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To: ms.smartest.person who wrote (2542)5/29/2007 8:32:51 PM
From: ms.smartest.person  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 3198
 
&#8362 David Pescod's Late Edition May 29, 2007

PETROFALCON CORP. (T-PFC) $0.70 +0.01
CRYSTALLEX INTL. (T-KRY) $4.65 -0.36




The chart to the left is that of Petrofalcon, an oil and gas
junior that we wrote up several times a few years ago and as
the chart tells you, it was having a great time...for a while.

Experienced management that had previously built a significant
oil and gas company were at it again and with a
fairly decent master plan, things were going well…

Then Hugo Chavez of Venezuela changed the rules for oil
companies in the country and has been changing them with
regularity ever since. What’s left for the oil and gas companies
in Venezuela is less and less all the time and this chart
of Petrofalcon, a former success story, displays what’s going
on in that country.

Meanwhile, Chavez is not just content anymore to take
over oil and gas companies, but all of a sudden, utilities and
other public companies are on his take-over list and now
he’s even decided to shut down television stations, particularly
popular ones that might actually not worship at his feet.

Which gets us to Crystallex Intl. According to the Dow
Jones Newswires today, “Venezuela’s mining ministry plans
to turn over a new mining law to President Hugo Chavez for
approval in two weeks, a minister said Monday.”



“We are putting the final touches on it based on three
proposals we have on hand”, Mining Minister Jose Khan told
Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview. The article
mentions that the “pro-Chavez congress unanimously gave
the president special presidential powers early in the year
so he can create laws for a year and a half without consulting
congress.”

“Under the new mining law, Khan said the figure of the
mining concession will end because it has a history of giving
holders a sense that they own the resources.” He also
acknowledged that “the new law could follow in the footsteps
of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, PdVSA,
which converted oil deals into a mixed company framework.”

There are those that suggest Chavez is going to be a nice
guy and let Crystallex proceed in its current form and are
buying the stock.

We’ve had personal experiences that weren’t pleasant
speculating in Venezuela, so we’ll take the other side...we
are short Crystallex and it will be interesting to see what
happens in two weeks.

CDN. SUPERIOR ENERGY (T-SNG) $3.67 -0.22
CGX ENERGY (V-OYL.U) $0.98 +0.09


Back at the COPIC conference where the oil and gas
guys get together and tell their stories, there was some
debate amongst who had the most leverage to some significant
oil and gas plays out there.

Mike Coolen of Canadian Superior Energy suggested that
they had the best leverage with their plays offshore Trinidad
in an area that has been very rewarding for natural
gas exploration.



Kerry Sully has suggested CGX Energy with their numerous
hundred million barrel plus targets offshore Guyana
had more leverage, but he told us later that Canadian Superior
was worth a punt at the time and that’s why we’ve
mentioned Canadian Superior from time to time.

Finally some good news though for followers of Canadian
Superior Energy, as their rig (after having spent almost
six months being repaired) gets to Trinidad in less
time than expected. It only took 18 days for the rig to
move from Brownsville Texas to Trinidad where it is currently
being supplied with pipe and other necessities for
exploration before they go out for three large high-profile
targets to be drilled.

It always tough to get a handle on what kind of natural
gas prices you are receiving in Trinidad, but Coolen points
out to us that Trinidad is now the fourth or fifth biggest
exporter of LNG in the world and he also suggests that
they should be spudding their plays within the next 10
days.

CORRIENTE RESOURCES (T-CTQ) $3.50 -0.30
AURELIAN RESOURCES (T-ARU) $30.21 -0.82


Speaking of countries that are creating a little bit of
nervousness about speculating there, Ecuador is another
one that comes to mind. Lots of rumors in the press
about the country grabbing bigger chunks of ownership in
mining projects had many of the mining stocks hurt last
Friday, but reports out of Reuters on Monday with headlines
like “Ecuador Minister downplays State Mining Role
Report” created a little bit of comfort and some stocks
bounced back.

Today we hear that Corriente Resources with their fairly
advanced Mirador project has been advised by the Minister
of Mines that proposed amendments to the companies
previously approved environmental impact assessment,
will require further study…Whatever that means…

Corriente has requested a technical report from the
Government outlining the areas of concern and will respond
to the report in due course, the company has suggested
and today, that’s not good news for Ecuadorianbased
mining stocks.

If you would like to receive the Late Edition, mail Debbie at debbie_lewis@canaccord.com