InterOil Surges on Well's Test Results

Shares of InterOil Corp. logged their biggest gain in more than a month Monday after the refiner and oil and natural-gas explorer in Papua New Guinea, said enough gas was found in an appraisal well to justify the first stage of a project to liquify the fuel. "We are now confident that the Elk structure contains sufficient gas to underpin the first train of an LNG plant which will be built by Liquid Niugini Gas Ltd., adjacent to our refinery, and sufficient oil shows to justify sidetracking to confirm an oil leg," said CEO Phil Mulacek. The stock surged 23% to $40.75 and is now up 44% since August 9 when the company said hedge-fund manager T. Boone Pickens increased his stake in the company to 9.9% from 1.2% through his investment company, BP Capital Management. According to an SEC filing, Pickens, who has been an investor in the InterOil since at least mid-2006, is not looking to acquire control of the company. InterOil has exploration leases for about 9 million acres in Papua New Guinea. It has no proven reserves to date.

Sources: Press release, AP, Bloomberg
Commentary: Interoil: Shares Skyrocket as Boone Pickens Invests • Interoil Reverses Share Downslide
Stocks/ETFs to watch: IOC. Competitors: WOPEY.PK

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