Member Info for adoubleuk

Mr008,

"Besides repaying debts through hur's Proposed Financial Restructuring, is there a better alternative? "

To my mind, yes. That the current BoD pull their fingers out of their posteriors, on which they've been sitting for ages now, doing nothing other than wiggling their fingers, and do something like spending some money on a new well and showing themselves capable of progressing the field, and thus the company. And thus gaining shareholder and creditor confidence.

The 'new mob' have done absolute zilch in such a respect.

Sausageparty1

"The esp was switched over by the dsv but it had not stopped pumping. From what I have heard. "

Rubbish. I don't know what happened. But there is no 'dsv' (acronym for Drilling Supervisor) onboard the Aoka Mizu. Nevertheless I'm not completely rubbishing the rumours you may have heard, which might possibly be based on some facts. If (or when) a 'switchover' is made with a tandem-ESP setup, for whatever reason, a very strict checklist must be observed. So it is possible that some human error was involved. If the upper ESP was started with the lower still running, it is quite possible that the lower would 'go down on underload'.

Adrianuk,

"I thought it was strange a pump was supposedly f****d after six months, especially all that money spent putting it there! Did it not come with a 12 month warranty?"

Tech question, tech answer.

Which is no ! Absolutely no oilfield 'downhole equipment' comes with a warranty as such. It works, or sometimes it doesn't. More than once (distant past) I've personally been involved in running an ESP completion, the ESP has run for a few minutes, and then cratered. So pull the whole lot, replace, and start again. Easily said and (relatively) easily done on a platform, not so easy with a subsea well where 'workover' would involve bringing in a suitable rig. Very expensive.

Obviously, in event of failure, investigations are made, and if it can be found that the failure is due to a manufacturing / installation discrepancy, discussions occur, and sometimes costs either recouped or shared.

Nevertheless, it's an utterly essential point to bear in mind. When it comes to anything involving oilwells, absolutely nothing is guaranteed.

slift,

"but in fact bondholders are doing you a favour by willing to extend the bond and provide you 5%."

That would be nice of them. Better than what a bank account pays.

However I'm greedy. Want more than that !

Saturday night, feeling OK for once, going to join an online poker-game. Intentiion to make 1000% or so.

See you on Monday.

DC,

"AK, good to see you posting regularly and ******* off the doubters."

Thank you for the compliment, but nevertheless I'm not some walking-on-water miracle-maker. Nevertheless bought back in to have some crediblilty, but also sold some on Friday afternoon to get back in profit !

It's all good fun.

littlened,

"Was this mentioned in court ?"

No. The Bondholders reamain anonymous other than some spotty-faced loudmouth wading in at the last moment claiming to 'represent' them.

Slift,

"Basically, they have 13 days to decide whether to extend the lease or not."

Exactly. Rock and a hard place, isn't it ? Because without extending the lease, and continuing production, the bondholders are likely to see an even smaller return on their investment !!!!!!

slift,

"Commitment well estimated gross cost at $20m."

Now you're bloomin joking ! What are they going to do ? Bring in a lightweight unmoored drillship, punch a few hundred feet into the seabed, and say "we haven't found any oil yet" ???????? !!!!!!! :-))

Don't be silly. You can blind some people with brilliance, baffle some others with bullsh**t, but that ?

Pull the other one.

slift,

"If you really want all the details, i'd suggest emailing Gordon, or calling him."

Sorry. No longer call nor email anyone at Hurricane Towers.

slift,

"Stena Don. Due to start in July."

Now you're being downright stupid. The Stena Don is going off (undisclosed date but sometime in July) to drill for someone, estimated 76 days operational time. Not to do a P&A job.

slift,

"Makes full sense to me as the rig that HUR have contracted is for 3 months."

A quick trawl around my usual sites indicate no activity proposed by Hurricane nor Petrofac (their usual consultants), nor any rig leased to them. I think you're confusing Hurricane with Harbour Energy, who have indeed grabbed the PBLJ for three months.

slift,

"Makes full sense to me as the rig that HUR have contracted is for 3 months."

Right. Now I'm going searching.

Hurricane has contracted a rig for three months ? P&A of Lincoln shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks.

Slift,

"Also, HUR HAVE CONTRACTED A RIG to P&A Lincoln."

Which one ? Name please. For when ? Just so the 'shipwatchers' can get back to having fun.

Capt,

"awk - the hur lawyer later confirmed that there had been no double counting. i think this was at the beginning of the session after lunch. this is when they couldnt reach you - so i am not sure you heard?"

Yes, I did. Heard and listened to the entire thing. Unfortunately, despite the invitation that I 'participated', was unable to activate microphone and video to do so. Probably (on reflection) because I was using the web version of the software, not downloaded.

No big deal. Sorry, it may have wasted a minute or so, but maybe what I'd jotted down to say wouldn't have helped, anyway.

Capt Swag,

"in my opinion hur were underprepared for the hearing - there were quite a few questions asked that hurs lawyer fumbled with - and just carried on talking to get himself out of."

I agree, and today I've been thinking of a very specific point the judge asked about.

Obviously (per instructions as it could constitute contempt of court) I didn't record any of the hearing, neither video nor audio, but I have a reasonably good memory still, despite age, whisky, and late nights.

It regarded 'decommissioning costs'. The judge asked if these weren't a case of 'double counting', given that decommisioning cost for Lancaster (when it eventually happens) are already set aside and held in escrow. This made HUR's lawyer look rather flustered, he looked to his side, then at some papers, then said he 'thought not', and that the extra 'costs' were in relation to P&A of Lincoln.

A very equivocal and dubious reply.

Spirit was bankrolling the drilling of the GWA wells. Why should Hurricane pay for P&A if required? Also, why such a sum ? Almost equal to that for eventually decomissioning Lancaster ?

Something doesn't make sense here, and smells of fish, and rats away eating them.

The Lancaster decomissioning costs seem to me to be absurdly low considering the infrastructure in place. But no doubt (or hopefully) such monies are held somewhere where they will 'grow interest' in cash terms. But the Lincoln well involves no tied-in infrastructure, remains 'standalone', so would be simply P&A of the well, which these days can be performed 'rigless' by a floating unmoored vessel.

There is something very wrong with this story.

I couldn't help but notice a very slight, wry grin on the judge's face when he posed these questions. Obviously an extremely smart man, otherwise he wouldn't be where he is. Wouldn't mind playing a few poker-hands with him, but not for much longer than an hour ! :-))

SheenoMadman,

"Surely an RNS should have been released as soon as the case concluded on Friday?"

Personally, I think not, and am glad that no knee-jerk RNS was issued. The judge did not 'rule' to the extent of saying that the proposed restructuring should or should not be allowed to proceed. The only real change that has happened is that shareholders must also be consulted. This is important, but a date has yet to be set for such a meeting, and its structure. So better to allow time for management to sort out such details, and then advise accordingly.

jakeK,

"That's a shallow and mean comment."

It was intended to be so. The man struck me as being belligerant and somewhat uncouth in manner.If that's the best representation the bondholders can get, they're in trouble.

CaptSwag,

" i was more impressed with the bondholder lawyer "

I wasn't. Before he re-appears on a meeting like that he should look in the mirror and maybe book a session with a dermatologist.

kammi,

"It will be great to see what they say in the RNS,they must be pretty miffed at the judgement. "

There has not been a 'judgement' as such. The judge has deferrered a decision, pending further information, but has however said that an EGM (involving shareholders) must be called at some point.

A battle won, but not the war. Yet.

"Monday RNS of board departure and new management taking over "

You're joking, of course ?