Newsflash for the Snoozers - Part 23

Monday, 19th December 2016 15:39 - by Moosh

This week’s focus is on Empyrean Energy since I was really snoozing during an afternoon nap when Tom Kelly executed some comedy timing regarding telling the market at 3 pm about an Award of Permit for 100% exploration rights to Block 29/11 in the Pearl Mouth River Basin, offshore China.

This development marks a surprising departure from what we thought was the focus of EME but as is my motto ‘embrace the unexpected’, I feel that this is exactly what we should contemplate doing regarding this unexpected development. It appears Block 29/11 is in the vicinity of other producing Blocks in the area. This news also comes with the potential addition of Gaz Bisht, who appears to have extensive experience in oil exploration, with him more recently having worked at AWE Limited – a long established company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The most important point of all this is that the next 24 months are fully funded from existing cash resources so it would be worth keeping an eye on EME to see how the future interpretation of yet-to-be acquired seismic data pans out.

Also, a major shareholder – Richard Appleby – upped his stake in EME, which was mentioned to the market on 5 December 2016 so about 27% of EME is owned by 3 single shareholders – Tom Kelly (CEO), James Kight, and Richard Appleby. Given that these holders (alongside many others!) have all received large returns of capital following the sale of the Sugarloaf asset, how many more EME shares will be nabbed by them over the next 24 months? If you are new to EME, then you may have to fight long term holders who’ll be waiting on the sidelines waiting to buy...