Someone is waxing poetic in their descriptions, but the answer is a solid MAYBE. I will bet the line about Paris was written by some stock promoter who wants you to buy their newsletter...
The Paris Basin is a geological structure that is roughly round and about 80 miles in diameter.
It has some similarities to the Bakken formation in North Dakota, which has considerable oil.
On Big Dog's Boom Boom Room thread, there was recently a list of companies and their position in the Paris basin. Also Torreador (TRGL) has a list in one of their presentations at their corporate web site.
I bought some more TRGL today.
Another player is Vermillion, a Canadian Royalty trust.
This is still VERY preliminary, only a few wells have been drilled, and it is a long way to optimizing production.
Geologists and engineers are still learning about the Bakken - the Bakken and Paris basins are more complicated than shale gas, there is much less experience, and some information is closely held.
At current prices for TRGL and VET.un, it appears there is only a modest premium for the Paris basin upside for TRGL and a small premium for Vermillion -
So you could buy them with less downside risk if the Paris Basin doesn't work out (note I said LESS Risk, not no Risk - if oil prices tank, that will smack everything, for example)
Risk with Vermillion will be their change to an operating company instead of a trust, and the Canadian tax risk, etc.
Note TRGL conference call coming up November 9...
toreador.net
Bakken type formations are not as prevelent as gas shales, but I bet there are 3-8 more Bakken like basins in the world - some will be offshore, but some might be near end markets.
For the wildly speculative upside, France might become an oil exporter for a number of years, just like the UK was with North Sea oil...this could decrease the leverage the Russians and Arabs have over European countries. |
