Oil stocks came under the spotlight today and Petrel Resources (LON:PET) shares rose a staggering 300%.
It told investors this morning that its priority target in the South Porcupine basin off Ireland, called Quad 45, has the potential to host 1 billion barrels of oil.
Quad 45 is thought to consist of a number of ‘stacked’ targets which could be tested with a single vertical well.
City stockbroker Northland Capital described it as ‘a very bullish’ update from Petrel.
Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) was also buoyed by the news gaining 8%.
It is also seeing a transformation in its fortunes thanks to its prospects in the Porcupine basin.
Its shares have doubled in value since mid-September.
Meanwhile, Providence Resources(LON:PVR) this morning put out a similar update on its prospectivity in the South Porcupine, estimating that the Drombeg target could contain over 2 billion barrels of oil in place, with over 870 million barrels being potentially recoverable.
Elsewhere, Antrim Energy (LON:AEY) comfirmed the start of oil production from the Causeway field.
Commissioniong of the field is now underway and gross production is currently 4,500 barrels of oil per day.
Also in the sector, Leni Gas & Oil (LON:LGO) confirmed it had terminated a £5 million equity line facility at no cost to the company.
This follows a deal last week which saw Leni sell its Gulf of Mexico assets. As a result of the sale the company now has enough money to advance its operations at its flagship Goudron field.
Wentworth Resources' (LON:WRL) Bob McBean has hailed a new era for the Mnazi Bay gas project in Tanzania.
It comes as Tanzania’s president laid the foundation stone at the Kinyerezi gas receiving station to mark the formal start of construction for the Mnazi Bay - Dar es Salaam pipeline.
Meanwhile in other news today, Shaft Sinkers (LON:SHFT) shares were up 10.96% today after it was awarded the contract for the vertical shaft at the new Kibali gold mine in the DRC.
The firm had already been selected to initiate mobilisation and the vertical shaft contract takes the value of its business at the mine to just over £82 million.
Elsewhere in mining, African Eagle Resources (LON:AFE) expects shortly to complete the disposal of its Zambian copper assets after key government consents were granted.
Elsewhere, Charles Cohen, chief executive of Probability (LON:PBTY), says his firm is in for the long haul - when it comes to exploiting the business potential of gambling on mobile phones.
"We are in the process of creating and hopefully dominating what is set to be one of the most significant sectors in this industry (gambling)," he told Proactive.
"We’ve got the best technology in this sector and a great business model that blends b2c with b2b with international potential."
Africa-focused airline FastJet (LON:FJET) also said today it had raised US$2.4 mln to help establish its hub network across the continent.
FastJet’s first flight with its new Airbus 319 is scheduled to take off from Dar es Salem in Tanzania this month.