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Nighthawk, JKX Oil & Gas, Gulfsands Petroleum, Heritage Oil, Metals Exploration, Coal of Africa news briefs

By Fox-Davies Capital

Nighthawk announced an update in respect of the winter drilling programme on the Jolly Ranch project. Five new vertical wells and one horizontal section, drilled using an existing vertical well, have been drilled on the Jolly Ranch project during the winter drilling campaign. The results from the recent drilling programme have demonstrated source rock and reservoir continuity of the Atoka and Cherokee shales. In addition, the estimated oil in place figures per well confirm or exceed those indicated within the independent report. The project has now advanced to a stage where completion techniques will now be applied to all the drilled wells.

JKX Oil & Gas announced its intention to place 14,257,270 new ordinary shares in the Company with institutional investors at a Placing Price of 265p/share to raise ?37.8 million before expenses. The Placing is intended to allow the Company to: bring forward the development of existing  reserves;  convert  significant  contingent  resources in  the Company’s existing portfolio to 2P reserves; optimise production facilities in Ukraine; unlock  debt  capacity  for the Koshekhablskoye  and  Rudenkovskoye fields; and maintain the ability to make selective acquisitions.

Gulfsands Petroleum announced that it has now received confirmation from Syria's General Petroleum Corporation that Gulfsands Petroleum Syria Limited has been granted permission to develop the Yousefieh Oil Field accumulation in Block 26 North East Syria. A production license of 25 years duration has been granted, with the possibility of an extension if required, for a further 10 years.

Heritage Oil announced that at its General Meeting, held yesterday, shareholder approval was gained for the proposed disposal by the Company of its entire interests in Block 1 and Block 3A in Uganda either to Tullow Uganda Limited or ENI International B.V.

Metals Exploration announced guidance on the updated economic parameters of its 1.5M ounces of gold and 25.4M pounds of molybdenum Runruno project on the island of Luzon in the northern Philippines. The operation is targeting annual production of approximately 100,000 ounces of gold and 1M pounds of molybdenum oxide with a ten year life. The capital cost is not expected to exceed $150M with the full feasibility study targeted to report in April 2010.

Coal of Africa announced the completion of the acquisition of NuCoal Mining (Pty) Limited ("NuCoal"), following fulfillment of the suspensive conditions to the Share Sale Agreement signed on 29 October 2009. After adjusting for a 10% retention and adjustments to reflect the working capital position as at 31 December 2009, the final adjusted purchase price due to NuCoal is ZAR467M. The R65M retention will be withheld in relation to certain warranties and in accordance with the terms of the Share Sale Agreement. In accordance with the terms of the SSA, CoAL’s economic interest in NuCoal commenced on 1 January 2010.