Member Info for DRichi

Production is down. Price of oil is down. More share dilution. No updates this year on what PPC have been working on, expect all the workovers and exploratory drills have been pushed back. All very disappointing.

Trying to look on the positive side, PPC have weathered a huge storm with COVID19 impacting business, and oil prices crashing to unprecedented lows. Trafigura have come on board, and despite them not having a whiter than white track record, they will bring knowledge, contacts and opportunities for PPC to expand.

Maybe it's not all bad then. But as a long term holder not wanting to sell at a loss, it looks like I will have to become a very very long term holder.......

We haven't yet gotten a 2020 Operational update. Be good to read details about what has been going on. But..... the SP here has always been driven by macro events, so maybe the increase is because Brent has gone back to near $40 a barrel, and will possibly rise more if OPEC agree production cuts today.

Both the volume of trades and the value of trades today is low, so seems strange to see the SP rising. Still, long may it continue...

It's a sad day when a 0.1p rise can be considered "motoring". Still, mustn't grumble, at least the price is going up....

President published the breakeven prices per barrel earlier this year. From memory Argentina was $20-something, but Louisiana was a bit higher at $30.

The official line is that whilst the 2014 drilling didn't find commercially extractable oil, it did find oil, and also produce several good leads and increase PPC's understanding of the rock layers there and the techniques required in order to be able to get to the oil. PPC still own rights to a large acreage in Paraguay, the plan was to drill last year but it got delayed to this year, but in all likelihood due to the current virus and economic situation it'll be pushed back again.

It was 35p and drilling exploratory wells in Paraguay. I remember hoping it was going to go 10x from there if the drilling campaign was a success. If only I had sold out then!!! Oh well...

To give Malcy's comments some context, he talked up PPC at 30p, tipped them at 20p, and added them to his bucket list at 10p. But to be fair to him, his message has always been constant (that PPC has turned a corner, paid off debt, expanded into new markets, and is increasing production as well as reducing overheads). Unfortunately, the SP has not quite performed as hoped these past few (10?) years.

Still, it looks like the bottom was reached, and this will be a very decent rebound play for anyone getting in at these prices.

Agreed Northern. It's got a loooong way to go before I break even, haha! But hey ho, at least it looks like a corner has been turned and it the SP can start to improve. Baby steps mind, but any rise is good...

up 5 days in a row now and trading at $29.13. Still historically very low of course but at least that means the Argentine operations are profitable again. Looks like we are past peak COVID19, and markets generally can start to recover. Going to be a long slow recovery but the good news for holders here is that it looks like PPC have weathered the storm. I expect that workovers and exploration might be pushed back, but as long as there's no (more) share dilution, I'll take it.

PPC have disappointed in the past, but these last few years they have paid down debt, diversified production into oil & gas, and expanded significantly and increased production. But this success has been against macro economic conditions which have had a much bigger impact on the value of the company. E.g. producing 1000 BOPD and selling them for $100 per barrel is the same as producing 5000 BOPD and selling them for $20 per barrel.

The important thing now is that PPC can weather the COVID19 and oil price crash storm, and I believe that it's well placed to do so. PPC published it's production costs on their website earlier this year and IIRC it was about $20 per barrel in Arg and $30 in Louisiana.

If the price of oil goes up, then there should be a swift rebound in the SP to the 4p-6p range, but it could well be a very long time before we get a proper increase. Drilling in Paraguay in 2014 there was talk of becoming a mid-cap company, leaving AIM and joining the FTSE500. That seems a long time ago now, and probably even further away....

Nice to see (even if just on Twitter) that PPC are continuing working. I think President are doing a decent job, but the biggest impact on their profitability will be the price of oil.

Oil rebounding a bit today but looks like it'll be low for a while... Oil price rebound gathers pace https://www.ft.com/content/89340432-0f0c-461b-aded-26cc862a1eac

Be interesting to see the Production figures. Gas to market is good, but maybe production in Louisiana has declined.

Good time for an acquisition? Well, maybe we are looking at this the wrong way around, this might be a good time for Shell or Chevron to snap up PPC! At these prices it's cheap as chips..... ;-)

Agreed. Also, as at the current time of writing this there are zero cases of Coronavirus in Argentina. Hopefully it can stay that way and PPC's oil & gas production in Argentina can hit it's targets.

we'll have to put these shares in a drawer and forget about them for a while.
Jeez there's been a huge sell off of equities generally, when it gets to the bottom some people with big pockets are going to get very rich mopping up lots of cheap shares....

PPC looks like it can survive a financial downturn, and when it does, those that survive generally come back stronger.

Good luck & good health all.

Very strong RNS today. Lots of good news.

Oil price stability(ish) in Argentina- Good.
Breakeven price in Rio Negro Province & Louisiana is US$21.5 per barrel. Puesto Guardian US$31 and these figures will reduce as and when extra volume is added.
Bank debt is now only US$3.7 million having come down from a peak of US$10.7 million within the last 18 months.
Gas production is now in excess of 1,000 boepd (6 MMScft/d) and on target to achieve 2,000 boepd

And the SP has dropped! Rubbish that wider market fears impact the SP negatively rather than positive news having a +effect on the SP. Still, well done President for building a strong company, and hopefully this means the SP will tick up even more when oil prices rise.

"“If you ever wondered what would happen if someone lobbed a hand grenade into a bloodbath, now you know. It’s not pretty,” said Gavekal Research analyst Tom Holland."

Recap;

"President is pleased to announce that it has commissioned the previously announced new 16km section of gas pipeline section between its Puesto Prado and Las Bases facilities in Rio Negro province, together with the associated infrastructure which have been placed into operation thereby enabling a significantly greater volume of gas to flow through the entire length of the Company's 70km pipeline to market.
The work, completed without any incident on budget and on time, and all managed by President's own procurement, engineering, operations and regulatory teams, included the following:
• engineering, design, permitting and procurement for all work;
• proactively working with all landowners and interested stakeholders including all necessary transportation concessions;
• civil works, installing compressors and dehydration units in both Angostura and Las Bases;
• significant reconstruction work in Angostora, Las Bases and Estancia Vieja fields to meet international industry standards;
• project management and supervision of all construction phases including excavation and installation of the 16km pipeline, with the number of workers on site peaking at over 100;
• extensive testing of new and existing pipelines and facilities and
• commissioning and bringing shut in wells on line.
The aggregate cost of all the work was approximately US$5 million and is being met out of the Company's current cash flows.

Gas production
Current net gas production is now being ramped with gas flowing successfully to market from Estancia Vieja field at significantly greater volumes than at any time in the history of the field now the new pipeline is in operation.
Once the ramp up has progressed to an appropriate level, expected within the next few days, a further announcement will be made in relation to aggregate volumes of gas production. President is pleased to report that current projections of the increasing gas production are in line with previously announced expectations being approximately 1,200 boepd.
As a result of the installation of a larger scale compressor, and the opening up of more shut-in wells in Estancia Vieja due in Q2 2020, it is projected that from June Group production should be boosted by a further 800 boepd. In such a scenario, this would by or around the end of H1 2020 result in some 2,000 boepd total net gas production (12 MMscft/d) from President's Neuquen basin assets thereby boosting aggregate oil and gas production net to the Company to 4,000 boepd excluding the impact of drilling results to come in Argentina during H2 2020. "

Great news. Great RNS. With another RNS to follow in the next few days confirming exact rates, but looks like aprox. 1200 BOEPD online now with a brucie bonus additional 800 BOEPD to come online in Q2.

At the start of the year, I was hoping that this news would take the SP to 6p+. Looks like maybe I was being over optimistic, but hopefully we should still get a decent rise from this.

Good call to choose pancakes over the presentation then; I wonder what crêpe got served up there. ;-)