courtesy Noreco

At least 10 Norway-based, oil-company minnows have shed over 10 percent of their share values in the New Year after weeks of U.S.-inspired stock market doubts.

Nearly two months of credit-crunch talk has meant that companies like DNO, Rocksource, InterOil E&P, P.A. Resources and a few others have lost between 11 percent and 33 percent of their stock value to nervous investors leaving stocks for securer-sounding markets.

But the Norwegian analysts who watch the oil minnows and management in the independent oil companies suggest the fundamentals of $90 oil mean upside starting around 2010. They point out that some smaller companies base their exploration holdings on $60 oil, while others stick to $40 oil or less.

In common with Canadian oil companies Artumas and First Calgary Petroleums — which sit on vast resources relative to their tiny staffs — it’ll be 2010 before many Norway-based minnows return to real profitability via hydrocarbon production.

A survey of analysts suggests “hold” when it comes to shares in smallish E&P outfits.

“For some of these companies, production is the most important bit (affecting their share-price performance), but for others its projects on the horizon or a proven ability to turn exploration into new fields,” Espen Hennie of DnB Nor Markets told Scandoil.com.

ws@scandoil.com

Tags: DNO, First Calgary Petroleums, P.A. Resources, Revus, Rocksource Group