commercialise the Smith-1 well has already resulted in a ?significant uplift in shareholder value?, as reflecting in the doubling of the share price since late 2009. The plan now, of which Russell Bevly-1 is a part, is to drill a series of wells to move more of the possible reserves into the P2 and P1 category and to bump up production numbers.

Further diversification could be on the cards. The company recently raised A$8 million through a share placing with UK and Australian investors. The proceeds will be used to fund its existing projects in Puntland (Somalia), Texas and Georgia and to potentially secure an option over ?another oil production play with significant exploration upside in the Americas?.

Further afield, Range holds rights to two oil and gas blocks in the Republic of Georgia. Here, the company expects to firm up several attractive drilling targets by early Q3. It may then look to attract additional farm in partners (it currently has 50 per cent) in order to fund a future drilling programme.

But the company?s main focus remains Puntland, an autonomous state within Somalia, where it has a 20 per cent working interest in the Nogal and Dharoor Blocks that together stretch for more than 80,000 sq km. The interest in Dharoor is contributing, whilst the interest in Nugaal is carried for US$16m.
The company is hoping this acreage will prove to be a replica of the multi-billion barrel basins across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen. Puntland has attracted industry interest in the past, with major oil companies spending over US4150 million here before being driven out by civil war. Now, Range and its partners reckon the time is ripe to test whether these lands really do follow the geological trend arcing down from nearby Yemen. Range and its joint venture partners, TSX-listed Africa Oil Corp and Lion Energy, are finalizing drill-ready targets for the first drilling campaign in Puntland for over 18 years. The first well is expected to spud before the end of the year, with the second set to drill early in 2011.

This is the real reason investors back Range - exposure to potential billion-barrel prospects on ground-floor entry terms - although the safety net of production in the US doesn?t hurt. ?We believe that the value of Smith-1 alone underpins Range?s current share price and further success on Russell Bevly will provide additional upside to the company,? says analyst Barney Gray at company broker Old Park Lane Capital. ?However, a positive result in Puntland has the potential to transform Range into a major player in the E&P sector.? Gray rates the stock a Buy with a price target of 12.8 pence, representing significant upside to the current share price of 4.5 pence.


Have a good day trading, Im off to bed. Ts