Member Info for DennisThePennis

Ken, maybe you could be more specific.

He said he inherited a large maintenance backlog, he talked through various issues with Triton (compressor failures and corroded pipework/valves), he said stabilising production is a priority, and he mentioned they're getting stuck into the backlog, but no further details were provided about how they're doing this.

Normally I wouldn't expect a CEO to go into micro detail about how they're tackling maintenance, but given the history and impact on business performance I think a lot of shareholders would be interested.

He said lots of good things about growth, including a potentially busy infill drilling programme on Bruce in 2026/27, but of course this isn't much good without stable operations.

I listened to the Chris Cox interview when he accepted that operational performance has been disappointing, largely due to a high maintenance backlog. Presumably this is the case for Triton and Bruce. Unfortunately Mr Cox didn’t say what he is doing about it.

Maintenance backlogs exist because there’s too much work for the maintenance crew to handle. To address this, either you need to increase the size of your workforce or tackle your maintenance differently, eliminating delays and bottlenecks. This can be done in various ways such as streamlining processes, introducing technology, or improving your spares inventory.

To give me confidence that Serica is serious about improving maintenance, I’d like to know their approach. As previously mentioned, based on my experience, successful operators of late life assets use asset reference plans to develop and maintain their assets, often linked to more detailed maintenance reference plans. Does Serica have such plans? Perhaps Mr Cox could talk more about this next time.

“On a positive note, 55k plus Boepd once the operator sorted the problems”

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Triton is an aging asset, and there are bound to be some glitches with facilities and equipment, but the frequency and severity of problems is unacceptable. Just as one problem is solved, another crops up. It’s like wack-a-mole.

Even though the FPSO isn’t operated by Serica, they should still have an asset manager who works closely with Dana to understand and manage risks. They should maintain a shared asset reference plan describing how the asset will be developed and maintained over the course of its remaining life, paying particular attention to integrity risks and making sure appropriate maintenance and repairs are completed on time.

With such a mature asset, they need to be performing ongoing surveillance on critical equipment like compressors and be prepared for prompt interventions as needed.

If a proper asset reference plan is maintained, Serica would not be taken by surprise that subsea maintenance work is required in just two months.

I’ve said before that they’re not on top of maintenance, and I think another (related) problem is that they’re not on top of planning.

Every time a minor disaster happens, it knocks confidence a little bit more. We can’t afford to keep having these disappointments.

Once again, the company over-promised and under-delivered.

I wondered when the next catastrophe was going to strike.

This proves that this business isn't being managed properly. The executives aren't in touch with coalface operations, they're not managing risks, and they're not working sufficiently closely with critical supply chain partners.

Probably focusing too much on DEI and PR.

There are growing public calls for domestic oil and gas production to be boosted, but as long as Miliband remains in position a major strategy shift is unlikely.

I think Reeves probably wants to ease taxation but she will be prevented from doing so by Miliband and Starmer, who seems to be setting up his own shadow finance department. Reeves will be out by the end of the year.

To survive as PM, Starmer's new priority is to appease the left wing faction of his party and try to halt the slow motion train crash of his government. Obviously this won't succeed and it won't be good for the country, but it will probably force an early election. At least here's hoping.

Lammy is deputy PM. Deputy leader of the Labour Party is a different role (previously both roles happened to be held by Rayner).

Ed Miliband's net worth is around £13 million. Not bad for a hard-left socialist who has never worked outside politics, raised by Marxist parents who came to this country penniless.

Angela Rayner is another one who has done surprisingly well, acquiring £4.7 million during her career as a cleaner, care worker and politician.

I guess George Orwell was right that some animals are more equal than others.

If Rosebank isn’t developed, it won’t reduce UK carbon emissions one iota. It will increase them since we will have to import the oil which we will still burn.

This is a plain and simple fact which seems to completely elude senior judges and politicians. But reading about Angela Rayner this morning, it seems our ruling “elite” can get away with anything if it suits their personal financial or ideological preferences.

Great news on Triton production but let's not get too carried away overestimating future production. Most years there are planned shutdowns for maintenance (nowadays called "turnarounds") and obviously occasional unplanned shutdowns, especially for ageing assets like Bruce and Triton. I always think it's best to under-estimate and over-deliver than the other way around. Hopefully the company will be taking a more conservative approach to production estimates in the future.

The market still isn't convinced. Too many false starts.

We need some good news to get the share price moving in the right direction. Confirmation of full production from Triton would be good.

For me, the update was pretty much the same as every time and could be summarised as: "Disappointing performance looking back but great stuff to come!"

Lots of talk about optimising production performance, improving asset reliability, keeping on top of maintenance, improving critical spares inventory, etc. Nothing surprising or incorrect, but not much detail about how they're tackling this.

I'm staying invested for now but if I don't see a dramatic improvement in production performance I'll be out at the end of the year.

Reeves is on another planet, like the rest of them. She's happy to let UK industry die and import everything from overseas.

Even if the windfall tax remains unchanged, SQZ is in a relatively good position compared to most UK operators, assuming they can actually maintain production. Hopefully we'll hear more about this tomorrow.

Yep, 7 months (approaching 8 months) lost production and revenue while costs have continued unabated. Hoping full production on Triton will resume in early August without any more excuses or finger pointing.

Not sure what trading platform you're using, but with HL dividend payments sit in the income area of your account and aren't moved into the capital area until the 10th of the following month (or the next working day). This isn't immediately obvious.

Note that you can move the money manually. Below is some guidance I got from HL a while ago.

"To move income to the capital account, firstly select the relevant account. This will bring up a list of your current holdings within this account. Click on the 'Cash' tab and you will be presented with a table with a link to 'Income and Loyalty Bonus'. Once you have clicked on this link, you will be able to see your current income account balance on the right hand side. To move all or part of this balance, select 'Transfer your income balance to your capital account now'.

This will present you with a screen displaying the amount available to transfer and the description of where that amount came from. You are able to simply enter an amount of income to be transferred in the 'How much would you like to transfer?' box, or alternatively you can select the specific income to be transferred by selecting the appropriate tick box to the right of each entry in the table."

The dividend should have reached your account on the day it was paid.

I’d hope that the Triton FPSO won’t reach end of life for many, many years. The due diligence completed before purchasing Tailwind should have confirmed this.

In the unlikely event that a new FPSO is needed, indeed it would be hugely expensive and probably not economic. These are bespoke vessels - floating oil and gas plants - customised for the specific fields and wells they’re producing from.

Maybe this is something that could be covered in the update of 5th Aug?

Trump isn't always the most articulate person, but he's frank and open, he does what he says, and he puts his country first. Essentially, he's the polar opposite of Keir Starmer.

Of course, Trump is right about oil and gas. We'll need it for decades so we might as well produce it domestically for the sake of UK jobs, tax revenue, energy security and the environment.

Sadly, Trump isn't running the UK. Starmer, Miliband et al are in charge and they're driven entirely by ideology, regardless of real world consequences. They will ignore Trump.

What does this mean for UK O&G investors? Personally, I think it means the UK O&G sector won't thrive, but SQZ will be one of the few operators that will make decent money in the next few years due to solid production volumes, low operating costs and tax losses. Hopefully this will allow them to hit the ground running when the next government takes over. Less than four years to go...!

These contract prices are absolute madness. Miliband is so fixated on his net zero targets, he has totally lost touch with reality (well, even more than usual). Voters won't thank this government at the next election.

You say you're a geologist? I can think of other labels but I'm not going to lower myself to your level.

It's easy to issue insults anonymously on forums. All the big men do it.

Andy,

Climate change is a fact. Earth's climate has changed continually for 4.5 billion years and it will continue to change. Although anthropogenic climate change isn't universally accepted, it's obvious that climate change has accelerated dramatically since humans started burning fossil fuels. Coincidence?

Is this an existential threat for the planet? Definitely not. For humans? Probably not if we adapt.

For me, it's important to move to alternative energy sources since stored hydrocarbons are finite. It took tens of millions of years for them to form and we're on track to use them up in the space of a couple of centuries. Whatever the likes of Donald Trump may claim, there's definitely not an endless supply of oil and gas.

However, there's no reason to panic. In due course, new technologies like fusion will emerge, giving us more practicable options than sun and wind. What we need is a managed transition over a sensible timeframe (say 50 years), adopting whatever solutions make sense - which will include solar, wind, nuclear, hydro, geothermal - and in the meantime the likes of SQZ should carry on doing what they're doing. As I've said many times, we will need oil and gas for at least a few more decades.