Speculation that Sinochem has made a bid for Gulfsands (GPX)

The article below speculates that Sinochem is in takeover talks with Gulfsands (GPX) with a takeover price of c. £400m, or c. 325p per share.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/markets/article.html?in_article_id=490168&in_page_id=3&position=moretopstories

And now Reuters is running the same story:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE57T1B220090830

As is Arabian Business News and the New York Times:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/566310-gulfsands-in-takeover-talks-with-sinochem--report
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/30/business/business-uk-gulfsands-sinochem.html

Of course Sinochem has already agreed a 750p or £532m bid for Emerald Energy (EEN). The common asset between the two companies is Block 26 in Syria.

The sad thing for Emerald shareholders is that the Gulfsands deal at the rumoured price would effectively put only a ~£130m price tag on Emerald's Colombian assets. These include the very significant Capella field which has estimates as high as 1.1bn barrels in place, Gigante (where we still do not know the full results of testing the Caballos or the Tetuan) and the recently drilled Mirto prospect, where drilling results are now well overdue.