Gamble of the week: A play on oil shares

This exploration company fits the bill for investors looking for a punt on oil shares, says Phil Oakley.

The big oil companies, such as Shell andBP, are seen as pretty dull investments.They are good sources of dividendincome, but are unlikely to give you bigcapital gains. Those looking to make bigmoney from oil shares prefer to chancetheir arms with the smaller exploration and-production (E&P) companies.

Forthese firms, big oil discoveries can result in massive share-price gains but drywells (where you drill for oil and comeup with nothing but an empty hole) canlead to equally big losses.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.