Hartleys Research has maintained a “speculative buy" on Tap Oil (TAP) and a 12-month target price of 74¢ a share after announcing production has commenced at the Manora development in the northern Gulf of Thailand.“In our view, the market has been waiting for this news for some time now, so it may a be case of ‘sell the fact’ for the stock. Overlay this with a weak oil price environment, and we do not expect any significant share price appreciation in the short term.

“On a medium term view, however, the production and associated cash flow may have corporate appeal, especially in light of the recent spate of acquisitions of Asian production assets (NDO, ROC). In addition, the current development drilling may allow TAP to report an increase in recoverable reserves early in 2015."