What comes next for Greece?

The BNN chase by Marty Cej:

There was a metaphor for Sunday's Greek election and the euro-zone debt crisis somewhere in Nik Wallenda's attempt to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope later today, but now that he's wearing a tether to keep from plummeting to his death amid the mossy rocks and churning water below, it doesn't quite work. Greeks go to the polls in just two sleeps, as four-year-olds like to say, and will choose between the Syriza party, which has promised to rip up Greece's bailout deal with the European Union and IMF, or the New Democracy party, which backs the rescue package. It would be wrong to think that Sunday's election result will lead to immediate action of any sort. If Syriza wins, it will represent a Greek vote against austerity and a new process of negotiation will begin between Athens and Berlin, ahem, I mean Brussels. Yes, Brussels. Anyhow, the euro zone won't explode like a ceramic plate thrown on the floor; the next phase will be more Mexican standoff than Zorba, as Bill Blain, senior director at Newedge UK Financial told clients this morning. Bill joins us at 10:30 am Eastern.

To put the election into context, ECB President Mario Draghi said this morning that the bank was ready to step in and fund any viable euro-zone bank that gets in trouble, and painted a picture of a deteriorating economy with no inflation danger -- code for monetary easing. Japan's top financial diplomat, Takehiko Nakao, warned that authorities in Tokyo would respond to unwelcome currency moves as appropriate (ahem, intervention). The Bank of England followed up on Thursday's joint announcement with the government of a 100 billion pound offer of loans to banks by saying it will start next week with a charge of just 0.75 percent. And the Fed meets next week.

But what about playing the Greek election? What's the best strategy depending on the various possible outcomes? Does a clear mandate for Syriza raise the likelihood of more quantitative easing by the Fed and other central banks, which in turn depresses currencies and lifts gold? Maybe. Does a mixed outcome in Athens lead to the same result in markets? And what about a clear mandate for a pro-euro party? Does that ease economic pressure by reducing the probability of a Greek exit and diminish the need for more monetary easing, which could be good for the U.S. dollar, oil and copper and bad for gold? We may not be able to book Kreskin but we can still talk about probabilities and strategy. Suki Cooper, precious metals analyst at Barclays Capital will help us on the gold front this morning at 10:45 a.m. ET but there's a lot more to cover.

I would also like to hear from some portfolio managers who own European banks. Dutch and Belgian banks were just cut by Moody's and cuts for banks in the U.K., France and Germany are like in the weeks ahead. Are these banks -- some of the biggest and best-known in the world -- good value or value traps?

Ottawa and Michigan have finally come to an agreement to build a second bridge between Windsor and Detroit to help alleviate the most stuffed-up chokepoint in trade between the world's two largest trading partners. The deal may not result in a bridge being built, however, with opposition to the project from the Michigan legislature and the old-school political manipulation and maneuvering by the owner of the Ambassador Bridge who has somehow (cash) managed to convince politicians and some voters in southern Michigan that more trade running through their state is a bad thing. We'll talk today about what a second bridge could mean for the economies of the two countries in general and the economies of the two cities in particular. We also have to look at astonishing strategy and success of the Ambassador Bridge's owners to keep good sense at bay for decades.

We also have an interesting deal to cover today: the Hong Kong stock exchange agreed to pay almost $3 billion to buy the London Metal Exchange in a deal that gives Asia's largest exchange operator a commodity trading platform and brings LME members closer to China, the world's biggest metals buyer.

Bankers Pet BNK:TSE Undervalued

BANKERS PETROLEUM (T-BNK) $2.10 +0.09

We have been following Bankers Petroleum for a long time

and having been to Albania and seeing firsthand the heavy oil in the ditches, on the gravel roads, the old rigs from Chinese and Russian times—it makes you believe there is a lot of oil there. Some suggests there are simply billions of barrels.

Bankers Petroleum has had trouble over the last while and on Monday of this week, they had a show and tell for analysts on how they expect to rectify their problems.

Bankers Petroleum has sold off dramatically like so many others in the market crash of the last three months, but why don’t we go to Canaccord analyst Christopher Brown for his technical update and look at some of the solutions the people at Bankers Petroleum have provided in his just published report.

He writes on the technical update and proposed solutions: “Following a market update on Monday, Bankers Petroleum held a sell-side analyst presentation detailing the company’s most recent operational challenges. The main issues impact- ing production are currently wellbore construction and water influx. Approximately 1,220 b/d has been lost due to produc- tion failures at 16 of the company’s horizontal wells, which have suffered collapsed liners and sand bridges.” (See chart to the left)

 “The underlying problem is not entirely known, but the plan of attack is to place stronger liners down hole at future locations, at an incremental cost of approximately $20,000 per location. This improvement is expected to commence in Q4/12, but in the interim, the company has recommended that analysts and investors reduce the historical horizontal suc- cess rate of 83% by an additional 10%. The company does not expect this problem to persist on future locations, but stated that the possibility exists on older designs. However, it noted that existing wells could potentially be remedied through a $250,000 side-track or $50,000 lateral and liner.

Water intrusion continues to impact production, and the company has identified over 60 instances where water above the oil formation has corroded through old wellbore casing and intruded on primary productive zones. As a result, water cuts throughout Patos Marinza are high, at over 90% in some cases.

To re mediate the problem, Bankers has gathered information on old well bores and has implemented bridge plugs around primary zones of interest to reduce the water influx from secondary zones.

While the company provided several examples of the effectiveness of this technique, it also noted that the length of time required to “de-water” a well ranged signifi- cantly depending on the degree of water encroachment. Although this process appears to have solved some of the water influx problems, the company stated that it may not solve 100% of the water intrusion issues (for example, behind casing crossflow).”

Brown writes on the General Operations Update: “The company highlighted current water capacity of ~40,000 b/d with a projected disposal capacity of ~47,000 b/d by year- end 2012. Current production appears to be between 14,100 and 14,700 b/d, while May 2012 averaged 14,150 b/ d. This compares favourably to the May 14, 2012 QTD rate of 13,600 b/d. Drilling is still on schedule with 56 horizon- tal wells expected to have been drilled by Q2/12, leaving 46 locations remaining for H2/12. The company plans on focusing on high-production opportunities in the North- Central region for the remainder of the year.

Finally, the company indicated that it does not plan to adjust its capital program unless Brent falls to the $70/bbl range. As such, Bankers is committed (and is expected to be able to financially support) its current development program with all five rigs actively working in the field for 2012.”

On Valuation, Brown writes, “We use a DCF analysis to estimate a 2012E NAV of approximately C$6.40 per share relative to a 2P value of C$7.50 per share. As we expect the company to trade at a discount to both its 2P value and our NAV estimate, we have estimated a 12-month tar- get price of C$5.00 per share.

Overall, we believe this information provides clarity on Bankers’ operational issues. As we have already risked our NAV in establishing our C$5.00/share target, we main- tain our target and BUY rating. We share investor sentiment that the company has a lot of work ahead of it to re- store production and shareholder confidence, but that we believe the fundamental value of the company remains intact.”