Member Info for adoubleuk

Over the weekend, the sailing date for the Aoka Mizu has cropped up again, more than once. And a number of people have pointed out that a certain interview notwithstanding, the 'tightened' sailaway window is for Q3, so there's no delay so far.

But I recently had cause to refer to one of the recent presentations, and suddenly noticed a thing which had previously escaped my notice. That window isn't for 'sailaway'. The exact phrase used is 'FPSO Ready for Sail-away'. And that one little word 'ready' makes a whale of a difference. I can imagine up a number of scenarios whereby once the work in dock is finished, the boat might just pull out to anchorage and wait for a bit, rather than necessarily immediately setting off lickety-split for Rotterdam.

I'm beginning to feel yet happier with my guess in the FoiL date sweepstake.

Ah, that's nice! Freedom again. Mind you, it's good to just be able to sit back and observe for a bit.

My vote for 'post of the weekend' has to go to Yuyus, with his "What used to be informative, interesting , funny , entertaining has now become something a latter day William Hogarth would choose as an art piece ."

But what sort of art piece? Not 'Gin Lane' or Beer Alley', I feel. And the character in 'The Rake's Progress' is too young. Maybe one of Hogarth's more obscure pieces. Try ' Modern Midnight Conversation'...

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/401582

Wellwell,

"AK I fear you’ve been duped by your mates. You are the company you keep and one of your group is dragging you down. "

Wrong again.

Your forgetting something. I'm only in this for the money, even though I've made a few friends in the process. I made some money (quite a lot!) last year when this thing got 'hyped' by people who tried to make believe to the gullible that a takeover was imminent, and will be looking forward to a similar occurance (no, not similar, just selling on the high and buying back in on the dip) sometime in the coming months.

If making some money isn't what everyone's here for, they might as well sign up to be a crewmember on Elon Musk's first Mars colony attempt.

" to blindly trust is to go blindly"

I quite agree with that. But to trust (eyes wide open) the actions of the BoD of a company in which one's invested, and who have consistently delivered, sounds like a good idea to me. If I don't trust the BoD I either don't invest, or retract my investment, even at a loss.

" Frankly it's our job NOT to trust the board as they have their motives and there are plenty of examples out there of disaster."

Agree that there are many companies that list on AIM with the ulterior motive of just lining the Directors' pockets, and the heck with the 'investors'. So it pays to be wary, and above all to research the company extremely closely at all levels. In regard to this share I have done so in depth, and have had the pleasure of meeting others who've done the same, and have come to the same conclusions as to what the company's about as myself. This may be called 'confirmation bias', but it's not based upon nothings.

However, it's not MY JOB to post comments on this shareholders' chatboard. I do so freely to exchange opinions and views (my preference being the technical side of things) so we may all profit from that.

I AM NOT paid to post here! And to my mind, other than number two's in the morning, a 'job' is something one's paid to perform.

Wellwell, you protesteth too much... And by doing so are busily sawing off the branch you're sitting on, faster and faster.

Revert to the 'SP @ FoiL sweepstake. We both chose the same! But mine was for 'opening bell', whereas the good Rev has now made it clear it's for closing that day. But it's too late for me to change my choice!

If you consider it 'ramping' to say that I think that the SP will be higher than it is now in a few months' time, well so be it. But it's in black and white here on this BB that we both seem to think how much higher it'll be. So why the perpetual argument?

wellwell,

" No ghelicopter is going ti fly from Aberdeen to the CNS then out to West Shetland. Neithe ris a supply vessel. " (sic)

(Or should that be 'Hic' ?)

Yes they will. So long as someone pays enough.

Santiago,

"Siccar point - mariner and rosebank. Can't think how they'll make any money <$100/bbl."

Seems like I tickled your funny-bone there!

My answer to that may seem a bit self-contradictory, but here goes...

Short, even medium term, Siccar won't make any money off those fields at all. There, I agree with you. But if they're proved-up as 2C resources? Look at Rockhopper (public-listed).

Blackrock will be quite happy to let the thing sit. What will the Poo be in TEN years' time? Will it even still be quoted in dollars, or put on parity with gold?

This is all rather rhetorical, anyway. I very much doubt I'll still be alive by the time GLA gets to FFD. Doesn't mean I cant make a few bob by owning HUR shares right now, though.

Wellwell,

"Spirit does not operate anywhere near that location in any way shape or form. There are no synergies to be had. And any savings that could be realised if they did would be minuscule in the grand scheme of things.... If you knew about the logistics of the region that is."

I do know about the logistics of the region, which are no different from any other oil region in the world. Unless you're talking about onshore Kenya, of course!

If I want to order-up a supply boat or a helicopter, I can do it with a few phone calls from the other side of the world. Backed-up with a letter of credit from my bank, of course, otherwise the move might not be actioned.

"Spirit does not operate anywhere near that location in any way shape or form."

Sure. But Hurricane does. And the forthcoming work on GWA will be 'Operated' by Hurricane in the near future still, as per the farmin agreement described in RNS and presentation. All Spirit's doing for now is footing the bill.

Of course there will be synergy. I'd never even heard of Spirit 'till Monday. But played catch-up fast. And now know who they are owned by. The same people to whom you maybe receive your central-heating bills.

Your argument is spurious.

That made interesting listening, and thanks for posting the link.

I can't help getting the impression that the CEO's have some very good 'connections', and are rootling out obscure opportunities which might otherwise have flown below other peoples' radar, but which fit their stated strategy spot-on. And as a follow-up to that, I'm pretty sure that the recent placing is in relation to another acquisition they're going for. It'll be interesting to see what it is!

But just to underline that I'm not some sort of 'ramper' on this BB, there's just one thing that grates with me a little bit, and that's the description Stephen gives of RBD as an Oil Company, and his use of the word 'we'. "We'll be soon spudding this well, we'll be drilling another", etc.. Sure, in some ways, having acquired Gaelic 100%, that's OK regarding California. But not the others. RBD is not the Operator on any of the work.

But that's just a minor point of semantics, I suppose, which can be forgiven by the feelings of enthusiasm the two young CEO's must be experiencing having seen their business strategy kicking in with good results!

Feels good to have a part of this action.

Wellwell,

Just to show thing's aren't entirely personal...

"I also challenge strongly the perception that companies like Siccar and Chrysaor don’t have boffins."

Yes, I agree. I was going to comment on that being a low point of Santiago's post. Especially regarding Siccar Point. I got interested in that company quite a while back, but ran into a big problem. That being, they're private. Not public-listed. Financed by some very big names indeed. And with Opex far higher than Hurricane as they're deepwater. But I'd have bought shares in them like a shot, but I can't, because they're not publicly listed, as I say.

Guess what they're targeting? Our old friend 'Fractured Basement'. Another bit of acreage the 'big boys' overlooked.

Oh no! Having got home and having read Santiago's post I logged in to reply, because I wanted to expand on two good points he'd made. The first being that most 'analysts' don't know a chain-tong from a Chinese meal, and the second being the thing about future collaborations and partnerships being the logical way forward for the UKOCS. Remember the 'Hurricane Hub' idea? Etc., etc.. And we're already seeing such collaborative deals coming forward, and I'm not just talking HUR here.

But then, on logging on, what do I see? HERE COMES EEYORE, yet again.

"Firstly there will be zero chance of synergy. These muppets (I use the term collectively for they are all the same) try as they might, couldn’t organise a **** up in a brewery when it comes to synergies. They're all alone."

Hmm. Oh dear. Oh deary deary me.

Bringing a garden-shed idea to discovering a few billion barrels of oil, some of which will come onstream in the next few months, having financed the latter through a record-breaking fundraise, and without entering into debt, doesn't sound disorganised to me. The fact that the rig and supply boat which worked on the recent recompletions are the same now working on drilling for another little company which happens to have the same major shareholder sounds like some synergy and sharing at work, to me. Maybe the people involved had bigger things in mind than just getting plastered in a brewery.

In fact, something's just sprung to mind. Let's forget all the CA stuff for a moment.

You don't happen to work for BP by any chance, do you Wellwell?

Simon_Said,

"When the results come, we must look at all the data and not get fixated on BOPD as many AIM investors do."

Very well said. If VG-3 comes in at even 100 bopd consistent, that will be a very good result indeed.

IJWT,

"Doing Analyst calls is actually quite standard."

I'll take your word for it. Never been involved with stuff like that. But I'd guess it's something instigated by the IR dept, and essentially with the CEO and CFO sitting in giving the soundbites, with the RNS firmly planted in front of them as the script.

Absolutely nothing related to some kind of 'secret' call between the company and the major shareholders, leaving the other 'smaller' people out of the loop.

A misunderstanding on a few peoples' part, no harm done. Next topic?

IJWT,

"If they are so hot on their fiduciary duty why book the PBLJ for next year "

Just as a 'point of order' (a term I picked up in student union debates, and that was a very long time ago).

Signing the options won't have cost the company a penny. Other than their contract lawyers' fees, who are almost certainly on a stipend payment status, and the options will have been just part of the main rig contract discussions, anyway. Very probably Platt and Stobie were involved from time to time, but they're on salary. Trice may have popped in once or twice, but the contract might well have gone office-to-office by courrier, not like Trump and Kim who waste millions flying around the place. Rig contracts are no big deal. Might represent millions, but day-to-day stuff.

Plus (see an earlier post of mine), I wouldn't be surprised to see the PBLJ disappear from the radar for a while. No cost for not taking up the options.

SiPP,

"Ak, it was Malcy on Twitter"

OK, that plus Genghis' reply quote seems to put that to bed. To my mind, anyway. I don't believe a 'closed shop' call to 'preferred shareholders' took place. As Dspp and others have pointed out, that would seem like a dodgy thing to do, and I don't believe anyone on the BoD to be so stupid as to take a risk like that.

Despite the POTUS using it as his preferred means of communication ('nuff said!), Twitter was designed for semi-illiterates and should be treated as such. I think the term 'fake news' actually applies here, even if some of us got taken in by it.

Sorry, dspp!

dpps,

Another excellent post.

But the second part, about that conference call. I can see why some people might feel a bit miffed about it.In some small way, so am I. But out of curiousity, I've just been looking back. To the RNS, the presentation, and early-morning posts here on Monday. And I can't find ANY reference to it, nor advance notice of it taking place. If so, it'd be interesting to know where it originated from. I mean, if I want to hold a conference call, I email or phone the people who I'd like to join in, beforehand. Not tell the world at large that such a call will be happening.

Can you find the reference? Something a bit odd, here.

IJWT,

"The drilling cost has previously been much more quick and dirty jobs to make them cheaper"

What on earth have you been smoking? That is complete and utter nonsense, with absolutely no evidence to support such a statement. In fact all the evidence points quite the other way. Sure, the company managed to get the Spitsbergen on the cheap (relative to dayrates three years previously), and maybe the supply boats and tugs as well, but that was purely due to depressed market rates due to the slump in Poo.

There is nothing to suggest anything technically has been done 'on the cheap'. With the possible exception of Lincoln, but without going into detail, it was brilliant in its design. And did the trick. What was asked of it, no more no less.

Sometimes, just sometimes, 'quick and dirty' is the way to go. But you have to be an engineer to understand this. Dyson's first vacuum-cleaner prototypes were made out of cardboard and sticky-tape, remember? But they proved the concept.

IJWT, you're not 'shipwatching' enough! Those things aren't cheap! And nor are the wells. And nor is the time spent logging the wells. And nor (having researched them) are the completions. Nor the SURF stuff being installed. (But with all the latest excitement, everyone's forgotten about that!)

kANDYMAN,

"am I correct in thinking log wiring and other tests can show Halifax more or less similar to Lancaster"

Yes, you are.

Furthermore, it must be recalled that OGA granted the blocks to HUR in an 'off-round' move, which I believe is quite unusual. Already the pre-drilling seismic logs showed the similarity to Lancaster, and the potential contiguity. Which was almost certainly why the lease was granted.

Mrd. Hit 'send' inadvertantly.

..."So even if you'd (incorrectly) mooted that the 'Halifax Well' was a 'dud' (which it wasn't), the 'Noilbys' (thanks, JK!) would be instantly sent to wondering why all that time and money was spent, and even whether the company might somehow have been telling us porkies about it.

There was just one phase of operations on that well which failed. Obtaining a successful DST. And this was only one phase out of many. Furthermore, the company has gone to some lengths explaining this failure, not all of which can be planted on their doorstep, and has been seen before, on Lancaster 4, for instance. And is very difficult to circumvent until the well's 'status nomenclature' is changed from 'exploration' to 'appraisal', at which point some regulatory rules no longer apply, lighter-density drilling fluids can be used, etc., etc.. This is why (due to the season, mainly, plus cost, it was decided not to even attempt a DST on Lincoln at the back end of 2016. With the well designed accordingly.

And we've been over this many times before.

But it's technical stuff. And faced with that, about 85% of the 'Noilbies' will have switched off, already.

The Halifax well was NOT a 'dud'. And as a result moved the field from P50 status to 2C, with quite a lot of recoverable barrels of oil estimated to be in place, ta very much.

And the well has been left 'suspended' for future re-entry. You don't do that if the thing was a 'dud'.

Wellwell,

" Adding the word 'well' could have helped."

No, it wouldn't. It would have just added to the confusion.

At this point, maybe I owe you a slight apology for my earlier post (different thread) on the subject. It was maybe a bit harsh. But here's the thing. The number of people corresponding on this BB who are dyed-in-the-wool, hands-on (even if they just work in town) oil-people are a very small minority.

So even if you'd (incorrectly) mooted that the 'Halifax Well' wa