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Urraca, the board did NOT say that the company would be going into administration, they only said that the working capital position was tightly constrained and difficult. Which it is!!! Because Ludicrous Kononov wasted 5m that UEN can't afford on his own pathetic attempt to be the big man in a frozen wasteland.
Urraca, are you at least British? Or not? If you are British, then why would you ever support some arrogant, gangsta wannabe Russian dickwit who ignores the established practices followed by AIM-listed companies in Britain? If you think you're tough (hilarious!!!) and you like having dictators spend throw money that's not theirs around willy nillly then go live in Russia and bathe in water from rusty nuclear power stations and dine on fish that glow and vodka that tastes of peasants's feet. If you are British, then show some appreciation for the laws and the best practices that we've developed over hundreds of years and take a dump on those who support Kononov simply because "he appears to have the votes.". The losers who support Kononov are no better than the mindless trolls who support Germany in football because "Germany generally wins". Utterly pathetic losers with no backbone. They'd vote for Stalin if he wasn't dead!

So itisagame, why is all this value not reflected in the share price? And those $5m in unsecured loans to local dipshiiiiits are worrying because they've had a material negative impact on working capital.
I'm not against UEN at all, I think it has great potential. I think that Kononov is the problem here and whoever is driving the share price seems to agree that his recent actions are undesirable.

Let's consider the current market cap for a second. Kononov owns, what, 45%? Which is worth c£1.4m.
The loans he gave out in Sakhalin were more than double that amount. Who knows what commisions or shares or incentives he received? We have no idea. It wouldn't take a very large shareholding in the port to be worth more than £1.4m...

Pots and kettles DRWHO. It seems that the Russian trolls have even reached these humble bulletin boards...

Why would anyone take the side of Kononov in this situation? The guy gave out unsecured loans to individuals and to struggling local businesses on a frozen island in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps he had "permission" to do so under Russian law, but those laws are obviously ridiculous, outdated, nepotistic and should be utterly irrelevant when it comes to running a public company. Screw Russian law, UEN is clearly an AIM-listed company with a board of directors and it is they who should make decisions regarding material expenditures, not some Russian cowboy who thinks he knows best simply because his arrogant nuts have frozen off while languishing in Sakhalin.

So two people have already repaid a pittance? Great, well done. Fantastic. Apparently the two people who repaid their loans are (or were) employees of UEN and Kononov thinks that makes his unauthorised, unsecured loans to them okay? Since when did it become acceptable practice for public companies to provide personal loans to employees, current or otherwise? Since never.

Some people here paint Kononov as some sort of strategic genius because he bought a rusting boat and gave out loans willy nilly to (possibly) secure the future of a near-bankrupt port. But that's ridiculous.

Kononov gave $1.5m in loans to a private individual called Friedis - who was, again, just an employee.
He gave loans to a "distillery" that turns out to be nothing more than a warehouse.
And he gave $1.5m in loans directly to the port itself, even though the port is on the verge of bankruptcy and the amounts loaned by Kononov do NOT cover it's oustanding debts and liabilities.
This is not a strategy, this is utterly irresponsible lunacy.

Kononov has drained funds from UEN to issue unsecured loans to a bunch of unworthy recipients. He's not doing anything positive for UEN, he's just trying to support his dipstick buddies on Sakhalin and play local hero.

Some of you may not like the current board, but at least they apply reasonable business practices appropriate to companies listed on a UK stock exchange. They are not gangsta wannabes playing monopoly in a frozen wasteland.

How about that...
https://www.comcourts.gov.au/file/Federal/P/NSD818/2017/3789935/event/29577720/document/1297953

All of those "quoted" in jest are managers. Yan, Lubing, Douglas, Nick. Managers one and all, as per Range's very own website.

I can imagine the managers of Range on a normal day, huddled around the table in the conference room, exchanging nervous glances...
Yan Liu says: "Right, does anyone know what to do? Lubing, how about you?"
"No"
"Douglas?"
"No"
"Nick?"
"Well, we've got no money, so... No."
Yan Liu squirms as if ants are biting his nuts and quietly whispers, "Well, we each have two kidneys. Maybe if we all sold.... No. You're right, it's too much. Let's not share this idea with Mr Sun."
The ineffable Mr Sun from LandOcean... A shadowy, Emperor Ming type character with long nails and a whispy beard. The Range managers all stare at the phone, pining for its ring, awaiting new instructions from LandOcean and its emperor, Mr Sun.
"Do you think he'll call?" whimpers Yan Liu. "Does he even remember us? It's so cold without him."

You may think I'm joking and to a certain extent I am. But the command and control links between LandOcean (LO) and Range are no joke at all.

Why is Range spending money on "studies" and "infrastructure upgrade designs"? Because that's what LO does. Before colonising Range, LO had virtually no presence outside China and no meaningful track record at all of providing physical, tangible oilfield services. LO was and still is, essentially, a company that does studies and design. That's why Range has spent untold tens of millions on reservoir "studies", waterflood "designs" and project "definitions". LO and its associates ploughed money into Range and they want that money back. So. Another study, perhaps? Hmmm Who shall we use for that I wonder?

If any of you doubt the command and control links between LandOcean and Range, just look up LO on Bloomberg and you will find a director on the board of LO called... Yu Chen, active since December 2014. Hmm doesn't that name sound familiar? Could it be the same David Yu Chen who served on the board of Range and still appears here on LSE in the list of director dealings? Well yes indeed, he is one and the same.

The Range directors may be great people, I've never met them and couldn't possibly comment. So let's assume they're cool. But they don't have any control. LO will keep squeezing the last funds out of Range until the company is a husk.

It is funny that the "PETROLEUM TENEMENTS HELD AT THE END OF THE QUARTER" doesn't mention any assets held in Georgia and yet, for some reason, Range increased its stake in Strait Oil & Gas. Hmmm. Why buy more of a company that doesn't have any assets? Hilarious.<br />Poor Range. Production rates are down, cash on hand is down and the market cap is too low to support any material fund raising or convertible loans. It's locked into a death spiral.<br />This company is effectively owned by LandOcean and its associated Chinese investors. If they had any ethics whatsoever they would convert their loans, acquire the remaining shares and take the company private. But noooo, they can't use Range to funnel cash between related Chinese corporate entities if it's private. They have to leave it on the public markets in an increasingly pitiful effort to make it seem as if everything is above board.

Let's have a look at the evolution of Range over the last few years according to the company's own announcements: (don't trust me, reread them yourselves)

On 3rd September 2015, Sibo provided $30m under a convertible loan arrangement in return for a 32% equity stake in Range. That $30m was actually provided in hard currency according to the company's own announcement.

Then on 3rd August 2017, Range acknowledged an outstanding payable of $39m to LandOcean. It's in the announcement where management talks about "factoring", in black and white.

And now on 1st October 2018, we learn in Range's annual report that the company has "cash and liquid assets of US$6.7 million including a US$2.8 million refundable deposit". (We'll call that $3.9m shall we?), total outstanding debts of $87m, and an average production rate of 650 bopd.

So let's just consider the (rough and ready*) implications of these announcements...
*I do not pretend that this is an exhaustive analysis, but the real picture is almost certainly worse.

1 - Range has spent AT LEAST $117m since 3rd September 2015 ($30m from Sibo + $87m in debt) - ignoring the additional amounts spent from incoming revenues. The real total is certainly higher.

2 - The company's remaining cash on hand is negligible - at $3.9m.

3 - The market cap of the company is down to $8.5mAUD; yielding a MASSIVE debt to equity ratio for such a minnow and ensuring that there is no real scope for any more convertible loans. (e.g. if someone were to offer a $2m convertible loan at the current share price they'd immediately own c20% of the company, which is unrealistic).

4 - If we assume a generous starting point of 100 bopd in September 2015, then Range has spent an incredible $117m to produce an additional 550 bopd by October 2018, which is ludicrous. At that rate of spending, the remaining $3.9m of cash that the company has could barely produce an additional 18 bopd.

The company is as good as dead. If not dead, then certainly impotent and infertile. Range can't do any meaningful share-for-share M&A deals because its market cap is too small. The same problem limits its ability to raise equity. It doesn't have enough cash (or revenue) to significantly raise production given that every additional bopd seems to cost at least $212k ($117m / 550bopd = c$212k) under its insane service agreement with LandOcean. And its already massive debts ($87m and counting) will surely deter any new potential lender who is capable of basic mathematics.

Since Abraham's entry and the signing of the LandOcean services contract, Range has become nothing more than a vehicle for transferring funds between Chinese corporate entities. The game is now becoming unsustainable and Range will sooner or later vanish like fluff in a furnace.