Proposed Directors of Tirupati Graphite explain why they have requisitioned an GM. Watch the video here.
Tony spoke to journalists after the AGM today and the Irish Times has the following coverage:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/energy-and-resources/o-reilly-leadership-of-providence-in-balance-if-funds-not-received-1.4015902
The funny thing about People before Profit is that I remember Richard Boyd Barrett standing up in the Irish Parliament a number of years ago insisting that the government develop the Irish offshore. His argument at the time was that there is a bonanza of oil and gas under our feet and the tax take by the government from oil and gas should be used to fund hospitals and other government programmes. We all agree!
Hopefully Tony will reply to some of these questions, as I am sure people really would like to know what has being going on in a bit more detail. I also would bet that he will mention that the current environment around offshore drilling has being put under a shadow by Climate Change. As regards Providence the delays caused by An Taisce and People before Profit have really dampened down investor interest in the sector. Having said that, I hope they will be able to keep going and get Barryroe to a drill ready stage.
I except you are right Mamms. I hope that it is not a share offering because as it stands at the moment the market cap is 34 million, so to raise any sort of cash to go it alone, would clearly wipe us out. We can only hope that they are able to borrow the money or have someone else come in to invest in Barryroe. I will be amazed if APEC come up with the money. I think most people have accepted that APEC will not come through and it is only a matter of finding out next week what the future plans are. Barryroe is still the same oil field it has always being, and everything that has being said about in the past is as true today as it was when the farmout first happened. Providence have be put on notice by APEC for a long time now, so I would imagine that any past or potential new investors have being kept up to date by Providence on the farmout.
The Irish Examiner leads with the headline that Providence raises the prospect of seeking new partners for Barryroe. I guess they are basing that on this line in the RNS today. "The company reserves the right to end exclusively."
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/providence-raises-prospect-of-seeking-new-partners-for-barryroe-948089.html
I suppose the major shareholders cannot sell as it would crash the share price. I am sure that they have being kept up to date on and are settling into the forward planning being put in place. We can only hang on to their coat tails and hope for the best. Hopefully the limited site survey will show up something promising. Some sign of natural gas would be great as 50% of electricity in Ireland comes from gas and of course it could be piped into the network straight away.
What will happen in the next few weeks as regards the money finally arriving or some sort of fund raise instead will finally tell us what value investors place on Barryroe. Pity Iolar did not deliver but hopefully there may be some promising data when they analysis the data.
Let's hope so. We should hear something about the site survey this week, and hopefully the money will be signed off on by the Chinese government shorty
As you say approval by APEC seems to be the issue here. Looking at a number of the updates in relation to the money coming through, they mention a couple of times that payment is still pending due to final processing by HSBC. The final process must be, as you say, a call by APEC that they have the money ready to go at their end.
I imagine that Providence have lined up a bridging
loan on the strength of the documentation received from APEC that the funds being borrowed will be repaid once the money comes through from HSBC. Since the board is presenting documentation from HSBC bank to another bank as proof of repayment there should not be a problem.
All these backstops are continuing to weaken the share price and soften us for take over, if it were to come to that. Perhaps the results of the Iolar well in the Porcupine basin may have given CNOOC some interesting data in relation to Irish offshore.
There is another article about Providence in the Independent. That's two days in a row. Providence Resources CEO Tony O'Reilly Jr has said that the oil and gas industry is an easy target for environmental concerns, and that political pressure to ban offshore exploration is hurting the sector in Ireland. The firm - which has set a deadline of tomorrow to receive $10m (€9m) in cash promised to it by its Chinese partner APEC Energy Enterprise to fund survey work at its Barryroe oil field - would be one of the biggest losers from any renewed push to end exploration in Ireland's Atlantic waters. If the Chinese funding - already delayed since June - does not arrive as promised, Providence will seek alternative funding, likely through debt financing or a share placing. He said: "Our working capital position is such that if funds aren't forthcoming within a certain period of time, then we would obviously have to look at alternative financing. That's what one does. So by saying it, you can assume that we've looked at it, but that's not our primary objective." Providence's goal to develop the Barryroe find - and to explore a range of other targets - would have been jeopardised if the recent Climate Emergency Bill had not been killed off by the Government after it was backed by a majority in the Dáil. "When you have rights and anybody talks about suddenly taking those rights away, clearly that creates uncertainty, and uncertainty is not a good thing for a business that relies on international capital," said O'Reilly. "One can't escape the fact that climate change is an issue that needs to be dealt with. But you have got to also look at what are the causes of climate change. The oil and gas industry is an easy target because oil and gas produce CO2 but, of course, probably the biggest thing is, there are too many people on this planet. And we're cutting down rainforests to create arable land," he said. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan told the Sunday Independent that a ban on exploration would be easily agreed "in the first five minutes of any programme for government negotiation", should his party find itself in such discussions.
The Irish Times nicely puts together the timeline and were we are now: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/energy-and-resources/providence-hints-at-alternative-arrangements-after-latest-missed-deadline-1.3985022
An article in today's Irish Times mentions the department have confirmed to the Irish Times that they have granted a survey licence to Providence for Barryroe
Hi JH77 and fairly sure it will be open as that is what is coming up on the net. Hopefully we will get a RNS on Monday as our nerves are frayed enough without having to wait another day. I hope that things work out well at Providence for everyone and that the job losses will be reversed with a successful Barryroe. Wait; I think I see God
We can only hope that the deep-water deep-rock Iolar well that Exxon Mobil and Cnooc are drilling in the porcupine basin comes good. They have being drilling now for seventy days. If successful, it will help in any fundraising going forward.
My apologies. At least it gives providence another day to receive the money.
Pretty sure that the Irish exchange opens on Monday. I hope so anyway, as our nerves are frayed enough without having to wait another day foe a update. I hope things work out well at Providence for everyone and that the job losses will be reversed with a successful Barryroe campaign. Hopefully we will see Godot sailing towards Barryroe any day now.
It is a holiday alright but the stock market in Ireland is open on Monday. Hopefully we will get a good RNS on Monday. It is hard going but I suppose it is better to be getting updated every Monday instead of extending the deadline for a month and waiting in the dark for news. Usually we have to wait months for a RNS but now we are getting one every Monday. I would guess another extension, but it will really have to be the last, as there is only so many ways you can spin it as being a banking issue. I suppose if the government wish to minimise bad press for issuing a licence to Providence, next Monday would be the optimum day to do so, as we will all be hungover from the long weekend.
There is a article in this week's Phoenix about Petrel Resources, but it covers the broader Atlantic offshore in Ireland:
The biggest oil company in the world, Exxon Mobil and the biggest in China, Cnooc, are engaged in a joint venture to drill one of the deepest wells in the world offshore Ireland in the Porcapine Basin this summer at a cost of approximately $300 million. This is taking place against the backdrop of the killing off last week of Brid Smith's proposed bill to impose an outright ban on oil and gas drilling in Ireland. With significant activity also planned at the Barryroe discovery, Petrel's hapless investors will be hoping for a collateral boost to the miserable 1p share price on foot of any good news.
The Procupine Basin wildcat well, if successful, could be hugely economically significant and have a major indirect effect on John Teeling's Petrel Resources exploration company, which has adjoining licences off Ireland's south-west coast.
It is not just this summer's wildcat drill - which will go down five miles into the earth seeking a potential oil bonanza - that could have an impact on Petrel. Another Chinese company is also planning to develop Barryroe prospect offshore Cork, which was discovered by Providence Resources.
Petrel has really struggled over the last 20 years, but, in the current climate, the big boys may now be chasing the company's licence blocks.
The Irish offshore Atlantic margin is a huge and seriously under-explored oil and gas region. Despite its size, over the last 70 years there have only being 33 wells drilled here, none with the benefit of modern three-dimensional seismic date.
Exxon Mobil and Cnooc must be pretty confident if they plan to spend $300 million drilling the deep-water deep-rock Iolar well in the Porcupine ( so-called "ultra-deep" target).
Exxon previously got a bloody nose when drilling the ultra-deep Dunquin well in the south Porcupine Basin in 2013, which delivered nothing of significance. Given that the prospect is 250 miles offshore Kerry, there would have to be somewhere in the order of one billion barrels to justify the size of the risk. Current oil prices would give such a potential resource a gross value of over $70 billion and transform Ireland's huge and worrying dependence on expensive foreign imports of oil and gas, particularly as Corrib approaches the end of its life.
The attraction for the government of a major find in the Porcupine Basin primarily relates to a reduction in the transport of energy supplies from overseas, with sources of alternative energy unlikely to make a major contribution to requirements for decades.
The Chinese are also looking to turn the big Providence Resources Barryroe oil discovery into a producing asset, with a five-well programme beginning later this year, further increasing the prospects of a significant sectoral boost of which Petrel could be a direct beneficiary.