Member Info for AlmaCogan

Thanks for your interest, the book has now jumped into the top 20 best sellers in its category at Amazon

Best Sellers Rank:

(See Top 100 in Books)

16 in Engineer Biographies

👍👍

Waterstones.

"Sounds dreadful TBH"

There is no such thing as bad publicity, Mirasol, so thanks for promoting it. 👍👍

There are 3 challenges in publishing a book.

1. Writing it

2. Finding a willing publisher

3. Selling it

Number 3 is possibly the most difficult, but social media is best avenue for awareness.

“An Engineer's Tale: Engineering, Espionage and Adventure Around the World”

What begins on the fish docks of Fleetwood becomes an extraordinary journey through the industrial world of the twentieth century.

From unloading trawlers in Lancashire to commissioning oxygen plants behind the Iron Curtain, from strikes in communist Romania to oil exploration in Indonesia, this memoir recounts the adventures of a young engineer working at the sharp end of global industry.

Funny, insightful and often unbelievable, An Engineer's Tale offers a rare glimpse into a vanished era when engineers travelled the world solving problems, navigating political intrigue, and occasionally finding themselves in situations far beyond their job descriptions.

In many ways the book preserves a disappearing era when engineers were expected not merely to understand machines, but to navigate cultures, politics, bureaucracy, and occasional chaos.

A true story of engineering, travel and adventure. A warm, witty, highly readable memoir that combines engineering, travel, history, and human observation into an engaging record of an extraordinary working life.

Good evening to all Rocky followers.

Today is World Book Day 2026, and just as Paul Drayton predicted, I am making a brief comeback to promote the first of three books that I have written for Pegasus. My publisher’s publicist has given me permission to post a link here to their website for information and pre-orders if anyone is so interested. The book will be on sale from 26th March.

I will probably be banned for doing this.

It’s called An Engineer’s Tale, and it contains 24 short stories or “vignettes” which add up to a full story. Some vignettes are true; some are embellished and some are figments of my imagination. It’s supposed to be pulp fiction and amusing, not a stale documentary. It’s not all about oil, but a lot of it is.

I have used a pen name “Billy Higginbottom”, and a lot of names are changed to protect the innocent. If you somehow recognise yourself, have a laugh about it.

Best wishes and prosperity to everyone, even Garbled and Chessman!

https://pegasuspublishers.com/books/all/an-engineer_s-tale

In his TR1 this morning he declared his voting rights were held by Platform Nominees, yet he tried to requisition a general meeting in his own name on the 5% rule. Schoolboy error. He is angry at being sacked and wants revenge. He needs a proxy letter from the Nominees to requisition the meeting.

His sharehokding nominee had to submit the requsition, not Craig himself. Hence invalid .

I’ve had a reversal of sentiment. The imagined feeding frenzy and UK news headlines never happened. After all of the Navitas manoeuvres of recent weeks, I’m starting to think that Rockhopper is looking like one of those 3-legged rescue dogs from Romania which is due for adoption by a nice family living in Golders Green.

Who would have thought that a great British mercantile adventure in the South Seas with Desire, Rockhopper, Falkland Oil and Gas, Borders and Southern, Argos Petroleum, and Premier Oil would end up being slowly eaten away by Israeli interests, supported by an Argentine president and follower of Judaism who seemingly lives in the garden tool shed at the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires?

It seems like RKH had no hope of raising the equity portion of the required funding without Gideon saying, “stick this in your pipe and smoke it,” leading to an effective control of Rockhopper by Tel Aviv.

A takeover premium of 30% will get the SP back to where it was at the height of fizz, before the RNS landed with ifs and buts and maybes about the Final Investment Decision. No-one ever mentioned a “financial close” until then, did they? Lemmings jumped off the cliff.

I now don’t think RKH will ever see first oil.

There were already a Church and a Kingdom Hall in Stanley; perhaps a Synagogue might be coming too?

Don McLean’s song American Pie is the epitaph.

Tear me to pieces, but I walked away after the FID announcement, but I made useful money over the years.

I’ve emptied my trading account, and all my effort as a waning octogenarian is now focused on writing pulp fiction to entertain the wider public.

It was good fun though!

Love to you all. Live long and prosper.

Evening DonaldB

Good to hear your story about Roswell . It features in my forthcoming Sci -fi novel "The Martian Endeavour" , being published by Pegasus in 26!

BB3, production wells in Central North Sea take 3 months on average, but the North Basin is well understood and it will be a production line, so to speak.

BB3, it's like the Fermi Paradox. If there were potential partners out there, there would at least be some evidence or rumour, but it's as silent as an Arctic night and none has been observed.

No extra money or expertise or resource is needed , so why is a partner even wanted ?

In the most recent words of the operator in December 2025.

“Phase 1 of the development will ramp up significantly throughout 2026 and NPDP will open an office in Aberdeen early in 2026 to work in conjunction with its London base and its office in the Falkland Islands. This initial stage consists of drilling of 11 subsea wells tied back to a redeployed floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Phase 2 will add a further 12 wells, expected within three years of first oil.”

===============================

6 wells in Phase 1 pre first oil, 5 post first oil, and 12 for Phase 2.

So, it’s a continuous 4 year drilling programme of 23 wells at 2 months a well, taking us from H1 2027 to H1 2031 when Navitas expects the phase 2 wells to be online.

AIM Rule 29 requires companies to announce the admission of any new securities and to confirm the total voting rights in issue.

They didn't yet. That is the issue here, and the London Stock Exchange has leaked it for Monday.

EG777

I tried to call Sam today to get an explanation, but there was no-one in the office.

I'm just saying there will be an RNS on Monday saying ~200 million shares have been admitted to trading. I just think that will have an effect, it might be positive or negative, but not neutral

"Alma- yes, share ownership has been diluted "

Santos , share ownership has not yet been diluted. That is coming on Monday.

"Nothing happening? You just forgot about the cash raised and FID?"

That's history and baked in. The ownership dilution is coming on Monday. Just stop and think about it.

The London Stock Exchange is now, after hours, reporting a market cap of £594,820,000 at a SP of 72p, an increase of over 28% from earlier today. So, the placing shares must now have been admitted for trading on Monday without any formal RNS announcement today.

This chat board header is not showing the change, and neither is ADVFN.

What happens on Monday? Will this extra ~200M share dilution have no effect? You cannot magic up a 28% increase with nothing happening surely?

"My question is if I ask for the over subscribe option am I still guaranteed the number of shares awarded to me?"

Yes.