Member Info for crudehope

Trellis, Jones, I am guessing the accusations of 'High Crimes & Missdeamors' will be the next gambit going forward. Trellis, I do applaud your hard work in collating all those email replies into cohesive questions & I wish you all the best trying to find the answers your group are so desperate to seek. But I would never condone or put my name to your cause, however much I empathize with it because I do not believe there is any justice to be handed down to the downtrodden of AIM! 'Caveat Emptor' will always be the watchword or byword for 'Alternative Investment Marketeers' - or put more simply - stockmarket gamblers..............

Cheers, Crude

Iv'e lost track of the original intentions but I presume there was a 'mission statement' outlining the aims & goals of this 'class action' style collective? Whilst I empathize with those who have voiced their concerns in a collective parcel of emails that have now ben forwarded to our acting Chairman, I certainly would not condone taking the action through to the FCA & that is the reason I did not sign up to the 'shareholder rebellion'! It is one thing demanding answers to shareholder concerns - quite another making accusations of 'high crimes & misdemeanors' to the FCA!

I am convinced my old mate Appi was born a skeptic...but it could be his love of West Ham FC (hence the Appi - ammer) that kept him on the straight & narrow road of 'believe it when you see it'! Almost the very first day he invested in Sound Oil he was doubtful & reticent...but he soon made his feelings clear. He reminded me of those two hecklers from the Muppet Show, Statler - or maybe Waldorf! But his brand of 'realism' was soon to be recognised when the Company advertised a very important drilling job in Italy would be merely 'Plug & Play'...when this ultimately did not materialise he lost some faith. He lost more faith when what he thought was a repeat of a cont trick occurred at Sidi Moktar: same deal - plug and play. All you have to do is plug into the main pipeline, pump the gas & 'play'! But Jeff wasn't about to be conned twice so his bool**** radar was now on high alert! He must have had extreme common sense or divine intervention but by the time TE8 failed & he had almost suffocated on what he perceived as the new reality of the 'Deep Dive' presentation, he finally had enough & decided a small AIM explorer with huge ambition led by a 'Second-hand car salesman was not the punt for him. However, his main concerns were how JP raised money. He always thought James was a 'wide boy' whereas I saw JP as a CEO who quite literally saved Sound Oil from bankruptcy, rebranded & re-funded us & always had shareholder interest at heart. In all the times I met up with JP he always seemed genuine & more importantly genuinely enthusiastic about our Morrocan prospects! Anyway, we did not agree: Appi saw a 'mates' conspiracy where Sound debt was literally made into a pigs trough that international financiers & JP could wallow in - I just did not want to wallow in a tsunami of new share issues! It was a conflict of opinions & he may well be vindicated by selling out when he did but I remained confident in the geology. As it turned out we were a small AIM O&G explorer that was underfunded with too much equity exposure - but at the time we loved it when we increased our ownership from 28% to 47.5%, never once thinking that huge equity holding could become a burden! My old mate Jeff is a savvy investor with a great sense of humour & his looks remind me of Roger Daltrey..............though I am not sure you would want to hear him sing!!

PNE, you've probably got more time than me & if I hadn't been here for 10 years I would possibly feel just as you do. But we are where we are & I still believe there is a shed load of gas yet to be discovered. IMO this 'Plan B' will eventually vindicate the optimism of the Board re the geology & seismic surveys carried out. I feel James so believes in Tendrara that he accepted this deal as a way of ultimately seeing the project through to its, hopefully, joyful end. I have remained invested because I shared his hopes & dreams & firmly believe we can open up a new hydrocarbon provincle in Moroocco. There is way too much at stake for this project to fail & that is one reason why I am optimistic it will succeed!

Well done PNE, I will probably top up soon at these bargain basement prices - after all the more shares one owns the greater the dividend payout...whenever they start paying! We are so undervalued right now dare I say it is a golden opportunity to fill your boots & average down, double down, or whatever.

Silverleaves, you seem to be yet another reincarnation....yawn. You are just insulting so I guess you must be bob reincarnated!

Greg, next you will be telling us your favourite band experience is Vampire Weekend singing 'Unbelievers'.............

https://youtu.be/lLD0Z_PRyQc

Lossgain, I hope you were able to see some of the local downland beauty such as Devil's Dyke, Seven Sisters & Beachy Head, Ditchling Beacon, Mount Caburn or Firle Beacon, none of which were far away from you. If you had you might have looked more kindly on our landscape...although seagulls pooing on your car probably didn't help! I am more to the west near the Arun Valley & have other delights to behold.

Cheers........Crude

Gregory, I think we all get the vampire allegory by now...but isn't it time for your thoughts & emotions to evolve to a higher plane that might involve thinking about how you are going to proceed with your Sound shares? Maybe your time would be better employed thinking about what you do next? Sell now or wait for the RNS explaining the deal & decide when you have digested it...you never know, it might not be that unpalatable!

It's great to be back in Sussex but I do love the Dartmoor 'Manor Hotel'. I have spent the week shooting air pistols, rifles, laser clay & archery. My rifle scores were in the low 90s but my archery was mid 90s & I shot the apple through the centre as it was placed on top of a polystyrene head...just after our head coach John had told the story of William Tell. I cant convey my joy at finally believing I am an 'Archer'.............I shot 91 that session & skewered the apple dead centre!

Dave, not2sure, I agree. There were always caveats & this is AIM - but I'm always amazed that internet gambling machines & the £100 a shot pokies get all the bad press when AIM is hardly mentioned! I bet there are plenty of punters losing more than their shirts on the AIM but when do you ever hear about it? 'Investing in the junior market hardly cuts it as a description of what goes on - what goes on is often pure gambling with people risking small fortunes for a chance at the big win.............I would not advocate any form of action other than to caution people that in future trust your instincts, do your own research & when you see a profit think hard before you ignore it in favour of that possible 5 or 10 bagger....they are like unicorns these days!

Down here in Dartmoor enjoying a sporting break with pistols, rifles, arrows & lazer Clays!

Jones, think you are spot on there!

Thanks, Jones...off tomorrow to Torbay to see a couple we met in Panama in January followed by a week in Oakhampton at the amazing Manor Hotel.

Jones, you are right...I dont know that but we live in hope & we await further detail......but I do not support that 9% clause & need to have that inclusion thoroughly explained!

Maldini, the two are very different: The BOOT & FEED are proposed to be financed by the Spanish consortium & all those costs to be repaid from a very lucrative deal that should see the consortium handsomely rewarded - & rightly so. But if we continued with our 47.5% equity our share of the drilling costs would be prohibitive & raising cash on the open market at our diminished value would not have been possible. We maybe should have farmed down much earlier - post TE8? But its the same old story...keep going whilst your star is riding high. Maybe we should have learned from the old maxim of repairing the roof whilst the sun shines...raising money when your value is high - but you will always get arguments against & this is pure hindsight...if it wasn't we would all be AIM millionaires!!!!

Partridge, I absolutely agree...the last thing we want to see is production revenues going anywhere other than into projects that compensate beleaguered shareholders: this means pumping money into exploration wells; very low HQ costs & restricted G&A...including wages. I'm all for production/exploration bonuses but let's keep the costs to a minimum for now & see how we can proceed. This deal can work if we work towards it. The main thing to bear in mind is, as private shareholders, we do not accept any form of further capital raise through share dilution...this deal seems to offer just that. I would not tolerate any further call on shareholders that dilution route but I will support a farming down of our equity position in East Morocco. In hindsight, 47.5% equity was way too ambitious & something of a 'pipe' dream (pun intended). We never could have supported our 47.5% equity position in the event of actually having to stump up costs for further drilling or going 'long' to 1st gas. This deal, though maybe less sexy, does at least mean we are fully funded for production & hopefully, plenty of exploration...the Tendrara Basin has still to be unlocked & there seems to be confidence that we can do it...
Let's see what we have to vote on first at the EGM...............

I don't understand why folk would want to draw a dividend on the cash amount we receive on farming down 51 % of our equity. I do understand we would all like to see some profit but surely that money would be far better employed as CAPEX for our drill program. Once we get to 1st or 2nd year revenue then maybe a dividend should be paid. But let's retain as much cash as we can to drill the faark out of the Tendrara Basin!

Testpack, dont flatter yourself...you are deluded if you think they weren't just telling you what you wanted to hear. Your scenario would never happen because IMV, this deal suits the Moroccans & our major shareholders. Besides, who on earth would finance Sound Energy to the tune of $200 million or more..........this deal will go through & we just have to hope that we can retain that 9% & that exploration is able to run in tandem with production. This deal can work if we shareholders are thrown a bone or two........

I wonder if they can work 2 rigs - one for production & the other for exploration - simultaneously. Some questioners have attempted to ask when exploration could take place but regrettably, there was no useful expansion on this very important shareholder concern. We are advised that first gas could be year-end 2021 but somewhere in that timeframe, I am sure we would want to see AT LEAST one exploration well! However, I do hope they do not go down the route of paying a dividend too soon as this could compromise our ability to strike more gas - because as beleaguered shareholders that's what it is all about if we stand any chance at recouping real money!

" We have multiple options for profitable ways forward"

It might not be formal yet but I dont believe he will be performing any further duties as CEO -my guess is Mr Seghiri is 'de facto'in charge.