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Heritage Oil, Independent Resources, Xcite Energy, Petrolatina, Greystar Resources, Obtala Resources news briefs

By Fox Davies Capital

Heritage Oil issued an update on the proposed disposal of the Company's entire interest in Block 1 and Block 3A in Uganda. Heritage announced that ENI International B.V. has terminated the sale and purchase agreement entered into with Heritage on 18 December 2009 with immediate effect. The termination followed Tullow Uganda Limited's exercise of a pre-emption right with respect to the transaction and was allowed under the terms of the Eni SPA. Eni's termination should expedite completion of the sale and purchase agreement entered into between Heritage and Tullow on 26 January 2010, which is on the same terms and conditions as the Eni SPA.

Independent Resources announced an update on the appraisal campaign that is designed to demonstrate commercially-viable natural gas flow from the Fiume Bruna coal seam, located near Grosseto, Italy. Having secured the necessary permits, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary Independent Energy Solutions has begun civil works for the preparation of the Fiume Bruna 2 well site, which marks the official start of drilling operations on this site.

A drilling rig has been contracted and will be re-entering and testing a 344m deep borehole previously named Pietra 1, a pre-license stratigraphic well which successfully identified a single seam of  gas-active coal  and  shale approximately seven metres  thick. Once site preparation has been completed, drilling operations are expected to last for two weeks.

Xcite Energy announced an offering of new ordinary shares of the Company which will be offered for sale pursuant to a short form prospectus filed in all of the provinces of Canada except Qu?bec. The Offering will also include a placing of the new ordinary shares in the United Kingdom. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used primarily to fund the drilling and flow testing of a pre-development well on the Company's Bentley oil field, which the Company  currently estimates will  cost approximately C$40M, for early  production  system  planning  and  engineering (approximately  C$5M) and for general working capital purposes (approximately C$5M).

Petrolatina announced that an updated assessment of the reserves has been completed by Ryder Scott. Total 2P reserves now stand at 6.1mmboe, representing a 20% increase since 2007.

Greystar Resources announced that the Company has received proceeds of C$6,093,947 from the exercise of 2,467,185 common share purchase warrants at a price of C$2.47 per share. The share purchase warrants were associated with the Company's financing completed with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, on March 20, 2009.Following the warrant exercise, IFC's position in Greystar totals 9,046,346 shares or 10.76% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares. To date, IFC has not sold any shares that it has purchased in Greystar. IFC continues to hold an additional 2,467,185 common share purchase warrants exercisable at a price of C$2.47 per share which expire on March 20, 2014. As of February 8, 2010 the Company had approximately C$125 million in cash and no debt.

Obtala Resources announced that alluvial diamond mining has re-commenced on the newly acquired Konoma alluvial diamond operation in Sierra Leone. Since acquiring the company Obtala has completed a review and maintenance programme of both the DMS plant and the earth moving equipment. Site infrastructure and access is being repaired and upgraded, and key senior on-site staff have been appointed. Internal security procedures have been upgraded and put in place. Mining is being conducted at two separate locations, Bolima and Bakidu, both upstream along the Bafi River from the main mine camp. Obtala has further engaged two local prospecting teams, to evaluate additional diamondiferous gravel deposits ahead of the mechanised mining fleet.